Brilliant Red M3 - S50B32 (DONE - mot passed)

[MrBenn]

A small update;

Had to replace a seized windscreen wiper motor yesterday, jeez that was fun! Much harder than on a facelift e30, the bolts are under the motor!

It's nearly all done now, had a few problems with electrical issues as the wiring is slightly different on cars from different years so after pulling apart the old x20-c101 link cable, I found may of the wires I needed weren't connected and had been cut too short so I made a new cable.

Old


New


This solved quite a few of my problems but not all.

Got a new E28 M5 coding plug from BMW which replaces the standard one.

E30 left - E28 right

As you can see its different in size but can be connected to the instrument cluster without its plastic shroud. I had a quick look at the circuit board and it was obvious they were identical in function just the physical size of the board and pins were different.I was bored last night so just unsoldered both chips and put the E28 chip on the E30 board and put it back in the e30 shroud, simples.


E30 chip removed


E28 chip removed


E28 chip on E30 board


All back together.

Jobs left to do;
Fit new p/s crush washers and fill p/s system
Fit new brake lines and bleed brakes/clutch
Oil temperature wiring
ABS wiring

Might be done by the end of the day, fingers crossed!

[beardymat]

will that coding plug mod work the tacho correctly? i have a box to convert the signal in mine but it was a bit tempremental so a proper fix would be good.

Part no. please

Im hoping to get the bay painted in mine this weekend so then the real work can start. My S50 loom has been modified to just plug into the E30 loom but with it being an earlier car i believe there are a couple of things to check.

[MrBenn]

Hi Matt, so I have read from the guys in the know on here, there is a thread somewhere - search "S50 AND coding" its one of the top results

Part number is B62.11.1.377.657 about £30 from the dealers

I can email you a good file for the X20 pins but so far not found a great one for the C101 so I've just been searching about on here for certain pins I'm not sure of. I'll be doing the same and cutting off the X20 altogether, just want to get everything working first.

Alex

[beardymat]

Cheers for that Alex, im wanting to do the conversion as neatley as possible to get an oem type look so any little tips like this are great, I must have read 10+ S50 swap threads on here and on S14.net with little bits taken from each one.

ive chopped the C101 out of the doner car so i can easily compare the colours on the pins in the M3 and tackle the ones that dont match one by one. Brianmoore has already pointed out a rougue earth on the early cars iirc which i will have to look out for.

im really looking forward to pulling apart the S50 loom to get the ecu in the stock E30 position

[MrBenn]

Cheers for that Alex, im wanting to do the conversion as neatley as possible to get an oem type look so any little tips like this are great, I must have read 10+ S50 swap threads on here and on S14.net with little bits taken from each one.

ive chopped the C101 out of the doner car so i can easily compare the colours on the pins in the M3 and tackle the ones that dont match one by one. Brianmoore has already pointed out a rougue earth on the early cars iirc which i will have to look out for.

im really looking forward to pulling apart the S50 loom to get the ecu in the stock E30 position

No worries mate. Likewise, theres plenty of different ways to skin this cat, some better than others.

A little problem I've just found is that the e30 m3 has a pin 19 (brown/yellow) on the body side of c101 for the oil temp gauge in the cluster BUT the engine side c101 I cut off a scrapper doesn't have this, so I need to figure out how to remove the pins so I can take one out of another c101 and put it in mine.
I'm not sure what year yours is, but mine has the ABS (red/yellow) on pin 20, but yes I also checked this before first crankage.

I cut off the big plastic shroud that holds all the s50 wiring, and with a bit of untangling the ecu goes through to almost the perfect position. You'll see when you get it apart that plenty of the wires can be shortened to get rid of some of the bulk and then it should all neatly fit in the s14/m40 cover. I haven't done any shortening yet so its just been ziptied and loom wrapped and then zip tied into the s14 cover, it looks a bit of a state!

