E30 Zone

Once this college year is over I'll be working my arse off through summer to finish the car off and hopefully have a turbo strapped to it.

I have all the mechanicals figured out but I am at a loss as to how to control it. I know Gunni was talking about a plug and play VEMS solution, did anything ever come of that (and I would be very reluctant using him given the legal issues he landed himself in).

So what can I use and how do I go about it? I can solder to a decent standard and given comprehensive instructions I see no problem in building my own, believe that's a popular option with megasquirt?

And how does it work in terms of plugging it into the loom? Ideally I would like to plug it into the standard motronic 88 pin connector and use the standard loom, but again, no idea how this is usually done. If someone knowledgable could fill me in it would be much appreciated.

Ross

Right so been scouring the net for information and found this conversion sheet:

http://savarturbo.se/~mattias/motor/vem ... le-m50.pdf

Which seems easy enough to follow, however it seems Gunni was and possibly still is offering a plug and play conversion harness like this:



So what do people think? And what are other people using? Craig, I see you used VEMS, can you offer any advice?

You really need to ask the person that will be tuning it, if they cant use vems for example, your not going to do any good by fitting it

I have an E36 325i loom with a unichip piggyback unit already wired in that will be for sale if its any good for what you have in mind

That is another problem Dan, we don't have any tuners over here. One guy comes over annually apparently who has a good reputation but I haven't been able to find out any details.

That's one of the reasons I am looking at VEMS, it uses MegaTune and a lot of people offer base maps and share maps online so finding something that gets it running won't be a problem. Then I can adjust it to keep the AFR's on the safe side and take it to the UK and go from there. The joys of living on an island!

Not familiar with unichips but think it will be a bit basic. Is it MAP based?

Contact sheps on here, I believe he is a unichip dealer/agent/mapper, I dont know much about them TBH

megasquirt 3, or ms3 pro.

You seem to get less for your money with MS which has put me off it.

faster processor more i/o pins but no on board wide band, exhaust gas temp or knock. so swings and round about's my n/a m20b25 has been running ms3 for the last 30,000 miles used every day, never been tuned by a pro and iv never had any probs with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEMS see there for comparison

See the wide band, EGT and knock sensors are what made the VEMS stand out for me, all very handy things to have with a boosted engine.

Yeah I used an innovative wide band controller it works out about 130 with the Bosch sensor. I would assume vems won't come with the lambda sensor so that will be about another 60 for you to shed out. I ended up making my own egt circuit me about 20 in parts but seems to work fairly well, there is a add on knock board iv been toying with but it seems to take a lot to get audible knock so will see about that. also ended up running the speed signal from the clocks in to my ecu so can log road speed and gear it is also used for speed based launch controll and also for when to get in to the idle side off things say below 5mph with no throttle it goes in to a idle routine drives really smooth using that. Next is to connect a front abs sensor up to play around with traction controll, and wheel speed based launch. Oh and ms3 gives you a mil light function as well

I was waiting for some replies on this thread as its kind of the stage im at with my conversion too . i was almost set on ms3 and found some kits in America quite cheap , i was looking at the plug in and play ones but they are all for the 3 row ecu plug ,mine being an early sport its just 2 row .
interesting to see what others are running i always thought everyone was on VEMS and megasquirt

Vems is the best pound for pound standalone management out there at the moment IMO
it comes with a 4k map sensor, wideband, egt and is ready for "knock" which is imperative if your running boost!

it's got so may features and add on's to it
infact I'm sure there's people out there now running/tuning it via there android devices,
dont ask me how they're doing it
or how any of the features work for that matter,
i'm clueless, i'm just a driver lol


But.......... I do have to say, if you get VEMS and need someone to map it then 100% Gunni is the guy to see,
I know your in Jersey but the trip to Oxford would be time and money well spent,
I should know I did about a 530-40 mile round trip to get the M50 turbo mapped,
and he was like a ferret so to speak, allover the engine, fault finding, spent hours and hours on the laptop/rolling road just so he knew it was "spot on"


I know you were saying you would be "dubious" using gunni because of the trouble he landed in,
but that was due to a manifold that he was asked to build, he passed it onto some guy at DIracing...? who ballsed it up, and not just on 1 occasion,
so because gunni was asked to do the manifold, when it all went wrong,
obviously he got it in the neck from the guy who asked for it to be built.
it was nothing to do with the mapping/tuning side of things,
but if your in a position like gunni is, 1 bad review can and will always have a knock on effect unfortunately


there has never been any question to how good he is at mapping,
he really, really, does know his sh1t!!

