M42 ECU Conversion: Link G4X / E36X

[bmwman91]

Good progress, I might hit you up for that board removal tool someday lol.

Ha, yeah I am happy to share. I can either mail it or send you the CAD file if you have access to a 3D printer.

[Northern]

Email is great - I have a printer, just a matter of removing all the junk I'm "storing" on top of it

[Dj Buttchug]

Bumping this thread because I so badly want to switch my 318is from MSV1 to Link. Running E36G4X on my E34 has been a complete dream. In for more progress on this!!! Looks great already!

[bmwman91]

Email is great - I have a printer, just a matter of removing all the junk I'm "storing" on top of it

Here ya go. STEP and STL files.

http://www.e30tuner.com/assist/E36X_Board_Puller.zip

Bumping this thread because I so badly want to switch my 318is from MSV1 to Link. Running E36G4X on my E34 has been a complete dream. In for more progress on this!!! Looks great already!

So for the most part, the E36X can be almost plug-n-play for the M42. You would need to re-pin some stuff in the Motornic plug, but it is really easy to do once you know how to separate the terminal carrier pieces in the connector housing, and the terminal extraction tools are like $20 on Amazon. The only tricky bit would be the addition of a MAP sensor since there is no immediately obvious good place to install one. You could probably hack something together with the vacuum line for the FPR, or maybe drill into the TB heater plate and use the existing hose barbs if it is not connected to the coolant system anymore. Modifying the intake manifold like I did is a good way, but not everyone has access to a machine shop. I might be down to mod M42 manifolds for people for a fee, though.

The other item is the IAT thermistor. You could leave the AFM in place and just use the one in there, but that sort of sucks as a solution. If you mod the manifold you can just use the Bosch T-MAP which has both sensors in one. If going the TB heater route, then I think that you might be able to stuff a generic GM IAT sensor into the unused port in the intake bellows which is on the bottom and like 2" in front of the TB.

So a little repinning and IAT + MAP sensors aside, the E36X can run the M42 just fine without any other changes. It has the high current ignition drivers and VR sensor conditioners built-in which is awesome. There are not too many aftermarket ECUs with the ignition drivers inside. My original plan was to swap to some VW coils with internal igniters, but in the end the M54 coils that I have in the COP setup are fine and a little simpler in terms of wiring (ignoring all the work I put into the shielded wires for them lol).



As of now, I am basically ready to swap the ECU and harness into the car. The PST-F1 for the oil system needs to be screwed into the back of the head, and the knock sensors need to be installed (still gotta remove the oil pressure switch in the filter housing to make room for the front one). For the moment I am in a holding pattern since I am working on getting the final arrangements for the full repaint settled. It looks like I may have FINALLY found a body shop that will take on the repaint project, and at a price that I can still justify to myself. So, that will probably be a couple of months until it is all sorted out and done. Thereafter I will pick this back up again since the next phase is to start tuning. I want to find a local tuner to work with on a dyno...I know that I can get the car to run, possibly reasonably well, but my years working with Sssquid on tuning the stock ECU made it clear that a professional can do a better job and faster. I'd love to trailer the car out to Sssquid and do it there, but it might be hard to find the time (and vacation hours) this year lol. We'll see.

[Dj Buttchug]

Much of the work you are doing I have already done on my engine. MAP sensor external FPR ect. This could make the job a lot easier for me. If all that was needed for me was to re-pin some wires on the Motronic I would probably pull the trigger. I wonder to if you could load the E36 base map and modify it to run. I dont know enough about this. I have been getting pretty good with using the Link system and tuning. Still learning everyday!


Edit: After some further research I found this to be interesting. For others interested in doing this with a more plug and play type application this could be a way to go. It would alleviate the need for all the tedious work OP is doing (not to downplay in any way as this is quite impressive) but would make us guys that hate wiring (me) more inclined to take on the task. Price for this harness plug in as well as whichever ECU you decide could sway a decision. Time saved could make it worth it.

PNPECU Link adapter M42 E30

[bmwman91]

Much of the work you are doing I have already done on my engine. MAP sensor external FPR ect. This could make the job a lot easier for me. If all that was needed for me was to re-pin some wires on the Motronic I would probably pull the trigger. I wonder to if you could load the E36 base map and modify it to run. I dont know enough about this. I have been getting pretty good with using the Link system and tuning. Still learning everyday!


Edit: After some further research I found this to be interesting. For others interested in doing this with a more plug and play type application this could be a way to go. It would alleviate the need for all the tedious work OP is doing (not to downplay in any way as this is quite impressive) but would make us guys that hate wiring (me) more inclined to take on the task. Price for this harness plug in as well as whichever ECU you decide could sway a decision. Time saved could make it worth it.

PNPECU Link adapter M42 E30

Wow, that adapter is pretty awesome. For someone who just wants straight plug & play (or at least as close as you can get to it since you'd need to install a MAP sensor), that would be a pretty good solution!

I have had this project on the backburner a bit, but there has been a little progress on the final few details. One thing that I have never quite felt satisfied with is the location of the oil pressure + temperature sensor. The plan was to stick it in the back of the head in where the main oil feed gallery plug was. The location is sort of tight, I'd never be able to get thread locker to properly work since I cannot get the threads oil-free without pulling and draining the head, and the oil at that spot is going to be pretty stagnant so the temperature readings would probably be driven more by the coolant temperature than the oil temperature.

Since I have a spare oil filter housing, I 3d scanned it and made up a little adapter bung for the sensor. This will guarantee that there is constant oil flow past the sensor, and it should give a good read on the oil temperature as it comes up out of the pan. It isn't ideal to have it on the dirty side of the filter since the clean side will read a little lower, but I am not really planning on letting the filter get so dirty that it clogs up lol.

I 3D scanned the filter housing and came up with an adapter bung. Along the way there were some 3D printed locating fixtures that allowed me to get the sensor position dialed in on the housing that is currently on the engine under the hood.




Here's the deal with the 3D printed positioning fixtures. It was used for both figuring out the sensor position, and as a drill guide.








I machined up the adapter bung as well as some extra little fixture pieces that would secure it in place while it was being welded onto the filter housing.








And here's the final product after welding. I had the guy that repainted my E30 do the TIG work for me since I suck at it, particularly with aluminum! Now I will just need to get the gasket and o-ring for this and install it on the engine once I am ready to swap on the new harness and ECU. I also reworked the harness a little to reroute the sensor wires so that they come out of the front of the wire box in a more logical location.