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As some cars progress through the stages of street car to track car to race car, the need for a better, or less "problematic" ABS always seems to be the case.
Due to the nature of the C5/C6s integrated systems of powertrain and body control module, issues always seem to rear their ugly head at the most inopportune times.
Also, with the advent of better ECUs, power management, traction control, sequential gear control, flatshift are all things we can do, but we cant do with the stock ABS.
The stock ABS is wonderful when not in ice mode, and with out ABS pump failures. We recently set the NASA TT3 track record at COTA with the completely stock ABS/powertrain/engine management in our customer car, and could not be happier with it for its intended purpose.
But, as we have found out the hard way, when these systems fail you can be left with a mess on your hands. We recently had one fail in competition at the Houston NASA event in the damp rain no less.
Driver confidence decreased significantly
Flat spotted tires usually occur
if driver depends on the ABS a lot, can result in an off, or even worse a crash.
With the demands of todays race cars, the need for a proper ECU is right up there with the need for the best brakes, or sticker tires. We often spend 2k$ per weekend, if not more, on fresh tires. A race ECU/harness is 5 sets of tires or less. Including race functions such as traction control, lambda control, data logging, and more.
We retrofitted this car with a motec after we had a stuck throttle issue which only occured on track, at high RPM. We replicated it here:
We will detail the motec install in another thread, but when that did happen, we removed the factory ABS as there was not a clear way to isolate it, and time was of the essence. This is a race car competing in NASA races, and down time is kept to a minimum.
We originally had a Bosch M4 system slated for this car, but harness issues and lead times kept that option from working. We ultimately chose Doug Wardells standalone kit as his price was very fair, lead time was right, and his tech support was wonderful.
Heres a few pics, in no order:
Harness laid out, with all connectors and Diagnostic port.
Raychem covered loom with nice labels
the Sealing side of the M12x1 pressure fittings. This is a unique tap. We used a copper washer in the end.
Save someone the trouble!
Programmable pump laid out
pressure block machined in house
Pump with fittings
Mounted here because it would not fit in the stock location, and we were not ready to mount it in the cockpit at this time
hardlines run to original fittings.
quick and dirty bracket, we will move this later
all mounted and tied up
yaw sensor
Yaw sensor mounted. This must be oriented correctly. Its upside down in this picture, and we ran it that way for a bit. We will update if we notice any change to flipping it.
We really did not have time to make this pretty. Entire install took only 36 hours. MOTEC dash buttons up top, ABS MIL LED, Traction control GAIN **** in the middle, and the ABS Breakers much like the bosch system on the bottom.
Autel Scan tool connected and communicating with the ABS module
Some notes to help others if you chose to do this:
requires ACTIVE yellow pigtail ZR1 wheel bearings
larger ZR1 axles are then needed for the new hubs
no **** to turn, just all the abs all the time
ABS outputs 4 digital wheel speeds, we utilized these in conjunction with the motec for traction control
36-40 hours install time
M10 and M12 threads in the pump, no coarse threads.
two pump types- one programmable and one non programmable, makes no difference if you never plan to upgrade the map. The stock programming works well as is.
you WILL need to install a brake pedal switch to let the abs know you are on the brakes (just like bosch)
We were wonderfully surprised at the ease of use this system offers and the trouble free install. we bent all of the lines in house using common adapters and an eastwood flaring kit.
I believe the guys that are building the SL-C's have been searching for an ABS system. I aslo think they use the Corvette hubs so this might be a perfect solution for them.
Do you have the different part numbers between the programmable and non-programmable units?
I believe the guys that are building the SL-C's have been searching for an ABS system. I aslo think they use the Corvette hubs so this might be a perfect solution for them.
Do you have the different part numbers between the programmable and non-programmable units?
What parameters are programmable?
This would be a big help on those cars. I dont know know the specifics of what is and is not programmable, but its essentially the early versions of the system. Later model pumps are not known to be programmable.
As for WHAT is programmed, I believe slip targets, longG numbers are changed, and a few other bits.
Until we test a hot rod version, I cant comment on if its worth the money. Very impressed with it out of the box.
2014 NASA Texas TT1 Champion
2015 NASA Texas ST1 Champion
2018 NASA TTU & TT3 National Champions
2019 NASA ST2 National Champion
2019 NASA Texas TT2 Champion
2020 SCCA Majors COTA GT2 pole sitter
2020 SCCA Trans Am Road Atlanta SGT Winner
2022 NASA National Champion ST2
2023 NASA National Champion ST2
2023 NASA National Champion TT2
Can this be installed with the stock brake booster? Were you unable to use the stock ABS as a standalone, or "isolated" as you state, once the Motec was in? Or was the primary reason for ditching the stock ABS the inability to program it?
Can this be installed with the stock brake booster? Were you unable to use the stock ABS as a standalone, or "isolated" as you state, once the Motec was in? Or was the primary reason for ditching the stock ABS the inability to program it?
I see no issue why it could not be used with a booster.
We have heard of people utilizing the stock ABS as a standalone, but it still has issues. We did not have time to work with the stock ABS system, and needed something more reliable in standalone form. It is NO fun testing with ABS, and then having the ABS go into limp mode during the race weekend.
Having two separate systems (ECU/Braking) makes diagnostic very easy, and it also keeps from taking down the entire system.
I have been gathering parts to do this for some time now, there is alot of good information over on bimmerforums. Where did you source your harness from?
I know this is for a race oriented setup. However with the price of early C5s dropping and the limited to no ability to repair EBCMs, it would be awesome to have a way to adapt this ABS system into the car but keep the factory ECU and other functions, as well as pass an OBD2 readiness emmissions test.
Love seeing your progress on this project as well as others.
I can vouch for this BMW ABS system. We upgraded to this system in my E36 M3 which came with a three channel system from the factory. It was a much more effective ABS system on my M3 and available used at very reasonable prices. The harness was pricey, about $1500 IIRC.
The 97-08 ( Passive sensor) is mag type, that generates a signal (Voltage) from a magnet and how fast it moves.
The 09-current (Active sensor) is more like a hall effect, where one side is fed current and typically a chip manipulates the output. Im not as well versed on the newer sensors as I probably should be, but its a defined square wave on the output side from what I recall on the motec integration.
The 97-08 ( Passive sensor) is mag type, that generates a signal (Voltage) from a magnet and how fast it moves.
The 09-current (Active sensor) is more like a hall effect, where one side is fed current and typically a chip manipulates the output. Im not as well versed on the newer sensors as I probably should be, but its a defined square wave on the output side from what I recall on the motec integration.
We did a fair amount of testing with sensors like this for standalone ignition on our old Ford 4's, the hall effect sensors like what this utilizes are far more robust with a much more precise output than magnetic pickup sensors like the original C5 hubs.
GM used magnetic cam position sensors on some of their early EFI systems but by model year 2000 or so everything was hall effect, if that's any indication of what style is better.
05-15-2018, 03:03 PM
retrofitting BMW Mk60 ABS as a standalone
