909 Motorsport M5 ABS Kit
Mitsubishi EVO 4-5-6

Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS Kit for Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV / V / VI

This is a Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS kit for the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV, V and VI, built around a developed wheel speed sensor package.

At the heart of the system is the Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS, a professional-level motorsport unit used in racing worldwide. The M5 provides ultra-fast processing, highly accurate wheel slip control, and configurable ABS strategies for track use. Eleven selectable calibrations on a 12-position map switch allow the ABS behaviour to be tuned for tyres, surface conditions, and driving style.

Competition EVO IV-VI cars fall into two camps: those that lost their ABS years ago, and those still running a late-1990s road calibration behind tyres and brakes it was never written for. Either way, what stops a motorsport system going in isn’t the hydraulics; it’s getting four honest wheel speed signals off a car whose sensing was never designed for it. That is what this kit solves.

The problem with factory ABS in competition: what track drivers call “ice mode”

ABS works by holding each tyre near a target slip ratio, the difference between wheel speed and vehicle speed, where 0% is a freely rolling tyre and 100% is a locked one. Peak braking force sits somewhere between the two, and exactly where depends on the tyre and the surface. The cycling you feel through the pedal is the system chasing its target, and while it’s in slip control, pressing harder adds nothing; extra pedal force won’t be sent to a tyre the system already considers at its limit.

Road-car calibrations have to be built conservatively: one calibration must stay safe on every surface a road car can meet, down to the very worst. Under genuine circuit braking (real speed, semis or slicks, kerbs and bumps working the tyre) that conservative logic can settle on a slip target far below the grip actually available. The result is what drivers call ice mode: the system refuses to build brake pressure no matter how hard you stand on the pedal, and the only way out is to come almost completely off the brake, let the wheels match the car’s speed, and reapply. If you braked at the limit for the corner, that margin doesn’t exist.

It isn’t a fault, and pads, fluid or bigger discs won’t touch it. It’s a road calibration operating outside the envelope it was designed for. It is also a large part of why so many cars from this era end up with the ABS disconnected rather than sorted.

Motorsport ABS approaches the problem from the other direction: the driver selects the calibration for the tyre and conditions actually in use, and the system controls to a slip target appropriate for genuine circuit grip. Eleven selectable calibrations on the 12-position map switch cover the range from wet circuit to slicks, chosen before the braking zone, not discovered during it.

What’s Included

• Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS control unit
• Wheel speed sensor adapters engineered for the platform
• Mounting hardware for the supplied components

Bias valve and yaw sensor mounting are handled per build. We offer a bias valve mount for the Drenth sequential shifter arrangement, and other placements as custom work alongside your kit; the valve itself is specified per car: pedal-box builds don’t need one. Yaw sensor mounting is likewise per build; we’ve made versions we can reproduce, depending on where the rest of the hardware lives in your car.

Brake lines from the master cylinder to the hydraulic unit are made to suit the vehicle at install: 909 specifications call for Goodridge or Speedflow hardware.

Hydraulic unit mounting

There is no original-location hydraulic unit bracket for the EVO IV-VI. Every install we have done on this platform has used a mounting location chosen to suit the individual car, and we’d rather say that plainly than imply a bolt-in solution that doesn’t exist.

So everything else is here (the M5, the developed sensing and the in-car bias mounting) and the hydraulic unit location is chosen at install. We’re happy to walk your builder through what has worked on previous cars: location, orientation, line routing. If a factory-location bracket gets developed, this page will say so.

ACD and AYC

The kit works with the factory driveline control where the car still runs it, and is equally at home with ECU-based control on built cars; MoTeC’s ACD controller is a known-good pairing in customer cars.

Key Benefits

• Wheel speed sensor adapters engineered for the platform rather than fabricated per car, the part of the job most likely to go wrong, solved
• Bias valve and yaw sensor mounting handled per build: Drenth shifter bias mount available, other placements as custom work
• Honest scope: no invented bolt-in bracket, and 909 guidance on the mounting your car needs
• Eleven selectable ABS calibrations for slicks, semi-slicks and wet circuit work
• Proven Bosch Motorsport reliability

Technical Specifications: Bosch Motorsport M5 ABS

• Control Strategy: High-speed multi-channel wheel slip control
• Maps: Eleven selectable calibrations on a 12-position map switch
• Inputs: 4x wheel speed sensors
• Outputs: Hydraulic modulation via Bosch Motorsport valve block

Bosch Motorsport M5 vs Factory ABS

FAQs

Q: Which cars does this kit suit?
A: The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IV, V and VI. The kit works whether or not the car still has its factory ABS.

Q: My car runs EVO 7-8-9 hubs. Which kit do I order?
A: The EVO 7-8-9 kit. The sensing follows the hubs, not the badge, and many serious IV-VI builds have made that hub upgrade. Cars on custom billet uprights are a custom sensing conversation; get in touch before ordering.

Q: My factory ABS has never caused a problem. Why replace it?
A: Because the problem shows up at competition pace under maximum braking, which is precisely when you can’t afford it. A road calibration has to stay safe on every surface a road car might meet, so at real speed on semis or slicks it can settle on a slip target well below the grip you actually have, and refuse to build pressure no matter how hard you push the pedal.

Q: Does the kit include hydraulic unit mounting?
A: No, and we’d rather say so plainly: there is no original-location bracket for these cars. Everything else is here: the M5, the developed sensing and the in-car bias mounting. The hydraulic unit location is chosen and made at install, with our guidance. See the section above.

Q: Do I keep ACD and AYC?
A: Where the car still runs the factory driveline control, yes. Cars already on ECU-based centre-diff control are equally well served; MoTeC’s ACD controller is a known-good pairing in customer cars.

Q: Do I need special tools or skills to install the kit?
A: Yes, more so than our full integration kits, because the hydraulic unit mounting is designed at install alongside the brake lines. Professional installation is strongly recommended. We can install and commission the system in our Newcastle workshop, or supply the kit with our guidance behind your own builder. We cover the whole job, brackets to commissioning, in what a Bosch Motorsport ABS M5 install actually involves.

Q: Can you ship this kit overseas?
A: Yes. These are 909 vehicle-specific kits and we ship them worldwide. Contact us for freight to your country.

Q: Is the system validated for road use?
A: No, Bosch Motorsport ABS is for track usage only.

Q: Can I adjust the ABS behaviour?
A: Yes. The kit includes a driver-selectable map switch with eleven selectable calibrations, allowing ABS response to be tuned for dry, wet or low-grip conditions.

Q: Will this kit suit a LHD car?
A: We have not had access to a LHD vehicle for testing. For the right pilot customer we would be willing to work together on testing, please get in touch via the contact page.

Q: What's the difference between the Clubsport, Kit 1 and Kit 2 core options?
A: Every option includes the same M5 system and the same 909 platform hardware. The Clubsport core uses Bosch's universal harness, the right choice for most club and time-attack builds. Kit 1 moves to a vehicle-specific loom and supports the M5's advanced control functions for cars with real aero or braking beyond about −2 g, and Kit 2 adds Autosport-specification connectors at the wheel-speed sensor leads for endurance-style service schedules. Our kit comparison guide covers the choice in detail.