[E30BeemerLad]

Matt, some pics of the "finessing" (bodgery) i did to the corner of the transmission tunnel on the touring to fit the S50 manifold. Click on the pics to see full size

[beardymat]

That still looks bloody tight Lee, im planning on using a spare S50 manifold i have and using the no.3 primary off that in place of no.1, with a little carefull planning and modding it should still be equal length.

No pesky steering linkage on M3`s

[Jhonno]

Just bash the bulkhead Matt..

I am really not a fan of loom 'adapters'.. Just do it properly imo, looks so much better

[MrBenn]

PROBLEM! - Had it running just a minute ago, after a couple of minutes it just died. Restarted it again and within a few seconds it died again. Now when I turn the ignition on I can't hear the fuel pump buzz into action. Fuses all look fine. Any suggestions?

[beardymat]

could be a sticking pump especially if its been sat dry for a bit, Tried a little tap?

[MrBenn]

Ok, gave it a little tappy tap tap, nothing.

Ran a 12v from the battery to the pump and the pump buzzed into life.

This was all working for the last couple of days, I mention an Mot and it shits itself!

I've plugged back in the old x20-c101 just incase there was a problem in my wiring, still the same.

I've checked fuse 11 and uprated it as per Glenns advice, still the same.

I've changed all the mini replays around, still the same.

WTF!(have I done)

[jmc330i]

The fuel pump doesnt always buzz on ignition on mine, but thats with the E30 pump, not sure if the E36 pump differs.

I did have an odd starting problem with mine, just after I got it done (and just before the MOT coincidently) - same symptoms as above. Fitted a new battery and it was fine - it seems if the battery is not in top condition, the S50 doesnt want to know - the old battery would start an M20 E30 and my diesel 306 no problems.

Will be worth cleaning the plugs as well, as if you have been trying to start it, the plugs will get pretty fouled up.

[MrBenn]

James, thanks for the input.

The system has been running for about a week, every time I turn the ignition you hear a whirring from the pump, but this is now NOT happening.
I ran a 12v from the battery and this got the pump going so the battery is fine.
Cheers for the ideas though.

Alex

[jmc330i]

Mine was also up and running (and had been driven on a private road once or twice) for about 1 to 2 weeks before the problem occurred.

Again different fuel pumps I know, but my pump also ran when given a 12v feed (my first thought was the fuel pump had packed up, so I tried that).
After rechecking all the wiring that I had done, checked all the fuses, relays and cleaned the plugs etc etc, I found nothing and sorted nothing. The battery had been on charge but still it wouldnt start, so in a last ditch attempt I tired another battery - the car fired and ran fine.

I had had the car running that morning, then I went to move it back on to the drive in the afternoon and it wouldnt start - it would turn over, fire up and run, then die pretty much straight away. The only part I changed was the battery, it fired up first turn and ran sweet straight away.

Refitted the old battery and the problem returned.

[MrBenn]

I do remember reading about that!

I will get a new battery tomorrow and give it a try, I think you might be onto something as the battery is questionable, fingers crossed.

Cheers dude!

[ian332isport]

Hi Alex,

Check to see if the EWS module is clicking when you turn the ignition on. If it's not, then that's your problem.

Without EWS, the engine will fire for a couple of seconds and then die. It's possible something has worked loose somewhere.

It should click once when you turn the ignition on, and then click again approx 10 seconds after you turn the ignition off.

Cheers,

Ian.

[MrBenn]

Hi Ian, cheers for the suggestion. The EWS wasn't clicking when I turned the ignition so I had a quick look at the wiring. Glenn had joined the permenant 12v and the ignition switched 12v, but I have now changed it to match this diagram you made.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6831 ... uirvb0.jpg

Unfortunately this hasn't cured the problem.

There is no sound from the fuel pump when I turn the ignition, where before this was very obvious. All very annoying as it was all working and now its not.

Any other ideas?

thanks again,
Alex

[Larsen-Racing]

Hi Alex!

Doing a S50B32 swap into my E30M3, but can't sort out the wiring

I have tried a couple of combination's but no luck. Only thing that happens is that the starter motor is starting when I turn the ignition in pos. 2. And I have no fuel pump activity eather....

