1989 325i 24v Autoswap

[jahnaboi]

So, I've been working on and off on a swap during school. I started off with a 1998 4 door Automatic m3 (donor). Car I'm putting it into is a 1989 325i Automatic.

I haven't really seen any detailed information about doing a 24v swap retaining the automatic transmission. Well right off the bat you will NOT be able to use the 98' transmission for electronic reasons when converting to obd1.

Bought a 94' 325i rebuilt transmission w/ converter/oil lines. Also got a full obd1 94' auto harness with all sensors/hfm/everything for the conversion. My only concern is that e36's came with two plugs to the fuse box. For obvious reasons the e36 retained the second plug for the automatic ecu/electronics at the fuse box. Would anyone care to help me sort through what can be done to integrate the auto harness to work with the e30 fuse box since it has no such thing.

Does anyone know what the connector is called? Is it another x20? x511?

From looking at the ETK manuals, its a little hard to understand. I guess I'll have to get the wiring colors and see what they actually connect to, to actually figure out where to connect them... If anyone has any idea it would be more than helpful.

So far things completed:

-Obd1 conversion
-Transmission/Motor assembled
-e36 Shifter assembly on e30 (e36 = cable; e30 = lever type)
-x20 wiring adapter
-Oil Pan kit assembled
-Engine bay cleaned

My only obstacle is the damn wannabe x20/x511 plug for the automatic transmission. I NEED HELP!

-Jasper

[lennon]

auto??why?

[drumad]

He's asking for help, not for people's opinions on his choice for an automatic.

Some people prefer it.

*preps for the "omg-you're-a-noob-you-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about-you-only-joined-in-Aug-2009-you-don't-know-shit" posse*

[samiam3356]

Thats funny

[SamE30e]

auto??why?

Why not? Maybe he's missing his left leg, or right hand, or has a phobia of manual cars.

[e30s50dan]

Don't forget the dreaded lines to the radiator and other crap that comes with autos

[xLegendOZWest]

we tried doing this with my cabrio. the automatic used by the 24v is considerably larger then any trans found in an e30. unless you want to do MAJOR modification to the tranny tunnel it wont fit. not to mention the auto is seriously 75lbs more then the zf or g260 you could use instead. not to mention the wiring is truley insane. you will spend HOURS upon HOURS looking through ETMs. and still may not find anything. as i seem to recall those lines going to components the E30 does not have. not to mention the E36 auto trans has its own ECU...

moral is go 5 speed....... K thanks

[jahnaboi]

auto??why?

Because its not my car.

we tried doing this with my cabrio. the automatic used by the 24v is considerably larger then any trans found in an e30. unless you want to do MAJOR modification to the tranny tunnel it wont fit. not to mention the auto is seriously 75lbs more then the zf or g260 you could use instead. not to mention the wiring is truley insane. you will spend HOURS upon HOURS looking through ETMs. and still may not find anything. as i seem to recall those lines going to components the E30 does not have. not to mention the E36 auto trans has its own ECU...

moral is go 5 speed....... K thanks

The automatic transmissions that came with the e36 325i's are not much larger than the e30 slush box. I've taken measurements and even done side by side comparisons that validated my hunch. As far as complications, the only complications is the wiring. All you have done at this point was state what I've already stated. I don't need know your morals as well.

If no one cares to help then I'll figure it out myself. Just thought someone may have done it, somewhere. Was worth a try at least.

-Jasper

[SamE30e]

Best thing you can do is get the ETM's and start sortin' lol
I don't think there is much info on it because very little people have done it, I want to see it done.

[xLegendOZWest]

well it could be a smaller tunnel in the cabrio as aposed to the coupe/sedan.
it wouldnt fit in mine attached to the engine.

and sorry if you found my findings useless. i was just letting you know what id experienced when i tried it.

and "moral is" is a figure of speech. please dont read it as me being a cock.

hope you figure it out though. because im pretty sure youll have been the first.

[White325is]

Im stoked to see an Auto swap with a 24V. I was going to do it with one of my E30s just to have a nice DD. But I was going to use the E30 auto trans and get a better converter.

[chuck90m3]

I was going to use the E30 auto trans and get a better converter.

what where you going to do for the kick down cable on the E30 auto trans? any ideas on how to connect it to the TB linkage?

[White325is]

Mr EricT is able to make the proper linkage as he works in a machine shop. So it wasnt an issue.
On a side note, PM sent.

[ethrty]

My M20B20 was auto and i always wanted manual. converted that to manual and i kinda miss the auto sometimes. Now i have M52, i considered going back to auto, but that wiring looks like far too much fun for me. are you going for a box with tiptronic?

[jahnaboi]

Small Update:

Haven't been working on the car recently because I've come down with the stomach flu causing me to use the restroom for the past 3 days every hour or couple of hours.

Did a mock up test fit of the motor and transmission within the car. Its a very tight fit. Due to the bed pan of the autotransmission being wider by a little the gear selector switch has no room to travel freely without interference. Only way to solve this is with a heavy rubber mallet/brass hammer. I will be widening just the lower part of the tunnel to make room for this issue. Other than that it should not be an issue.

On the issue of my concern, still remains the wiring. The plug is exactly like an x20. I'm having trouble finding where to find this plug on the ETM manuals. If anyone could help point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.

By pulling back the rubber boot of the engine side auto x20 connector, 13 wires were/are used.

Pin - Color - Function?

13 - Yellow/Silver (? color was lighter than Grey darker than White) - ?
14 - Blue/Red (double red stripes) - ?
15 - Violet - ?
16 - Brown/Violet - ?
17 - Grey/Yellow - ?
18 - Blue/Black - ?
19 - Brown/Black - ?
20 - Blue/White - ?
21 - Brown/White - ?
22 - Yellow/Green - ?
23 - Yellow/Blue - ?
24 - Yellow/White - ?
25 - Brown/Grey - ?

I've been trying to work from my way from the fuse box (through the ETM manuals) to the pin orientations, scanning for relative wire colors. Some pages don't retain wire colors which is pretty frustrating. If anyone knows anything, please chime in. Thanks.

-Jasper