elbekko Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 Came across this on t'interwebs. A fairly compact electric brake booster that seems to accept some common sized master cylinders. https://irate4x4.com/threads/ibooster-electric-brake-booster.394316/ Might be an interesting upgrade, or a alternative when doing engine swaps that doesn't need vacuum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 That is an interesting thing - I remember the Superfast Matt video on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Will be interesting to see how it performs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Well, is how I would describe it. Had it in there about a week now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 P.s. I think this means I can blame you for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Only if it works well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 3 hours ago, elbekko said: Only if it works well Sop far so good, if anything there is slightly too much assistance, but then I am not really used to driving newer vehicles, when I do, I normally end up faceplanting the windscreen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Might be worth trying to find some info on the CANBUS messages it listens to, pretty sure you can reduce the assistance that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 I have been so far down the rabbit hole it will take me a while write everything down... But from an assistance pov, I don't think you can, but you can make your car brake without touching the pedal... 🤔 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Hmm, surprising. I'd expect that you're able to modulate the braking to make up for regen braking and such? Easy and light handbrake though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreePointFive Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 11 hours ago, Bowie69 said: Do you have a 'before' photo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 30 minutes ago, ThreePointFive said: Do you have a 'before' photo? But that is minus the remote servo, that sat on the weird black bracket lower right of photo.  1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Everything out the way: Roughly where I was hoping it would live: But that was with the Model 3 pedal, I ended up with a Model S pedal as has a steel frame and fits with a bit of fettling. The Model 3 pedal has a PA66/GF bracket.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 I stuck a plate to the underlying angle, with suitable holes in it and worked from there... Note the Model S pedal, and yes I had and would need to 'adjust it' slightly in the press.  You can also see the adapters, from a classic VW Beetle, which allow me to pipe the reservoir in, remotely, otherwise bonnet clearance is an issue. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 The almost finished bracket, mit speedholes, taken from inside footwell: Â 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 All in, including the added brace to the bulkhead, and welded to the wing tube Green bungy is there to give the bonnet height so I don't go too high! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Things are tight.... Er, that came through upside down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 A note on the hydraulics... A lot of people seem to go for the Honda versions of the ibooster, however they use a smaller master, the Tesla Model 3 has a 25mm master, and when you compare number of pistons and sizes on a Model 3 to the 110 calipers I have on LGT they are pretty close, within a couple of mm, so this seemed like a good starting point. The masters fitted are pretty generic Bosch items which are available in other sizes, I am tempted to try a 28 or 33mm master and see what happens, but then I could achieve the same by swapping to RRC calipers.... Brake performance is good, really very good, bit more pedal travel than I am used to, but then I drove my dad's Dacia Duster today and it had the same pedal feel.... So could be like rhat in a Model 3 for all I know...  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toenden Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 11 hours ago, Bowie69 said: but you can make your car brake without touching the pedal... That would be a nice feature in challenge type events! I have more than once had my legpower fade on the brake pedal when that darn copilot is to slowmotion 🙄 /mads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 36 minutes ago, toenden said: That would be a nice feature in challenge type events! I have more than once had my legpower fade on the brake pedal when that darn copilot is to slowmotion 🙄 /mads Given how easy the pedal is, the leg bracing you in the seat is more likely to get tired. Or just fit a line lock to the rear wheels like I have... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreePointFive Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 8 hours ago, Bowie69 said:  Brake performance is good, really very good, bit more pedal travel than I am used to, but then I drove my dad's Dacia Duster today and it had the same pedal feel.... So could be like rhat in a Model 3 for all I know...  