E28 Ecu

[Zacm829]

I'm guessing the E28 Ecu is not compatible with the 88-91 E30 harness since the number of rows of pins are different. Is there a way to convert the ecu to work. What is my other solution? E34 Ecu from a B35, will that maintain my B34 correctly? Also how difficult is it to wire up the B34 to the late M20 harness, extending wires? that's it? what about the multiple temp senors on the thermostat?Thanks in advance!

[chadthestampede]

I'm guessing the E28 Ecu is not compatible with the 88-91 E30 harness since the number of rows of pins are different. Is there a way to convert the ecu to work. What is my other solution? E34 Ecu from a B35, will that maintain my B34 correctly? Also how difficult is it to wire up the B34 to the late M20 harness, extending wires? that's it? what about the multiple temp senors on the thermostat?Thanks in advance!

You would either have to use the e28 ecu with an e28 or possibly an eta harness, or use the 88-91 e30 harness with a motronic 1.3 ecu (e34). Converting the ecu would be a hassle and is not worth the effort.

An ecu from a b35 will likely make your b34 run better, and as a shameless plug for myself I happen to have a 179 ecu lying around that I'm willing to sell if you want it, just let me know.

AFAIK you only have to extend the afm wire and the oil level wire for the m20 harness. You should only have 2 temp sensors if you're running 1.3, 1 to the gauge and one to the ecu, and I believe you can use one if not both sensors from the e30 (not totally sure on this).

Hope this helps.

[BDK]

An ecu from a b35 will likely make your b34 run better, and as a shameless plug for myself I happen to have a 179 ecu lying around that I'm willing to sell if you want it, just let me know.

Not to shit on your sell, but Emotions are mixed on that from what I have read...
Zac you need to go over to MyE28 and post some question there or check their Tech Section and I think the B35 conversion is even stickied at the top of it....

[chadthestampede]

Not to shit on your sell, but Emotions are mixed on that from what I have read...
Zac you need to go over to MyE28 and post some question there or check their Tech Section and I think the B35 conversion is even stickied at the top of it....

That's why I said 'likely' ;).

By all means though, I encourage doing research over at mye28, it's a great site and they're great people. I'm just saying what I've heard from most people.

Edit: And by that ^ I mean stuff like this:

Regarding the DME, either Motronic 1.2 (150 ECU) or 1.3 (179) can be used. 1.3 is presumably better.

You chose correctly going with 1.3 in your E30...You'd save a lot of headache by using a complete B35 and 1.3 electronics!

Double Edit: I'm not saying these quick quotes I found are cold hard facts either, I'm just saying that's the kind of stuff I've read.

[BDK]

You cannot just plug a 179 into a B34 harness. If you notice, the 179 has 3 rows of pins while the 059 has two. You would need to convert to Motronic 1.3 to run the 179. This requires a different harness (325i harness will work), the toothed balancer, crank position sensor, and some other bits.

It should run pretty well but you will need to install some of the b35 specific equipment to make it work. You will have to install the trigger wheel from the b35 and as mentioned you will have to install the correct wiring harness. See my m30b35 FAQ for more information.

[chadthestampede]

Ah yes, ^ that is all true. I had to convert to motronic 1.3 and needed an afm, the crank wheel, sensor, ecu etc.

For some reason this slipped my mind, as I always sort of assume b34=b35. I dunno why. Anyway you would have to get all the aforementioned stuff to convert, so I'm sorry if any of my comments were misleading, I didn't mean them to be.

FWIW if you don't want to convert to 1.3 I'll refund you for the ecu.