Daily Driver s52 Sedan. The Silberbullet.

[Blubayou13]

Nice build! God Speed!

[Link]

Thanks! And Austin do you have an email or website for TRM?

[Link]

UPDATE 5/19/13: Got the s52 pulled today, will be posting pictures tomorrow. I pulled the motor and everything attached to it. I also pulled the little fuel pump thing that was on the car down below the brake booster on the under carriage, can anyone confirm that I needed that pump? Also there were 3 plugs over by the fuse box that all unscrewed, I only took the engine sides of them, will I need to go back and pull the other sides as well, pretty sure they are attached to the fuse box. Any other comments welcome.

[Varinn]

That little fuel pump thing is the "running loss valve", I don't know exactly what it does but I do know that it contains your fuel pressure regulator. There ARE ways around using it such as OBD1 fuel rails or some other sneaky OBD2 fuel rails that have the FPR integrated like OBD1 setups. Since you have that valve, I believe it's easier to keep it.

[Link]

I think I will keep it then, I am planning to run the car as stock as possible for simplicity. I am keeping it OBDII, but I do plant to have some emissions **** deleted and EWS also. Still cant find anyone who can tune my ECU though.

[e30austin]

Go OBD1, it will make things much more simple.

[evandael]

Go OBD1, it will make things much more simple.

no! no no no!


Link, there is a ton of info regarding OBD2 swaps. cjdontthink (now craiggroves92 or similar) made a very comprehensive thread, along with the 'official OBD1 vs. OBD2 argument' thread, and it's not any more difficult to wire in.

TRM, Technica, Markert Motorworks, DesertBMW, Evolve Motorsports, and more can flash/tune the OBD2 DME.

[Link]

I hear all the names of places to tune my DME but no contact info can be found when I search, and DesertBMW does not reply through here. I have already tried. You have contact for them? And Austin OBD1 is just more money. I already have a complete OBD2 engine, why change it?

I am curious what people think I still need from the m3, like the engine side connectors for any reason? And do I want the OBD2 plug from inside the cab under the steering column?

And any big maintenance items I should address on a well maintained s52? Water pump, timing chain/belt, anything like that?

[Link]

UPDATE:

Here is a picture of the s52.



A picture of the 3.25LSD soon to be installed.



And a photo of the plugs I am confused about. One must be the x20 im thinking. But the other two?



And the body side of the m3.



Can someone identify all 3 plugs?

[berlow94]

For one thing, just about all of these questions would be answered if it were OBD1. Selling what you got for all OBD1 **** would probably pay for itself.
Maybe not just from a wiring standpoint, but from a 'why won't it start' point of view, OBD 1 is simpler.

[Link]

I do not plan to switch to OBD1, I just do not see the point to do all the extra work to make it "easier". I saw this motor run in the totaled car, all I have to do is set it up the same way in my car, I just plan to delete some useless systems off of it.

More on topic I would love someone to point me in the answer to these questions.

And is a e36 bentley the best manual out there for the car? I have one for my e30 and it is great.

[36brua]

I do not plan to switch to OBD1, I just do not see the point to do all the extra work to make it "easier". I saw this motor run in the totaled car, all I have to do is set it up the same way in my car, I just plan to delete some useless systems off of it.

More on topic I would love someone to point me in the answer to these questions.

And is a e36 bentley the best manual out there for the car? I have one for my e30 and it is great.

you might try contacting Dave Markert for some help/ direction ( 328ijunkie) he is a proponent of OBD2 installs He also works with TRM for ecu work

http://www.markertmotorworks.com/

[CrisMac]

+1 for Dave, have heard awesome things and plan on having him doing my harness for my S52 sedan as well.


Sent from my android, jk **** android.

[Wanganstyle]

OBD1 is even harder to start up - it has no check engine light code scanner to tell you what exact items are wrong.
Having OBD2 allows one to plug in a bluetooth OBD2 port and diagnose the car while running with your smartphone; Torque application is incredibly helpful when you have issues with any sensor - OBD1 harness is designed to allow one to mix up plugs - crank position sensor plugs right into the oil pan level. Quite a bear if you are trying to figure out why the engine will not start!

S52 is much better ran in OBD2 original form; even the OBD2 intake manifold with small diameter runners is preferred if you BMW factory OEM driving car with matching low end grunt.

these pedestrian single throttle engines are terrible on top end RPM's compared to the Individual throttle engines built by BMW to be high rpm mills. Pointless to stress it out when the gains are really minimal.



I race a e30 24v+ obd1 converted OBD2 engine + m50 manifold with a few different chipsets (we have 3 spare DME's all with different chips) every bolt on possible is installed as its a full race only car.
bimmerworld TB with 3.5" maf + 21.5lb injectors, Dinan Big bore throttle. Turner and TRM chips.....)


I Daily drive a 98 M3 with 100% original S52; recent built head.

********************************************
i'll take the original BMW setup complete with original M52 intake manifold and original 3" afm/ OEM S52 dme any day over the franken managed item with hella mods. its not even close :)

[evandael]

And a photo of the plugs I am confused about. One must be the x20 im thinking. But the other two?

one is the x20, as you surmised. the second smaller one, with 9 pins (or thereabouts) is the x6031, which contains mostly emissions equipment but also the VSS signal (pin 3.. although some people get the VSS from x20pin9), and the one with the least pins is x6011.


spend time with the ETMs. i know it's daunting at first, but eventually it becomes very easy to read.