S54 wiring harness and DME flashing services

[Asbradley21]

So as my S54 swap is getting under way, I need to sort out the wiring details. As I'm terrible at wiring, I've decided to dish out for a plug and play harness and dme flash, preferable with manual throttle, no sport button or dsc and Alpha/N tune for MAF-less and hopefully cat-less. (and possibly tune for CSL airbox).

Now what I need to know, is who can do this and the specifics of tuning possibilities. From what I gather, there is Turk, Bimmerworld, MarkD(at least for the flash) and maybe DesertBMW now. I'm looking for solid work and don't mind paying for it, but would like to avoid issues with international shipping and crappy exchange rate. Are there other options out there that I don't know about?

[nando]

there's lots of options for flashes now. Also look into Evolve. I've been talking to Sal for a while, he can do all the E30 specific stuff, plus the tune, and the price isn't that bad considering the quality of the tune. it's all remote, no shipping your DME to him.

what's your time frame? If all you want is a stock or mildly tweaked tune, the cost goes way down. You definitely won't need to spend $2000 on a flash though. If you just want the basics, Sal at evolve can add a tune to it later. he does remote dyno tuning as well.

DesertBMW.. man, I really don't want to go there. This guy was selling cloned chips a while back. He's also been leaching off the group that's hacking the MSS54, but shared almost nothing. I've banned him here like 4 times, but was trying to give him a chance.

I'm kinda stuck right now as one of my MSS54s is being lent out and the other appears to be bricked. But you'd be surprised once you get into it how simple most of this stuff is. The guys charging $2k to remove DSC, EWS and the e-throttle (with no tune) were taking advantage of a small window where nobody else knew how to do it, but I think that is gone now..

[Asbradley21]

Definitely going to talk to Evolve, could you PM or post some contact info? What about full harness, I'd rather pay to have it done than have to do it myself 3 times and risk frying things.
My timeframe is 4-6 months. As far as tune goes I'd like to see what is possible to squeeze out of the MSS54 reliably. How does remote tuning work...?

I'll stay away from desertBMW, I really want real work.

And holy shit if I can get out of this for under 3K that's just icing on the cake.

[nando]

you buy a cable with the tune. he reads your DME and makes changes to the binary, then you flash it.

I'll be able to do the same thing but I'm not providing a tune. I think evolve will be around $1k.

http://www.evolvetuning.us/bmw/3-series/m3-e46-2001-2006/engine-c446/ecu-c623.html

EWS/DSC/SAP/etc. deletes are basically just a checkbox, the value is in the tunes.

the harness I've studied extensively but I haven't tried to adapt one to an E30 yet. I'll have one that's going into a well known car running DTA S100 pretty soon though, which should be basically the same other than the DME connection.

[Asbradley21]

you buy a cable with the tune. he reads your DME and makes changes to the binary, then you flash it.

I'll be able to do the same thing but I'm not providing a tune. I think evolve will be around $1k.

http://www.evolvetuning.us/bmw/3-series/m3-e46-2001-2006/engine-c446/ecu-c623.html

EWS/DSC/SAP/etc. deletes are basically just a checkbox, the value is in the tunes.

the harness I've studied extensively but I haven't tried to adapt one to an E30 yet. I'll have one that's going into a well known car running DTA S100 pretty soon though, which should be basically the same other than the DME connection.

Oh wow that's pretty awesome right there, now I just need someone to make me a harness.

[FredK]

Bimmerworld's tune is furnished by Epic Motorsports. The standalone tune is $1600, but also allows you access to pretty much the highest output tune available. If you check out their Facebook page you can see that they've gotten over 350 SAE-corrected whp from stock internals, Supersprint headers, CF airbox, and a 3.5" exhaust.

I don't think anyone else understands double VANOS as much as Epic does.

[Asbradley21]

Bimmerworld's tune is furnished by Epic Motorsports. The standalone tune is $1600, but also allows you access to pretty much the highest output tune available. If you check out their Facebook page you can see that they've gotten over 350 SAE-corrected whp from stock internals, Supersprint headers, CF airbox, and a 3.5" exhaust.

I don't think anyone else understands double VANOS as much as Epic does.

Very interesting. Not a bad price either.

Just emailed Evolve and will email bimmerworld to check them out too. I like that they can do the harness too at the same time. But I like the user-changeability of the evolve tuning, although you have to go through them anyway I would guess, but you don't have to ship.

[FredK]

Epic also has an interface cable that allows you to flash a tune at home.

[Asbradley21]

Epic also has an interface cable that allows you to flash a tune at home.

Well, that takes care of that then doesn't it.

[Asbradley21]

Hmm, according to bimmerworld, alpha/N tunes must be verified by dyno. That might be difficult to arrange.

[DesertBMW]

I'll stay away from desertBMW, I really want real work.

.

Thanks. I don't do any map work, I just make the stock DME work properly for a swap. And I have a E36 with S54 to test my work.

[318isbmw]

Bimmerworld's tune is furnished by Epic Motorsports. The standalone tune is $1600, but also allows you access to pretty much the highest output tune available. If you check out their Facebook page you can see that they've gotten over 350 SAE-corrected whp from stock internals, Supersprint headers, CF airbox, and a 3.5" exhaust.

I don't think anyone else understands double VANOS as much as Epic does.

I just read through bimmerworld's info and it's kind of misleading. Basically you pay the 1600 for them to get it ready, but in the fine print the tune isn't included. So if you wanted an Epic tune, it would be over $3000.

[FredK]

I think you're right. I think the tune costs an additional $600 as shown on Epic's website.

It might be best to call up Epic to clarify exactly what you're getting. $1600 solely to make the MSS54 run standalone seems a tad steep.

[89AlpineM3]

Ya that's what I saw as well. Sorry but $3000 for some deletes and a tune is a rip. For sometime now only a few places did the dme work so charged whatever they wanted. With more people doing it now the price. Will fall to a more appropriate price. The same goes for the wire harness, $700 is hard to believe for around 20 connections.

[Andrew325is]

I can do your wiring. Which engine harness do you have? And where do you want the ECU mounted? For example, if you want to use an E46 M3 harness some wires will have to be extended to reach the glovebox. In that case I recommend using a Z3 harness. I'll charge $200 to do the work and provide you with an adapter harness. It will be drive by wire. I've tried manual throttle (Sunbelt's kit, NLA) and its more work, costs more, and makes the car drive shitty. You can email me at eurotrash8@gmail.com.