I still speak to him now even tho he mapped mine about a year and a half ago,

if i have the slightest problem, or think there is a problem with the running of things he's always there ready to read the log data from the ecu and if it needed it, he'll tweak the settings and send a new "map" so it's all running sweetly

Awesome, makes me feel a lot easier about using him. I'll fire him off a PM soon.

I'll be going for a pretty similar set up to yours, minus that lovely manifold you built. We be going with the Good'n'tight/Blunttech jobbie with a modified wastegate. Sadly it won't be twin scroll:

http://bmw.blunttech.com/Top-Mount-Turb ... 38723.html

How are you finding the car?

ross_jsy wrote:Awesome, makes me feel a lot easier about using him. I'll fire him off a PM soon.

you wont regret it

ross_jsy wrote: I'll be going for a pretty similar set up to yours, minus that lovely manifold you built. We be going with the Good'n'tight/Blunttech jobbie with a modified wastegate. Sadly it won't be twin scroll:

http://bmw.blunttech.com/Top-Mount-Turb ... 38723.html

That manifold looks good, 304 grade stainless is far greater than most of the manifolds on the market

ross_jsy wrote:How are you finding the car?

Errm, how to put it,

have you seen the film castaway, with tom hanks?
where he has a long hard slog at making fire, he finally does it, and he starts waving his arms about, looking up at the sky shouting.. Look, Look, Look what i'v created!!!!! then starts dancing about lol

I feel like that everytime i drive the thing, sad i know But it was one hell of a journey getting it to where it is now haha

there's only 1 problem, it's bloody useless in the wet with A048 tyres on

it's been off the road since the gritters came out up here in October
cant wait to get it back out!

what turbo are you using? and are you heading for the magic 500 bhp?

Your build thread is fantastic, had another read of it the other day.

Turbo wise will probably be a Holset hx35 or hx40, need to research a bit more what size I'll be after. Probably be using a Tial w/g with a screamer pipe and a 3 inch downpipe. Did you use 3"? Was in the garage with a tape the other night. Even with DanThe's splined shaft it's bloody tight down there!

That's the aim! Engine is a good one, 35k FBMWSH out of an auto e36 so I couldn't ask for a better starting point.

Out of interest Craig, you said you were thinking about making some manifolds to sell. Has that gone out the window? If not, dare I ask how much? It's going to be a relative budget build so probably out of my reach

Yeah my build thread definitely had it's highs and low's lol but it's all come good in the end

The downpipe we knocked up is a 3 inch, it is a little tight,
but it fits perfectly with no rubbing issues anywhere, i'v even got the w/g down that way,
(filtered back into the exhaust)
with the standard linkage, but with the rubber removed then welded it together.

so there is room there, you just have to utilize it properly.


the manifolds...

we would have to come up with a different design if the manifold is'nt going to be twin scroll,

i'll have a talk with my Icelandic welding mad man partner and see what we can come up with,
but at the moment we've got nothing to go off, so cant make a jig or anything, unless we buy one in and copy it,

I know what he'll say tho, "we'll just use your car as a mock up"

tbh now that mine is all working i dont really want to be taking it to bit's

but, i'll see if we can come up with something.

ross_jsy wrote: http://bmw.blunttech.com/Top-Mount-Turb ... 38723.html

How much does that work out at once shipping etc is considered?

I would prefer twin scroll Craig, in fact since I will more than likely using a Holset, they are mainly twin scroll.

Not sure Lee, can't see it coming in at much more than £350 with a squiffy customs note about it's actual value (In jersey we have to pay 5% if it's valued at more than £300, woe is me)