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How do I disable my speed governor / limiter?

In short, you don't. For legal reasons, the topic of speed limiter removal is not to be discussed on this site. It is illegal to drive that fast. Of course the most common argument is that it will be for track purposes. In short, if you do have a car that is capable of trapping over 108, then you've apparently got enough knowledge that you should know how to get rid of the speed limiter on your own. It takes A LOT of work and A LOT of money to get a J-Body to trap 108+ in the 1/4 mile...ask anyone that has. Once you put that much into a car, you're sure to know how to do it. If you don't, maybe it's time to hit the books again. If you fit in this category, and really don't know, take a look at your service manual, specifically at the VSS sensor, and be creative.

If you still have an argument, please read the following. Please excuse the crude language, it is meant to be a shocking article.

So I'm on my way home from work today, and I realized I left something on my desk. @!#$. Well, at the time I was headed south on I-83 but fortunately hadn't passed the last exit. I get off the highway, loop around and get back on northbound to head back to work. Again...@!#$. I hate wasting time :(

Anyway, I merge back into traffic and get up to speed. Speed limit in this section of I-83 is 50MPH, but actual traffic speed is about 70. I head over to the fast lane and I'm tooling along for about a mile when I see this car coming up on me in my rear view mirror...FAST. There is a line of traffic in the lane next to me that I'm about 5 cars back from the front of. I look again and he's still closing fast...no signal or sign he's gonna pull off. I floor it and by the time I get past the head of that line of cars I'm doing over 90. I jump into the center lane and this guy's car was just a blur going by me. I was doing over 90MPH and he went by me like I was sitting still. I counted off the best I could when he passed the tenth-mile markers ahead of me...around 3 seconds per tenth-marker -- That's somewhere in the neighborhood of 120MPH! @!#$ tool.

We come to a section of the highway where it rounds a gradual turn, then goes downhill then back up. After rounding the curve you can see a good mile and a half ahead. All I see is this retard (still at full speed) weaving in and out of traffic, twice crossing all three lanes to get around people. Next thing I see is brake lights, swerving cars, smoke and lots of flashing lights. Then I realized I wasn't seeing any flashing lights...I was seeing the lights on the retard's car over and over again as it rolled repeatedly, then went end over end at least twice.

Fortunately for those of us with brains, all the swerving and locking up of brakes kept everyone at a safe distance from the destruction of this guy's car (now on it's roof laying off the shoulder into the median). Lots of people, including me, stopped and I ran up to what was left of the car with a couple other people. The guy was still in his seatbelt and still in the seat and SOMEHOW still alive and conscious. He popped the belt loose and crawled out the window and laid on the ground a bit, then got up and started walking around. Me and everyone else there was amazed that he was even alive, let alone walking. He looked to be about 18, and was pretty shaken up but seemed to be getting around ok. We kept telling him to sit down but he wouldn't.

So anyway, the police get there and start taking everyone's information and interviewing all of us that stopped. They got my address etc, then started asking me when and where I first saw him, how fast I was going and all that good stuff. I told the cop how fast I had been going, as well as the fact that I had to get up to 90+ just to get out of this guy's way and he STILL blew by me like I was in reverse. I said I thought he was going at least 120. The cop told me that their initial impression was that from the length of the highway this guy had @!#$ up rolling his car, plus the fact that it had gone end over end at least twice toward the END of it's roll they were guesstimating 130, but the accident investigators would figure it out exactly. I can hear the guy being asked questions by the cops as some paramedics are attending to him on the side of the road. he keeps telling them he "can't understand it...it just broke loose...it just broke loose...it's not supposed to break loose like that. It just got away from me and started spinning"

OK, so fast forward to now. I'm sitting here typing and reading, making sure I didn't miss anything to make sure everyone can get the full picture in their head of how ugly this was. The only thing I've missed is WHY DOES ANYONE CARE?

The car that blew by me at 120+ before getting some "custom body work" done was a 2003 Cavalier. Could be an '04, I dunno for sure...but the tails looked just like the ones on my brother's '03. Ive never seen '04 tails).

Yup, you heard right. A 2003 Cavalier, in all it's speed-limited glory. I wonder where he got the information on how to disable the governor. Being a Cavalier, I'd say there's a good chance it was here.

