If you are reading this you are looking at doing an LSx V8 engine swap in the BMW E36 chassis, which was made from 1992-1999. As part of the swap to install a V8 engine into the engine bay of the E36 - which only ever came with inline 4 and 6 cylinder engines from the factory - the ABS system has to be relocated. The ABS "pump" is right where the exhaust headers have to go, so we make a number of parts to facilitate this relocation. We are using this forum thread as the Instructions for installation of these parts.
We are asked these questions all the time, and here are the answers:
1. Do you have to relocate the ABS pump with an E36 V8 swap?
A: If you want to use full length headers, then the answer is YES.
2. Do you HAVE to keep the ABS system in the car?
a: No, but if your car will ever need to stop or turn, you will want it!
These E36 chassis BMWs had exceptionally good Anti Lock Brake Systems (ABS) for that era and we have found out - the hard way - that when you remove the factory ABS systems from these cars the front to rear brake bias goes right out the window... and they Just. Won't. Stop.
This was me locking the rear brakes in our X PRepared BMW at the 2008 SCCA Solo Nationals held at Heartland Park Topeka. For years the factory 3-channel ABS had worked flawlessly in this V8 swapped E36, in both road course and autocross conditions - even with the 315mm wide Hoosier race tires! Yes, it can compensate for a lot of changes and still function beautifully. A properly functioning ABS will give the driver confidence to brake later and stop shorter - no human can control 4 brake calipers 100s of times a second with their foot and one pedal! But on the car above, the ABS unit stopped working. There was some serious rain during this week long event, and this car had no windows so the ABS module got wet - and fried the electronics.
You won't know that the brakes are going to lock up with a failed ABS until you hit the brake pedal hard enough to engage the ABS. On my first timed run of that year's Solo Nationals, going into the first corner where I pressed the brakes hard (after the module got wet and fried), the rears locked badly. I fought with the brakes for the next 2 days but it just wouldn't stop worth a damn without the ABS functioning. Why?
It seems that the automotive engineers who design brake systems stopped doing as much development with "regular" brakes after the invention of ABS, and they quit worrying so much about front to rear brake balance in the factory brake master cylinder. "Let the computer figure it out", they said, and the ABS system is used as a dynamic front-to-rear biasing tool.
These are the two E36 BMWs I raced - and used for Vorshlag development - from 2004-2011
And strangely enough, this early 1990's ABS from BMW works pretty dang well, even when we radically change the tire size, compound, and weight of the vehicle. I have years of racing in E36 BMWs, with both 3- and 4-channel ABS systems, in all sorts of conditions. I have found that it is VERY difficult for me to "overdrive" the BMW ABS system and cause it fault. Its happened twice in a dozen years of racing, and both times I was drifting sideways into some tight elements on an autocross course, braking at 100%, and going over a big bump. Freak occurrences and incredibly bad judgement - and only then did the factory BMW ABS start pulsating wildly and I lost ABS function.
With the ABS out of commission, the rear brakes will lock violently and make an E36 want to spin into a corner. Not fun. Losing the ABS ruined my entire Solo Nationals in 2008 - which affected my entire year of racing - and I vowed to never run without ABS again. And thus spurred our ambition to offer an ABS relocation kit for the E36 chassis soon after we started producing the V8 swap kit in 2007...
You can read more below about the specific parts we offer to help relocate the the early (3 channel) and late (4 channel) BMW E36 ABS systems.
Thanks,
We are asked these questions all the time, and here are the answers:
1. Do you have to relocate the ABS pump with an E36 V8 swap?
A: If you want to use full length headers, then the answer is YES.
2. Do you HAVE to keep the ABS system in the car?
a: No, but if your car will ever need to stop or turn, you will want it!
These E36 chassis BMWs had exceptionally good Anti Lock Brake Systems (ABS) for that era and we have found out - the hard way - that when you remove the factory ABS systems from these cars the front to rear brake bias goes right out the window... and they Just. Won't. Stop.
This was me locking the rear brakes in our X PRepared BMW at the 2008 SCCA Solo Nationals held at Heartland Park Topeka. For years the factory 3-channel ABS had worked flawlessly in this V8 swapped E36, in both road course and autocross conditions - even with the 315mm wide Hoosier race tires! Yes, it can compensate for a lot of changes and still function beautifully. A properly functioning ABS will give the driver confidence to brake later and stop shorter - no human can control 4 brake calipers 100s of times a second with their foot and one pedal! But on the car above, the ABS unit stopped working. There was some serious rain during this week long event, and this car had no windows so the ABS module got wet - and fried the electronics.
You won't know that the brakes are going to lock up with a failed ABS until you hit the brake pedal hard enough to engage the ABS. On my first timed run of that year's Solo Nationals, going into the first corner where I pressed the brakes hard (after the module got wet and fried), the rears locked badly. I fought with the brakes for the next 2 days but it just wouldn't stop worth a damn without the ABS functioning. Why?
It seems that the automotive engineers who design brake systems stopped doing as much development with "regular" brakes after the invention of ABS, and they quit worrying so much about front to rear brake balance in the factory brake master cylinder. "Let the computer figure it out", they said, and the ABS system is used as a dynamic front-to-rear biasing tool.
These are the two E36 BMWs I raced - and used for Vorshlag development - from 2004-2011
And strangely enough, this early 1990's ABS from BMW works pretty dang well, even when we radically change the tire size, compound, and weight of the vehicle. I have years of racing in E36 BMWs, with both 3- and 4-channel ABS systems, in all sorts of conditions. I have found that it is VERY difficult for me to "overdrive" the BMW ABS system and cause it fault. Its happened twice in a dozen years of racing, and both times I was drifting sideways into some tight elements on an autocross course, braking at 100%, and going over a big bump. Freak occurrences and incredibly bad judgement - and only then did the factory BMW ABS start pulsating wildly and I lost ABS function.
With the ABS out of commission, the rear brakes will lock violently and make an E36 want to spin into a corner. Not fun. Losing the ABS ruined my entire Solo Nationals in 2008 - which affected my entire year of racing - and I vowed to never run without ABS again. And thus spurred our ambition to offer an ABS relocation kit for the E36 chassis soon after we started producing the V8 swap kit in 2007...
You can read more below about the specific parts we offer to help relocate the the early (3 channel) and late (4 channel) BMW E36 ABS systems.
Thanks,
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