m52 to e30 wiring connection

Moderator: martauto

Post Reply
eddiewilsonzim
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:28 pm

Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:36 pm

Hie, I recently put a m52 engine into a e30 323i body, but i cant seem to find where to plug the x20 connector on the body, do I have to cut some wires on the fuse box to modify a connector to it
User avatar
joeyb
E30 Zone Regular
E30 Zone Regular
Posts: 421
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:00 pm
Location: Fareham, Hampshire

Mon Mar 04, 2019 9:37 am

Hi Eddie,

I guess you haven't read through the Wiki pages on the subject?

Start here: https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.p ... Swap_-_M5x

And in the Loom section you'll find the loom table info you will need to modify your existing loom (yes the X20 plug needs to go)

https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.p ... =M5x_Looms
User avatar
Brianmoooore
E30 Zone Team Member
E30 Zone Team Member
Posts: 49358
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm

Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:57 pm

eddiewilsonzim wrote:
Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:36 pm
Hie, I recently put a m52 engine into a e30 323i body, but i cant seem to find where to plug the x20 connector on the body, do I have to cut some wires on the fuse box to modify a connector to it
If your E30 was born as a 323i it's going to be a fairly early model, which may have a different engine loom socket to the majority of E30s.
Do you have a 20 pin round socket next to the fusebox, where the old engine loom was plugged in, or the older rectangular version.
eddiewilsonzim
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:28 pm

Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:23 pm

i have a rectangular connection within the car under the glove compartment , but its connected to another socket which i havent traced
User avatar
Brianmoooore
E30 Zone Team Member
E30 Zone Team Member
Posts: 49358
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm

Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:57 pm

Using this link, you can see which wires in the rectangular plug are the equivalents of those in the newer round plug: /www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php?title=C101 and then by using the second link in joeyb's post, you can go on to see where they connect to in the M52 loom.
You will notice that some of the wires in the round plug are missing from the rectangular plug. These are found in the three pin C104 connector, which you will find somewhere behind the instrument cluster area, between your old engine loom, near the ECU, and the body loom near to the instrument cluster.
Don't over think the problem - there's only three wires that are actually involved with making your new engine run (green, green/purple and black/yellow), plus the battery connections - red to positive, brown or brown/orange to negative. Others are instrumentation, etc.
eddiewilsonzim
E30 Zone Newbie
E30 Zone Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:28 pm

Fri Mar 08, 2019 10:01 am

thanx alot mate, let me work on those connections and give you feedback once im done,

really appreciated
Post Reply