In this litigious society of ours who knows what can happen now. If some dumb @!#$ can get millions for pouring coffee on her lap and being surprised that it's hot, who knows what could happen out of this. I'm just glad that nobody could point the finger at me for this one. Someone says "VSS mod" to me and I say "you're a @!#$ moron" to them. I'm in the clear on this one.

Now for the good part...


This part is for those of you that refuse to stop asking about "killing the governor", "I'm tired of civics beating me past 108" and every other variation of the question we hear here 2349523456234 times a day.

My good friend Art (Event Omega) is absolutely right. If you have enough of a car to be worthy of doing 108+ on ANY track, you would already have enough knowledge and ability at your disposal to get rid of the governor on your own. If you have to ask the question, then you don't know enough about your car. If you don't know enough about your car then you probably haven't done anything to the suspension or brakes to support a car travelling at speeds like that. Aside from the fact that travelling at speeds like that on a public road is just plain unsafe. Unsafe for you, I don't really care about. If you're the one asking this question, I don't give a @!#$ about you anymore. I'm worried about me. I'm worried about my fiancee and my son. I'm worried about my friends and my family. This son of a @!#$ could just as easily hit me or run me off the road or hit me had I not been paying attention to my mirrors.

So shut the @!#$ up. NOW. Do us all a favor and get it over with today. Find a brick wall, bridge abutment, or even a well reinforced building and run your car (at 108) and your selfish, inconsiderate, juvenile punk @!#$ into it. We are much better off without you. "The I-83 A$$hat" described above was lucky. He didn't kill himself or anyone else. But it could have VERY easily gone another way. There was ALOT of traffic on I-83 today and he was weaving in and out of it at full speed. All he lost was his car. Maybe COMPLETLY lost his car too, since insurance companies look for governor tampering in speed related accidents now, but that's for a whole different thread. This thread is dedicated to how much of an a$$hole you all are.

"But I'm a good driver!" / "It's OK, I know how to drive" -- SHUT THE @!#$ UP! Most of you asking about this mod are like 17-20 years old. You DO NOT know how to drive THAT WELL yet. Besides, your driving skill has nothing to do with it. Do you think Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon drive their cars at 150MPH on the highway just because they are professional drivers? Doubtful. So you're doing 108MPH and you know exactly where you're gonna go. What about the guy in front of you that you're gonna go around. Only he doesn't know that...he sees you coming and tries to get out of your way at the same time you move to go around him. Then you correct, overcompensate and suddenly your car looks like the Cavalier formerly owned by "I-83 A$$hat". Worse, maybe you hit the guy and then spin him out of control, into a wall, into another car, etc. Didn't think of that, did you Speed Racer?

"I only do it on country roads where nobody is around" -- Again, SHUT THE @!#$ UP. At 108MPH you are travelling at a speed that gives you little time to react to anything. WHAT IF something DID happen to be around? Or just "show up"? Just because it's a country road where nobody is around doesn't change the fact that it is STILL a public road that everyone has just as much right to be on as you. I work for Verizon and recently, a Verizon technician was killed by a street racer. Imagine being out there doing your job, in this case hanging at the top of a telephone pole. Then imagine that you hear the sound of a couple cars coming down the road at full speed. Then imagine that you watch one of these cars lose control when they try to avoid your truck and orange cones on the side of the road and shear off your telephone pole at the ground. Then imagine riding that pole down to your death. While you're at it, imagine the two children whose 27 year old mother will never be coming home again, you inconsiderate @!#$.

You have no "right" to street race. You have no "reason" to street race. Hell, let's be honest here. Most of us have small 4 cylinder cars. We barely have the MEANS to do anything that even resembles "racing".



OK, I'll leave the rant at that, because if I go any farther it's just going to turn into an obscenity-laden tirade about social responsibility and how The Fast and The Furious is causing the downfall of modern civilization.

I don't think much will change as a result of this, but I will make whatever changes I can. Starting with banning the VSS question from JBO Chat. I'm responsible for the JBO chat servers and I don't want to be indirectly responsible for that question being answered, even if I don't answer it. Anyone that asks that question will be politely asked not to, then if they insist on asking will be kicked out. Anyone that answers that question will get a vacation from chat. Those of you asking about it on the forums, well, at the very least make sure your sigs are within spec. I'll leave it at that.

