3barboost

Hi

I have a 2001 NB Miata with ABS (3channel) and I am on the fence whether to keep ABS or not

I no longer have the factory ecu - not sure if that plays any part in the abs setup though

Front calipers will the V8 roadsters wilwoods the rear oem

Removing the ABS will free up engine bay space for catch can and neatness but I would like to keep it (I can figure out the rear abs sensors and pickups) but is it worth it or will it work less than optimally ? with wider tyres / different calipers and different weight bias ?

all opinions welcome

thanks

charchri4

I don't think you can answer the question with out knowing if the electronics will work with out the Miata ECU. My hunch is it would not be worth the effort to try and make it work.

3barboost

hi - from my digging around it doesnt look like the abs and oem ecu are tied together at all

thus the abs is purely reactive to wheel speed sensor inputs and brake pressure / brake light switch actuation - hmm maybe corner brake control......

this makes it really easy to keep (or remove) i need to redo brake lines anyway so I need to figure out if the abs pump will work with bigger rubber and brakes or will it harm performance ?

I am now leaning to keeping it as its just those "kid running in the street" that you need it for i can always wire up a relay and kill it from the drivers seat and do a back to back comparison

GoKart

Having recently built a 99 autocross car (CSP) purely for the ABS, I can assure you, you will not be faster without it. More complicated swap? yes. More clutter under the hood? yes. But you will never be as fast and consistent without it.

From my research, the 2001+ ABS computer is built into the pump unit. So getting it to work shouldn't be too difficult. Also, the 2001+ unit has built in electronic proportioning, you can't add a proportioning valve.

engineer

My car is a 2001 series 2 with abs. I have mustang cobra pbr twin piston calipers up front, standard 276mm Miata rears and a Mazda 929 1 inch master cylinder.

The abs works perfectly for me. I have had martin from monster Miata modify the rear outer CVs to keep the abs ring in the OEM position so the sensors don't need to change.

Abs is a god thing to have and it may well save your life. I would not be game to drive a v8 Miata hard without it.

Cheers

Keep it...

.boB

ABS is a lot more complicated than you might think. I used to think that if the sensor detected lock up, it would simply release the brake pressure in that corner. Not so. The programming is rather complicated; based on car weight, balance, etc. That's why you don;t see any aftermarket stand alone ABS systems. It's just too complicated to make it easily adaptable to a custom built car.

On the road course, beginners start out with all of the nanny controls the car has in full use. Corrects your mistakes, and keeps you out of the dirt. But once the driver gets some experience, they turn it off.

I had this conversation with Keith Tanner not that long ago. I thought since the Miata system was a stand alone, it wouldn't be that hard to adapt it to my car. But Keith told me not to do it. The 3 channel system didn't work that well, and it just wasn't worth the trouble.