One of the overall goals of this build was to incorporate as much functionality of each/both vehicle as possible. ABS was one of those systems. The original plan was to retain the 1996 system, however that ended up changing once in the wiring phase of the project since 1996 didn’t want to stand alone and the 2012 system (and all it’s friends like the ECM, TCM, BCM, GPCM) really wanted to be there.
So even though the 1996 system was already installed and plumbed, it came out and the 2012 system went in.
The first thing to resolve was if the 2012 ABS module would recognize the 1996 wheel speed sensors. Before any physical installation began, this was verified both on another 2012 chassis as well as the 1996 Buick.
The scope trace is more/less the same and the 2012 ABS module displays wheel speed when connected to the 1996 wheel sensors. One thing that caused some confusion is that the 2012 ABS module requires both front sensors to be plugged in for it to recognize any of them! So simple, but unless you know that little detail, can cause lots of hair pulling!
After that was resolved, installation could commence. The plumbing is a bit tight which makes the routing tedious.
Annealed tie wire was used to mock up the runs before using actual tubing. Just bend the wire on the same tubing bender so the radius and length are correct. Once you’ve the wire looking like you want it to, transfer it to the tubing, add a couple inches of length and then start bending. This system works well and if you screw up it’s easy/cheap to fix before making the actual tube. The pictures above are of the 1996 ABS install, but the same process was used for the 2012 unit. Pictures of the final assembly below.
Not too exciting, but having brakes is necessary 🙂 Next up – brake pedal
Fix Until Broke 