New booster option for e30 - Bosch iBooster

[Pootis]

RHD Tesla model S booster is on its way to me, and I have the full sikky kit... all I'd need is an engine. Too bad I'm selling it. :]

But then again I'd prefer an N52.

One of your friends has to have a 5.3 or something you can borrow

[nando]

Nice, did you score one of the ones on Ebay? I have the funds in my PP to pick one up, but I've been trying to wait for the "right" one, and I need to do some work to the X5 before anything happens on the E30 anyway. Swapping out the booster would be a pretty nice winter project though!

[Bored]

Yeah that is not viable. So who is going to be the first to try to fit the i booster with the sikky kit? Asking for a friend

RHD Tesla model S booster is on its way to me, and I have the full sikky kit... all I'd need is an engine. Too bad I'm selling it. :]

But then again I'd prefer an N52.

[Pootis]

Yeah that is not viable. So who is going to be the first to try to fit the i booster with the sikky kit? Asking for a friend

[nando]

yeah, I was looking on ebay and found some other parts of that. definitely not the same thing. there's another system used on some Hondas that's sort of like the Toyota one.

[hubcapboy]

That Toyota part is a component in a much more complicated system.

[nando]

I'm not not sure it's remotely equivalent to the bosch booster- it has a tiny little electric motor on it and no visible gearbox.

if you want to mess around with adapter plates, the Gen1 iBooster for the 2017-2020 CR-V are about $200. It's basically identical to the Tesla booster - except maybe programming, but we're using it in fail safe mode anyway.

[tyeler18]

Yeah you would probably have to make a custom adapter plate but that booster looks enticing. I haven't seen anyone running them though

That firewall plate looks like it unbolts from the master. Shouldn't be hard to adapt if that's the case. Now you've got me wanting to order and try it since its dirt cheap!

[Pootis]

Yeah you would probably have to make a custom adapter plate but that booster looks enticing. I haven't seen anyone running them though

[nando]

It looks like the firewall pattern is wrong (too narrow, or too tall - the E30's is square). Mostly, that electric motor looks tiny, it's hard to tell if it would be as effective. It's cheap though!

[Pootis]

Just stumbled upon this. Anyone know anything about them or if there is a chance it could work??

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2008-TOYOTA-CAMRY-HYBRID-BRAKE-MASTER-CYLINDER-138110-10450-OEM-07-08-09-/132901106294

[nando]

Well, the flange *does* unbolt, it's just a much larger stamped piece, and there are more bolts. But I'll bet the Honda Accord and Model 3 bolt patterns are the same, potentially a cheaper option for other E30 swaps.

Funny enough, there are about as many Model 3s sold a year now as Accords. So really, choices should be plentiful. Who knew the EV revolution would benefit our old car hobby..

[hubcapboy]

It looks like the castings are identical, but the flanges are different (the CR-V's is thinner). However, it does unbolt from the main booster housing:

This made me realize I didn't mention it earlier: the Gen 1 firewall housing bolts on with two bolts from the firewall side. You can see the bulges where they thread in.

It looks like the Honda just has a steel flange instead of aluminum.

The Gen2 doesn’t seem to have swappable flanges

[FredK]

I just got to try it. Compared to my current brakes, it feels much smoother. No delay.
it feels like when you're riding a nice e-bike, it doesn't feel like the motor is helping but you just have a lot of wind at your back.
The true test will be if it feels uncommunicative or overboosted on the road

Nice! I wouldn't expect much delay as it's a modern electromechanical system. I think especially on an E30 with relatively small F/R caliper pistons, it won't feel that overboosted, but time will tell! I'll def be checking in on this thread, this is a pretty exciting development.

[FredK]

Holy cow! FredK in da house!

To give some color to my discussion with hubcapboy - the N52 three stage manifold takes up a shit ton of room. Basically, if the Model S booster clears that by a finger width, it's going to clear pretty much everything else by a mile. IMO, it makes swaps of all kinds a much simpler and cheaper proposition.

I'm still not sure about the model 3 / honda booster. It probably clears a lot of typical swaps (certainly M5X). It could clear the S54. Clearing the N52 is a bigger hurdle.

Yeah, the N52 manifold is huge! I actually went back to boosted brakes, I'm using a Smart ForTwo brake booster, and it rubs on just one protrusion of the S54 intake plenum and can easily be clearanced. Given the size of the N52 plenum, I do not think the ForTwo booster will work, but is an inexpensive alternative for folks looking to retain boosted brakes with an S54.