Got a motor connector (C101???) from a donor car with check control. Seems that the pins are matching but we do not use oil level (pin 2 and 10 i think) in the M3. So they will be open.
Ummmm, colors is not matching from the car loom and the donor motor connector though.

EWSII is wired like the diagram you posted right over here, but the engine would have started without the EWS though.

I have grounded the engine as well, almost forgot it. And the instrument cluster is in. No water on engine and coils are unplugged.

Cheers

[ian332isport]

Hi Ian, cheers for the suggestion. The EWS wasn't clicking when I turned the ignition so I had a quick look at the wiring. Glenn had joined the permenant 12v and the ignition switched 12v, but I have now changed it to match this diagram you made.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6831 ... uirvb0.jpg

Unfortunately this hasn't cured the problem.

There is no sound from the fuel pump when I turn the ignition, where before this was very obvious. All very annoying as it was all working and now its not.

Any other ideas?

thanks again,
Alex

Alex,

You're wasting your time looking at anything else until the EWS module can be heard to click.

Make sure the transponder chip is correctly located inside the antenna loop, and also worth trying another loop. Plenty of people have been foiled by this.

Ian.

[Dezzy]

I know that Danthe did an S50 loom and ews where the colour wires were the wrong way round on the ews to ecu loom. It's worth pming him I reckon. There is not much he can't help with in my experiancd.

[MrBenn]

Alex,

You're wasting your time looking at anything else until the EWS module can be heard to click.

Make sure the transponder chip is correctly located inside the antenna loop, and also worth trying another loop. Plenty of people have been foiled by this.

Ian.

Hi Ian, sorry, I didn't explain things very well. The EWS module wasn't clicking as it was on all the time. I changed the wiring to match your diagram and it now clicks when I turn the ignition on and about 10 seconds after I turn it off.

Alex

[MrBenn]

Ok, decided to try a new battery today just to be sure. Still the same. I think I've fucked it!

[Larsen-Racing]

Have you connected the white and violet wire from the main EWS module to the engine loom?

[MrBenn]

I think my fuel pump has given up

Just been back and tried putting a live straight to the pump and nothing! I think this is probably my problem.

[MrBenn]

All fixed again. There was a dodgy connection to the pump. Only took 5 days to find it

But its running again now and I can now get back to my shortish list of things needed for the MOT.

[inlovewithRWD]

[glenn]

All fixed again. There was a dodgy connection to the pump. Only took 5 days to find it

But its running again now and I can now get back to my shortish list of things needed for the MOT.

good news alex

[crossie]

@ MrBenn

Are you selling your 1990 - E30 M3 -Black - Shell ??

If yes can you pm me a price or have you sold it ages ago?

[MrBenn]

Ok, so my shortish list of things for the MOT have taken weeks, what can I say, I'm not a full time mechanic, and I generally only get time in the week and evenings to work on it. Its booked in for its MOT @2pm this afternoon. Fingers crossed!

[MrBenn]

Also just wanted to say thanks to; PacerPete, Ian332isport and Glenn for your help and advice, your all very patient with such a mechanical numpty, cheers guys

[Dezzy]

Well done that man!

[MrBenn]

Cheers Dez! After 6 weeks of working on it, I was really nervous driving it down the road to the mot station, but thankfully no strange noises and it felt good, fingers crossed it'll be given the all clear and I can take it for a longer run later

[tomson]

So how did you get on Alex ?

[MrBenn]

Unfortunately failed on some silly stuff I should have checked before I went down; 1, main beam on drivers side not working. 2, one of the number plate lights wasn't working 3, dipped to full beam switch wasn't working 4, one of my exhaust mounts wasn't fully secured 5, I'd managed to wire the reverse lights to the gear selection sensor so the reverse lights were on in every gear.
All sorted now and ready for a retest in about an hour

[Dezzy]

Full day of driving fun ahead?