Traction control?

[DancingTosan]

Hey TX Dad, I'm with you on this quest, let's compare notes!

I think some of the posts on this thread are a bit flippant, not really paying much mind to the fact that you crashed your mk4 and are now looking to add a little bit extra safety to your mk5. This is a totally reasonable thing to do, and just telling you to "toughen up and love the 1960's tech" or "get better" isn't particularly helpful.

I intend to go to a high performance driving school, and I think that's a good suggestion, but it doesn't answer the actual question, what about traction control?

Texas sees plenty of rain and wet roads, as does my native Seattle. I'd like to have a car that can be safe(r) on a wet road than one that is desert-dry-road only.

I did some research and this is what I found out.

* Holley Terminator X Max *would* be a nice option, but only for a gen 1 or 2 Coyote, you've already got a gen 4x, so that's no good. I also am planning to buy the gen 4x coyote, so we're in the same boat for the Holley option.
* RaceTCS (specifically v3) looks like a decent aftermarket option for adding TC to an existing ECU. I've sent a query to the maker about Coyote 4x control pack support. My AI research buddy (Grok in this case) thought that they would need to swap some transistors at the factory (+$50?) for coyote support. I'll update when I get that info back. It's listed as 'track only', but I think it could be tuned for milder street focus? Integrates with stock wheel speed sensors (see ABS below).
* Davis Technologies has an alternative that uses a different sensor approach. I didn't go very far researching this one, because the RaceTCS sensor pattern fits with my ABS plan.
* some aftermarket race ECUs exist with traction control, but they seem pretty race focused and very DIY for setup, I'm not sure how well they'd handle a coyote and how much work it would be to set one up. The holley seemed best for aftermarket ECU, but it only supports the earlier coyotes.

ABS option?
I am running the 11" 'stock' brakes in front (SN95) and 13" GT IRS brakes in the rear (S550). I did some research (again with a heavily coached AI) and determined that the Ford '15-'17 HCU should work for ABS in my setup. I would need to add wheel sensors, with custom brackets to position the sensors, but both brake types (SN95 and S550) have 50 notch tone rings that should be compatible with both generations of sensor. So I ordered some S550 sensors (mustang 2015-2020) I can provide the exact part #'s, but they are the ones that match the HCU: the front passenger and driver are different sensors, but the rear uses the same sensor on both sides (symmetrical).

I hope that using Mustang brakes, Mustang ABS, Mustang sensors and Mustang ECU should keep all of the parts of the ABS setup playing well together. The RaceTCS is intended as an aftermarket tool, that supports coyote swaps, and that's effectively what we're dealing with in a kit car, so it should play along as well.

Apparently (I haven't tried any of this yet), it should work to splice the sensor into both the HCU and the RaceTCS or its purposes, and I may also need to disable an ECU setting that would be confused by the method the RaceTCS injection control works.

If this all goes according to plan, I should be able to get stock coyote ECU, playing well with the remote brake booster (the FFR option), the ABS HCU and Race TCS for traction control.

It's all a bit speculative right now, and I'm researching the options and trying to piece together a plan.


I hope my research can help your quest to add a little modern safety features to the MK5. Please share back any learnings you find. Let's work together on this project!