Does anyone know how hard and whats involved in disabling and removing the hicas system on a '90 model zed!
Not too hard you have to add a metal bar at the rear that the HICAS steering arms attach to, and then plug up the hoses. Franz posted a picture of his car a few days back where you could see the HICAS canceller. Ben
Doesn't seem too hard. The guys at Hyperdrive plugged all power steering lines and removed pumps and everything else not necessary, then installed the lock bar. Let me know if you want pics again.
What for? Just interested in why people remove/disable the HICAS? Is it because its troublesome or because it handles/feels better without it?
This morning was my first real run without it. Its definately alot easier to control oversteer. I have now found that I need to tweak my suspension setup a bit more; I find that because the rear is not being thrown around a corner, the car is binding up a little bit and I'm on the border of understeering. Its kinda hard to explain, but if you're in the car you can feel it. In summary - I'm glad I got rid of it. I'll post some pics tonight aswell as the engine bay to show you whats been removed.
I removed mine because I kept fighting it when going sideways! Because HICAS only works at speed and takes into account steering angle and speed of steering, whenever I was going sideways, I ended up fighting the car to keep control of it. There was no way you could do "fishys" and stay in control, likewise when sliding in one direction and then back in the other - it was proving to be a huge handful. It just wasn't for me and what I want to do with the zed. Saying that... HICAS is absolutly awesome if you do NOT go sideways. You can corner safer and much faster with it. I've felt it best going through slow points at not so slow speeds and through some mid corner 60+-100+kph corners. To feel it yourself; find a deserted road somewhere and about 65kph weave along the road, you'll feel the back end turn for you as you're weaving. Be sure the weaving are quick movements so you can feel the weight shift from one side of the car to the other.
I like it sideways :thumbsup: But gotta admit it's so much more controllable in RichO's Aus-spec NA (just don't tell him I told ya that). First time I booted around a free-left-turn in my TT I was all over the place, but I'm slowly getting better at it. The HICAS makes drifting unpredictble ... need more practice! When you coming to Qld Franz?
Hmm take it easy guys hard left followed immediately turning the wheel to hard right at 65kph is a bit of a trap for young players, don't get yourself into trouble. Ben
[Link to Pics Inside] CLICK HERE for pics. Shows the rear locking bar and then under the bonnet showing the blank spot and also to the right of a pic, where one of the lines has been plugged.
how easy was it to remove is it as easy as it looks in the pics, simply just. 1.remove the hicas bar at the rear and fit the canceller 2.remove the electronic components in engine bay 3.plug up one of the lines going out of the ps resevoir. 4.remove no longer needed lines running underneath car, as well as remove something electronic at the rear (notice a disconencted plug near the hicas bar). how much weight did that save? im getting two on average one thats very heavy almost close to 100kg and the other only like 20kg. Cheers Pat
I'm just kind of sensitive to that one Way back when I was a youngun (to Z's anyway) about 5 years ago I was driving through some sweet hills (a bit of "touge", to be up on the J-culture bandwagon) and was in a hard left which went into a hard right (actually not that hard, but was going fast). I thought I'd do a nice snap change (maybe half a turn off centre to half a turn off centre of the wheel) and learned my lesson the hard way... fortunately come away with nothing more than a scare and about half way into the oncoming lane. That's the only time the Z's really given me a shock and done something unexpected (at the time) while driving hard, while I now know better I'd hate for someone to learn like I did, without the harmless outcome. Ben
Pretty much! I think pre 93 HICAS systems were mechanical, whereas post were electric. I know mine was all mechanical. The plug hanging down would refer to the HICAS light on the dash.
thanks all for your help with this guys! Franz, ur advice? have ago myself (if i think i'm any good on the tools) or take it to my local workshop?
Just looking at ur pictures FranZ..... Is that canceller bar that u have used avaliable from some where or did u have it made up?
I didn't do it myself. I just drive the things! hehehe If you're mechanically minded I don't imagine it is that hard. The hardest bit I think would be working out which lines to plug. Personally, I got a workshop to remove mine.
