traction control
 

I have bought the MS3x for my S4 N/A and looking at all of the features, TCS is the one i want to have. My question is whether i can install the ABS system into my car to get the traction control feature.
and if i can, what are the parts i will need?

the answer is yes, and the hard part is finding the wheel speed sensors, because they are of course, unique to the FC.

if you have an later car the castings for the actual sensors are there, if yours doesn't, you need spindles/rear arms, but most S5 arms should have them. the front hubs have the spot and the bolt holes.

for sensors, they seem to be all the same except the wiring pigtails, so find some from something, as the Mazda ones are frighteningly expensive, if they are available at all

and onto the other problem, finding an ABS unit that actually holds fluid over night...

if i were you i would adapt something from a newer car, but the tone rings/sensors will have to be for an FC or at least close in dimensions. ^

Don't you just need the sensors, not the whole abs system? The FC ABS was not a 4 wheel independent system, so it wouldn't help you with any control, but the sensors would work for wheel-spin. At that point, it's just sourcing rings and a sensor, which you might need to work at mounting generic ones.

whoops, correction; the hard part is the FC sensor rings, as they are totally unlike any other cars sensor ring ever in the whole world.

the sensors should be pretty simple.

ABS unit, not needed, and in fact can't be put on a NON ABS car, as the body is different

I've been wanting to use t/c with my ms3x, but don't really want to pull my knuckles back off again, and the way I understand the ms3x does it by just cutting power, if so the ABS controller wouldn't be needed.

it might be easier to do gear dependent boost control?

Wait a Sec, TCS for a NA car?

Beauty of a na car is its simplicity, dont ruin that

traction control should be after you have traction problems with 345 wide tires, 450+ hp.

Spend time, money, and effort on modifications that will mandate traction control

Well, some of us DD through winter with a couple feet of snow and a nice layer of ice and tcs would be nice. And besides, VSS sensors would also be helpful with a few of the controls in TunerStudio as well, idle, 2/3 step, etc.

And, I'm thinking stock sensors on the car wouldn't allow for gear dependent settings, at least I haven't figured it out anyways.

i guess i misunderstand which system this is, some cars use the ABS unit for traction control, others use timing retard for traction control. IMO braking a single wheel loses less torque versus cutting engine power.

Wouldn't the point of TCS be lowering torque until you get grip? I may be misreading the last part of that, braking having more torque vs cutting engine power.

I've noticed in the Town Car we have it's got a LSD, ABS, and TCS. So when one wheel starts spinning faster than the other it'll grab that to speed up the other and if both don't have traction it'll grab both and seriously drop rpm/power to slow em down until you get traction. Great system, just makes you to insensitive to inputs from the car.

Hi everyone, while people are on the topic.

Is it possible to install the ABS from lets say a totalled FC into an originally non ABS model?

(assuming all parts from the ABS model are available, consider it a complete car just without clear title)

I thought you wanted this for spirited driving.

A few FEET of snow? Ground clearance limits that.

I drove a NA RX7 daily, including winter. On standard all season tires with 2 bags of play sand behind each seat for weight.
With a set of good skinnier winter or snow tires and some weight you can go through a good amount of snow. People drove through many feet of snow way before traction control.
I remember early traction control systems and you would literally sit in one spot and not be able to move you had to disable the system to move the car.

the body is different, there are bolt holes in the frame for the ABS unit that the non ABS car doesn't have, along with all the holes for the harnesses

Modern winter tires make any car a potential winter car. Ground clearance aside. My Speed6 is infinitely better in the winter with winter tires than my truck with all-terrains...even in a couple feet of snow. I wouldn't hesitate to drive a RWD car in the winter anymore with good winter tires.

Back to your question. The other poblem with the FC ABS system is it was not very good. The computer was really slow so the cycles/sec are very low and response was terrible. I HATED my TII when it had ABS....

In my opinion most TCS SCS DSC etc make winter driving harder. Tire spinning is a usefull tool in winter sometimes...

stability control is what really makes modern cars so good in the snow and rain, better then my old CJ7 is in the snow

Well i was thinking of getting the rings for the hubs, then adapting the abs out of a mustang or the likes. Since i would still have custom make everything, i can practically choose any donor car, right?

Besides, why should i wait to get T/C? ITs better to have and not need it, than to need it and not have it

I went through winter two years ago on 10 year old tires that hadn't moved and had been sitting on the car when I got it. Still made it around except for a couple places. Now I'm on some high performance all seasons with asymmetrical tread with maybe an inch or two of "all season" tread, so we'll see how she gets around this time.

if snow is really an issue buy a set of inexpensive 14" or 15" dedicated winter or snow tires, skinny like 195 or 205's, car will be totally different in the snow. And add some weight.

what i mean is, without an ABS control unit you won't have a way of braking to control power to each wheel. if you only use the wheel speed inputs then you can monitor the wheel speeds but you can't do much about TCS without using some sort of engine braking feature.

it was mainly in answer to HotRodMex's question.

True, ABS would be the best option. But, the way I see it, any form of TCS is still better than nothing. Plus, in TunerStudio, you could probably run their form of TCS through a switch. On when you lend out the car or actually need it, and off when it goes to the track. Lol.