Wiring for an S50B32 conversion..

Post Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:10 am

When starting this project the mighty Ian Hayes offered to send me the wiring diagrams for the S50 loom and the changes I'll have to make. I hope to take him up on his offer soon (if I can repair my car or get another) and am wondering: Does anyone have any advice or opinions on this? (not about Ian's help, the actual wiring side of things!)

I'd like to keep all of the feature of the original loom, ie engine checks, oil level, oil temp etc, even though my car has no check panel or M3 clocks (with oil temp) in case I change my car or wiring. Does this make sense? Basically I'd like to wire all of the wires from the E36 loom even if they are plugged into nothing in the E30. (what are the chances of running an E36 M3 Evo OBC grafted into the centre console? Would this require the clocks? See next question:)

Also, I have the clocks from the Roadster which are both big and clever (they have red needles, chrome surrounds an oil temp gauge and general cool factor). Will these fit into the E30 dash in any way that isn't pikey? If it's close and I have to make a little bit of trim, cool. If they are out by much or simply wont fit, sod it. They don't matter to me that much!

How do I wire the security (EWS) system in? I have the entire MRoadster loom (considered trying to fit the dash but chickened out) and all of the keys/white box/black box/antenna.

Many thanks for any help guys..

Jai

Post Fri Jul 07, 2006 8:40 pm

Ians wiring charts are what you need - the man is a genius. They will get the engine wired along with the EWS system.
The EWS isnt that bad, only 5 or 6 wires are actually needed to allow the engine to run. If I can wire the bloody thing in, then Im sure you can

Fitting the M Roadster clocks would be cool

, but it might be a mission from a wiring point of view - the E30 clocks arent touched for the S50 conversion (other than for the tach signal) so Im guessing you would need the dash wiring from the Roadster, or the plugs from the loom. I dont know how the E30 wiring would cope with the digi bits on the clocks.
Glenn did fit the E39 M5 clocks to his E30 dash, but for the wiring Im sure he used the E39 loom.

Ive thought about fitting my E36 M3 clocks, and they look like they will fit in the E30 dash with a bit of work, but its too much extra work for me at the moment.

Post Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:15 am

Flippin eck James, you beat me again

Jai,

Send me the pin number/wire colour for your E30 body plug and the same for the 3.2 Evo engine plug and I'll do you a pinout chart for it. I can also send a nice simple wiring diagram that shows the minimum requirement for the EWS to allow the engine to run.

You can wire everything so it will still function after the conversion. You will need to use a small calibration module to keep the tacho reading correctly though. One thing on my car that still needs looking at is the fuel consumption figures on the OBC. The signal from the E36 ECU is not the same as the one from the E30, so the consumption figures show a lot better than they actually are. I'm 99% sure this can be adjusted using a similar calibration module as the tacho, but I've not got around to trying it yet.

I'm sure it's possible to wire the Z3 clocks into an E30, but I doubt you will get all the digital functions working without a LOT of extra wiring. I personally would say it's more trouble than it's worth, as you can fit an E30 M3 cluster to gain the oil temp and the 8K tacho. The rest is not really necessary.

Cheers,

Ian.

Post Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:42 pm

AAh, nice one. I'd forgotten the M3 clocks also had a higher reading tacho.

I think I'll put that on my 'upgrade later' list. I have a set of VDO guages from an old skool audi ( the ones everyone seems to have) and was going to fit these. They have an ammeter, oil pressure and an oil temperature guage. The pressure gauge has it's own sender which I'll fit with a T piece but don't know what to do about the oil temp. I wonder if the sender on the engine is suitable (doubt it though, unless BMW uses VDO senders that happen to be same resistance values). Perhaps I'll keep the BMW sender for the M3 clocks and get a sump plug temp sender.

Ian: do you have the complete wiring diagrams for the Z3M and the e30 318is? As well as your nifty pin out diagram I'm also looking to separate the Z3M ABS loom and fit with an E30 ABS accessory plug so it'll bolt in. I have the entire system and rather than go out and strip a 325 of ABS I thought I'd have a go at fitting the Z3 one. The only concern is the front ABS rings on my M3 E30 strutsnmight be wrong for the system. Maybe E28 ones will be if they are not? Worst come to the worst I'd have to fit E36M3Evo struts and use the Z3M hubs I have (and all the problems associated with fitting E36 struts)

Just had a cash injection so am back to buying and preparing after a 6 month break from it whilst I recovered from buying the engine! A friend has access to a nice workshop now it's just miles away.

Many thanks.

Jai

Post Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:36 pm

jaistanley wrote:Ian: do you have the complete wiring diagrams for the Z3M and the e30 318is? As well as your nifty pin out diagram I'm also looking to separate the Z3M ABS loom and fit with an E30 ABS accessory plug so it'll bolt in. I have the entire system and rather than go out and strip a 325 of ABS I thought I'd have a go at fitting the Z3 one. The only concern is the front ABS rings on my M3 E30 strutsnmight be wrong for the system. Maybe E28 ones will be if they are not? Worst come to the worst I'd have to fit E36M3Evo struts and use the Z3M hubs I have (and all the problems associated with fitting E36 struts)

I'm afraid I don't have any diagrams for the Z3M. I also think you are asking for trouble tring to fit the Z3 ABS system. It will be MUCH easier to get a proper E30 setup then tring to figure out the Z3M system. There's just so many unknowns that it's really not worth the hastle.

Ian.