Posted: Apr 22, 2011 12:37 AM
Nice and clean WOW! If you keep the 528e badge, I will worship the ground you walk on!
MyE28.com DEV
DEV - BMW E28 5 Series Enthusiast Community
https://dev.mye28.com/
May 2011 Project e28s52t (Engine Management)
Page 4 of 4
Posted: May 01, 2011 3:32 PM
Which E12 mounts did you use for the transmission crossmember? M30/ M10?
Posted: May 01, 2011 10:50 PM
Awesome 
Posted: May 03, 2011 12:25 PM
Awesome amount of work and attention to detail here 
And please please please keep the eta badge on there!
And please please please keep the eta badge on there!
Update Early May 2011
Posted: May 04, 2011 11:21 PM
Below are some images of the next stage of the project - ENGINE MANAGEMENT
Just to bring you up to speed - the battery relocation has been completed. This was more work then I had anticipated - DUH (my Charlie Sheen impression). Required a tray for the Optima, mounting the tray, mounting a master fuse holder, crimping the lugs on the end of some very large diameter cables. Did not have the crimping tool, had to borrow one. I hate not having all the right tools.
Did install my rear stress bar from Mason Engineering - that involved taking the rear struts back out to get it in - but it fit like a glove. Had it power coated to match the front - but it is so far in there - who will ever see it?
Reinstalled all the trunk stuff - cut out the bottom piece to clear the battery.
I had to buy an e34 drive shaft from a wrecking yard and have nose grafted into my e28 auto driveshaft - so that the larger guibo could be used. If I had a good e28 big six drive shaft - this would not have been necessary. Turned out really nice, but only when it is delivering power to the rear wheels will I say it is good.
Now on to the really hard stuff...engine management.
I ended up going with the Megasquirt 3 with MS3X, so I could support COP, sequential injection, boost control, other functions. I spoke with the guys at DIYAutotune.com and they guided me through the whole thing.
I have now pulled apart my S52 engine harness to eliminate all the unnecessary lines I wont be using and labeling everything, I mean everything- EVERTHING. There is a large amount of the harness that is NOT used, you can see my collection of dead e36 M3 nervous system bits.
It was pretty straight forward, but before I cut anything, I built a few very large tables in Excel so that I understood the translation between (1) the factory ECU (2) to the factory harness (3) to the MS3/MS3X harness (4) to the MS3 ECU. I used my e36 and e28 Bently Manuals over and over and over again. I also needed to graft the e28 C101 connector to the e36 CX20 connector - that turned out a bit harder than I thought. Around the e36, BMW starting running alot more logic through this connector (engine to chassis). I am still working on that one.
Couple of words of caution:
1 There are others who have posted tables on the net for e36 and e28 pinouts and wire colors - they are at best, about 80% accurate, so before you trust anyone (including me) check their homework.
2 There are mistakes in the Robert Bently manuals.
3 If in doubt, ohm out a line to make sure you are cutting or removing the right one. Because there are so many lines to the factory ECU (88 pins) - some colors are used more than once.
4 Megasquirt documentation is good, but the colors and pinout does not match between the documentation and physical box - check their homework.
5 Understand the logic of your harness/relays (use the Bentley manual) - in some cases I thought I knew what I was looking at, but after looking at more - I had the logic backwards - especially relay activation, some are 12V and some are ground.
I keep plugging away - this is taking forever and ever. I fear I will be willing this car to my kids with instructions on how to complete it.
PS - I will keep the ETA badge, and I have some 15" euro steelies to complete the sleeper look!
img]http://e28-535i.com/upload/IMG_1548.JPG[/img]
Just to bring you up to speed - the battery relocation has been completed. This was more work then I had anticipated - DUH (my Charlie Sheen impression). Required a tray for the Optima, mounting the tray, mounting a master fuse holder, crimping the lugs on the end of some very large diameter cables. Did not have the crimping tool, had to borrow one. I hate not having all the right tools.
Did install my rear stress bar from Mason Engineering - that involved taking the rear struts back out to get it in - but it fit like a glove. Had it power coated to match the front - but it is so far in there - who will ever see it?
Reinstalled all the trunk stuff - cut out the bottom piece to clear the battery.
I had to buy an e34 drive shaft from a wrecking yard and have nose grafted into my e28 auto driveshaft - so that the larger guibo could be used. If I had a good e28 big six drive shaft - this would not have been necessary. Turned out really nice, but only when it is delivering power to the rear wheels will I say it is good.
Now on to the really hard stuff...engine management.
I ended up going with the Megasquirt 3 with MS3X, so I could support COP, sequential injection, boost control, other functions. I spoke with the guys at DIYAutotune.com and they guided me through the whole thing.
I have now pulled apart my S52 engine harness to eliminate all the unnecessary lines I wont be using and labeling everything, I mean everything- EVERTHING. There is a large amount of the harness that is NOT used, you can see my collection of dead e36 M3 nervous system bits.
It was pretty straight forward, but before I cut anything, I built a few very large tables in Excel so that I understood the translation between (1) the factory ECU (2) to the factory harness (3) to the MS3/MS3X harness (4) to the MS3 ECU. I used my e36 and e28 Bently Manuals over and over and over again. I also needed to graft the e28 C101 connector to the e36 CX20 connector - that turned out a bit harder than I thought. Around the e36, BMW starting running alot more logic through this connector (engine to chassis). I am still working on that one.
Couple of words of caution:
1 There are others who have posted tables on the net for e36 and e28 pinouts and wire colors - they are at best, about 80% accurate, so before you trust anyone (including me) check their homework.
2 There are mistakes in the Robert Bently manuals.
3 If in doubt, ohm out a line to make sure you are cutting or removing the right one. Because there are so many lines to the factory ECU (88 pins) - some colors are used more than once.
4 Megasquirt documentation is good, but the colors and pinout does not match between the documentation and physical box - check their homework.
5 Understand the logic of your harness/relays (use the Bentley manual) - in some cases I thought I knew what I was looking at, but after looking at more - I had the logic backwards - especially relay activation, some are 12V and some are ground.
I keep plugging away - this is taking forever and ever. I fear I will be willing this car to my kids with instructions on how to complete it.
PS - I will keep the ETA badge, and I have some 15" euro steelies to complete the sleeper look!
img]http://e28-535i.com/upload/IMG_1548.JPG[/img]
Posted: May 05, 2011 6:43 AM
Wiring is the biggest pain...Believe me I no but when it's done & neat & tidy looks factory it's very rewarding.
Keep up the good work.
P.S. You can still buy the factory cloth wire wrap from BMW!
Keep up the good work.
P.S. You can still buy the factory cloth wire wrap from BMW!
Posted: May 12, 2011 1:14 PM
Brilliant. I love the point about willing it to your kids with instructions on how to finish the project.
Posted: Sep 25, 2011 8:53 PM
Bump, where did the summer go!?
Posted: Jan 16, 2012 2:10 PM
Anything new?
Posted: Jan 16, 2012 10:11 PM
NICE BUILD!
Posted: Jul 17, 2012 6:02 PM
Tumbleweed blowing through.... 
Posted: Jul 18, 2012 7:10 AM
He called me a couple of weeks ago and he was going to send me an email - but never heard back.
I am back....
Posted: May 17, 2013 10:02 PM
Lots of life changes - started a shop - very busy.
www.redballeurocar.com
Getting the e28s52t going too.
Look for updates soon.
W
www.redballeurocar.com
Getting the e28s52t going too.
Look for updates soon.
W
Posted: May 17, 2013 11:04 PM
There he is, it's about time. We were missin' you!