Considering that there are more lawyers than accident victims in this country, I'm also strongly recommending that [rules are made] regarding this kind of information on the forums. There is just too much risk in allowing this information into the hands of the blatantly stupid. Let's get back to the example of the dumb @!#$ at McDonalds...Coffee is hot (duh). We know that. She won millions of dollars because coffee was hot and she dumped it in her lap. WOW! Well, let's draw a parallel... I know that cars at high speeds can kill people. Some tool who tampers with his governor probably knows it too, but let's say he ignores that and does it anyway. Then he kills himself and someone else. Next thing you know his family will be whining in court about how the evil J-Body Organization and it's evil moderators allowed him to get the information to make his car go too fast and kill himself and now they want lots of money. @!#$ that. I want no part of it.


If you want to read more, including arguments pro and con, see:
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=1&i=279633&t=279633&arch=1

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Created: 01-30-2005
Modified: 10-10-2005
Rating:

Replies

Re: How do I disable my speed governor / limiter?
Friday, April 08, 2011 9:16 AM
I really like your article specially the back roads part I have a 95 cavalier (governor fully functional lol) that i run on some gravel and as someone with first hand experience anyone who wants to try to run a cavalier at 108+ down a country road without significant mods will probably end up like the I-83 Asshat or worse some of those roads have huge drops over the edge with no guard rails to keep you in ive been driving the roads i use since i was tall enough to push in the clutch and see over the steering wheel of our old farm truck and even with that much knowledge of the road and experience ive never felt the need or want to do 108+ in my car down the back roads i use it would be suicide but kids don't seem to get that at all cant say i was much better at that age just glad i grew out of that phase in time good post =)
Re: How do I disable my speed governor / limiter?
Saturday, March 23, 2013 6:44 PM
i can back this up 100%, being i learned the hard way, everything he said in a rant he has a right so say, why am i saying this you ask? Welllll let me just sum up my experience from a while back that changed my life behind the wheel of a car

ok, well, one summer night me, my friend, his sister and his girl are all in my 2000 Cavalier Z24, we were all having a good time on our way to a car show that night, we left a little before my other friend in his 1991 Camaro RS, on the highway we caught up and blew passed us.

ME being jealous and wanting to out do him in my z24, because i was envious of his camaro being that my 85 currently had the motor out of it, i GUNNED THE @!#$ OUT OF IT, gaining on him hittin the speed limiter at 108 in the right hand lane in mild traffic, a Dodge Caravan made a lane change right in front of me... oh @!#$! where to go? the back end of the van? no no, bad idea? gaurd rain on the right side? def not trying not to die, middle lane to my left? well theres a car there but i can make that gap, maybe...

so anyways at around 104-106 i swung the cav threw the cap anticipating to go straight all the way to the left lane to keep from sliding, well that didnt work, there was an un seen car in the left lane, to keep from hitting it i had to over correct, causing the poor cav to slide to the left pretty hard, droped it in 4th and floored it trying to straighten it out it came back the other way, way to far, now sliding down the middle lane not sideways but almost backwards the RF corver hits the car in the lift lane putting me into even more of a spin, trying to not kill myself or anyone else i put the clutch it and swing the wheel as fast as i could to bring the car back around, (for all OF YOU THAT DRIVE LIKE ASSHOLES LIKE I USED TO, THINK YOU COULD DO BETTER? well spinning in circles at over 95 mph everything happens so fast and the G forces on your body are so strong you cant really react to whats happening, so please, do the speed limit to avoid hurting anyone)

so the car does cam back around but at this speed,,, there really was no saving it, the car spun in circles 2 more times done the highway, with me trying to do what i can to not DIE, eventualy the car slide around towards the right way and i let the clutch out and jammed the gas bringing it out of the spin, at this point now not spining anymore i was still doing around 70, pulling over immediatly in fear of the people being in the car i hit......

LUCKILY no one in my car was hurt, nor was anyone in the other car, lucky i grazed them just denting their door, I, yes me myself and i called the police and took full responsibilty for everything..... and proper actions were taken,


lucky their car was an easy fix and so was mine, just a bumper bracket, they needed a door....


If you took the time to read my own experience, then listen to me, listen to the writer of this artice, STREET RACING KILLS! OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON.


needless to say. i DID learn the hard way. and i now am extremly cautious when driving and still skidish to drive on the highway..... SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!
SAVE RACING FOR THE TRACK!


John Lenko wrote: It is bad. Stop. Now. Bad. Bad bad. Bad bad bad.

...j

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