When I drove it before, the pedal felt like it barely moved. I found it hard to tell how much brake I was applying, though that wasn't really a problem at 3mph. I didn't realise how far the foot wells come into the engine bay but it makes sense now I think about the seating position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 1 hour ago, ThreePointFive said: When I drove it before, the pedal felt like it barely moved. I found it hard to tell how much brake I was applying, though that wasn't really a problem at 3mph. I didn't realise how far the foot wells come into the engine bay but it makes sense now I think about the seating position. Yep, the thing you probably didn't realise (as I didn't really either) was the remote servo was almost certainly not working properly, once you gave the pedal a good shove the assistance kicked in and then there was more movement. The way vacuum servos work is that they have balanced pressure on both sides of the diaphragm until you press the pedal and overcome a certain amount of pedal movement, at that point a valve opens up and allows atmospheric pressure to the other side of the diaphragm -this valve, I think, was a bit sticky on the old remote servo. You also have to bear in mind that you were pushing two 3/4" master cylinders (453mm2), whereas most vehicles would be running a single tandem 3/4" master (226mm2) so you unassisted pedal effort(i.e. before the servo kicks on) would be ~twice what you would expect, and of course half the movement. I did try 5/8 masters which really helped, however, I think the remote servo was giving up by then and it made the pedal have a weird feel, so I had switched back to the 3/4" before going to Wales and having brake failure. The thing that really pushed me down this road was the old setup had some real compromises, and some other issues: Both masters where under the dash, and really quite difficult to get at, so servicing was a problem. There were two masters, which is more than one failure point There was no balance bar between the masters (there may have been at one time, just not in my ownership), so there was little point in having twin masters. Despite having twin masters, there was only a single remote servo, there's two ways to do this, just assist the front, or, as had been done, make it a single circuit braking system. This is BAD, as if you lose fluid to one master you lose all brakes -you know how I know this. A remote servo made by Lockheed is ~£400 and wouldn't solve the single circuit issues, and they aren't known for being reliable, the non-Lockheed ones are even more unreliable. You can get a £400 twin remote servo, but it is non-Lockheed, so suspect reliability again. In both the previous points there was no space available to fit either the twin, or a second remote servo to make it dual circuit. With all the components it introduced a mass of different failure points. I paid £270 for the iBooster, which is not really very cheap, however, it was made in 2019, and is made by Bosch, apart from pedal rubbers slipping off Tesla have not had a raft of warranty claims relating to iBoosters, so one can assume they are pretty reliable. I did buy a pre-made loom (the plugs and wiring diagrams are available, but I had money available , but not much time) but the loom can be DIY made for ~£45 I think, so you end up with a new, easily available, twin-circuit master, reliable servo and simple connection for <£350 which compared to the compromised Lockheed remote servo is a bit of a bargain. You just need to make it fit, which was a fair bit of work, given space constraints unique to LGT there was a lot of head scratching going on, if it was in a stock Defender I can imagine it all going in quite easily to replace the existing master/servo block, and even be able to use the stock Tesla Model 3 reservoir. 1 hour ago, ThreePointFive said: I didn't realise how far the foot wells come into the engine bay but it makes sense now I think about the seating position. Yes, I had to be careful not to intrude on where the wheel might end up going on full stuff and hard right lock. I had to cut the secondary shock mount off the wing tube (wasn't being used, and no plans to) to squeeze it all in, but I think it will all work. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 On 5/10/2024 at 11:27 PM, Bowie69 said: Things are tight.... Er, that came through upside down? Also, you can see the small aluminium bracket made to hold the MC feed lines in, otherwise you could knock them out and make a terrible mess/lose brakes. It is held in with the original Tesla roll pin. Some people have 3D printed things to do the same job, this took me 20 mins, and about 5p worth of aluminium offcut. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 27 Author Share Posted May 27 On 5/10/2024 at 8:00 PM, elbekko said: Hmm, surprising. I'd expect that you're able to modulate the braking to make up for regen braking and such? Easy and light handbrake though. So, I was doing some reading on this sparked by a similar post on Irate. The official Bosch documentation talks about "power blending". Screenshot because Scribd scrambles things. So that seems like actual braking force in the booster can't be adjusted, but pedal feel can. And this article, mainly the first comment is interesting about the CAN messages: https://www.evcreate.com/ibooster-can-bus/ The SG_ Regen command seems worth playing with. If you can get the pedal to feel a bit harder, you may be able to mimic less assist? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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