Black & Tan 332iT

[Bry5on]

Good progress today, the car currently has lots of loose/bundled wires in prep to be run down the door sill, but the installation of the F10 PDC sensors with F10 adhesive mounts went very well. The mounts are slightly angled both upward and inward which puts them pretty close to level and pointing straight back, accounting for the curvature of the bumper. They look very inconspicuous, unlike the factory ones, and work just as well (I did test after install . Important to note that the newer sensors have Pin1: Ground, Pin2: Signal, and Pin3: Positive Supply. Don't go by wire colors as BMW changed the colors to mean different things across generations, in their infinite wisdom.

All told the combined PDC and trailer retrofit adds under 5 lbs, and I added 1lb of sound deadening to the rear to continue to try to quiet the cabin down on the highway. I can stomach 6lbs, especially in the rear. If I ever feel motivated down the road, I'll have to pull the trunk panels, add deadener to the wheel wells, then replace the sound deadening that someone sadly cut a hole in for strut mount access. I'm running the studs that can be accessed from the wheel well so I'm happy to close that location out.

Back to PDC. I marked the center locations thanks to some help from e46fanatics forum members, then used double stick tape to adhere a makeshift drill bushing to locate the PDC sensors in the factory spot. Then I punched the holes out using an 18mm punch kit. Following that I used the jigsaw to cut some rectangles in the bumper beam similar to what the factory did, then routed a trailer harness through the PDC grommet, tied the harness up to the factory studs with plastic harness ties, adhered the PDC mounts and slapped the bumper back on. I think it turned out pretty great:



Then a quick test with the rest of the bench top setup (works great):



And following that it was time to start the trunk and interior disassembly to run a whole bunch of wires. I'm running a PDC supply harness (for an e39), front PDC harness, making my own trailer harness, terminating at factory fuses, grounds, pins, etc. It's loads of fun, and that's where we are today:

[Bry5on]

Managed to do some multitasking while taking calls this evening - windowed out the rear bumper cover for the corner sensors (using original e46 sensors there for now) with a stepped drill bit and some flush wire cutters. The inner bumper support has a square hole, it's just a matter of matching the square for the sensor to pass through.

The F10 adhesive mounts are angled just slightly upward, so I think they may just work out, hoping they don't point the sensors too far downward and pick up the ground.

And so it begins.

[Bry5on]

Dad happened to have not only the e53 AHM lying around, but found a factory 7-pin hitch harness as well. I snagged the body side AHM harness from an e53 already, so this will simply plug and play.

[Bry5on]

New seat bottom insulation showed up to replace the crumbled bits that came out. Hoping this will reduce some highway noise. Anyone have any experience quieting down a touring? I’m thinking the trunk/subframe/tailgate areas transmit some extra noise and it would be great to cut it down a bit. Those urethane subframe bushings probably don’t help now that I think about it.

[Obioban]

That's some dedication to an unusual task

[Bry5on]

That was more work than I expected. It turns out the sport button gets a GROUND signal from the DME, where the PDC sends a 12V signal. Also the button needed some serious trimming, epoxying, etc on the back side to fit. Thanks heinzboehmer for buying another M3 and letting me pillage it the day after you picked it up!

Regardless, perseverance paid off. It’s ready for the PDC harness

[Bry5on]

Ok, really getting into the weeds with this one. We'll be breaking down the switching center and how it's designed/electrically functions for a non-convertible M3 (and probably some non-M configs).

There are 7 total button positions. Each button on the circuit board has 8 blade connections to the button. The PCB is designed to maximize use of these blade connections, so some of them are bridged on the board to allow some buttons to be placed in multiple locations. This allows for different combinations of options on the car.


Each button works by pulling a momentary ground to some pin. There are three 'types' of button for the center 5 buttons, they differ by which pin they pull to ground when you push them. Either pin 3, 4 or 5. They even have different PCBA part numbers



Via some rather tedious circuit tracing, here's the matrix of blades that are connected (top) and 'what button can go where' (bottom)


You can see that the sport button (or any green LED capable button that's not HK) can only be on pins 4, 5, or 6 and you can't have two different green LED buttons in those positions, because they'll just reflect the state of sport mode. This is a problem for me because I want to add PDC which has a green LED button.

The solution: Modify a DSC button by performing the following:
1) Clean masking off of Green LED pads
2) Populate the Green LED from a donor
3) Cut the trace for the sport light from blade 7
4) Bridge the trace for the sport light to blade 4 (they're RIGHT next to each other. Easy)

Then add a quick white-wire solution to the board (totally reversible! But doesn't need to be reversed ever, anyway):
1) Bridge Position 6, Blade 5 directly to Pin 9 of the switch center plug (button press)
2) Wire 550ohm resistance from Position 6, Blade 4 to Pin 8 of the switch center plug (green status light)

This will allow me to use Pins 8 & 9 just as the e39 and e53 did for the PDC pins, while also making sure any changes I'm making are easily 100% reversible by simply removing my custom button. Because Position 6, Blades 4 and 5 are not used on the board, or for any button function in any e46, I can leave these wires permanently in place with no ill effects.

Next step will be customizing the plastic of the e39 PDC button to fit in the e46 style housing. Stay tuned..

[puma1824]

I used the rallyroad brackets, no machining or grinding required in the rear.

Honestly I'm not sure I'd recommend this setup, it's not really much better or different than stock, really mild increase in pedal feel. If you're running big wheels, just put on the F80 stuff. Those brakes are great (I've only driven them in the F80, FWIW).

Good to know. Yeah I think I'm kicking myself for not pulling the trigger on the F80 kit when my car was being done. Honestly the only reason I didn't do it was because I wanted to keep the unsprung weight down. Additionally I do currently have on hand but not installed the Megane RS Trophy-R Brembo fronts. I think this setup could be but not confirmed lighter than the F80 setup. Maybe i should still keep stock ...damn these cars lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bry5on]

Which adapters did you use on the rear 996 calipers? Any machining required on the calipers to make them fit?

I used the rallyroad brackets, no machining or grinding required in the rear.

Honestly I’m not sure I’d recommend this setup, it’s not really much better or different than stock, really mild increase in pedal feel. If you’re running big wheels, just put on the F80 stuff. Those brakes are great (I’ve only driven them in the F80, FWIW).

[puma1824]

Which adapters did you use on the rear 996 calipers? Any machining required on the calipers to make them fit?

[Bry5on]

Okay so there’s no option to use rear fogs as brake or turn signals like I thought in NCS, but there are a couple things that may be related. Going to have to probe around in there, and if there’s no way to do it like the X5, I’ll put a converter box on the inlet side of the trailer module. That’ll keep the detection/PDC disable while guaranteeing the lights work correctly.

The settings in NCS expert that I need to play with (AH and AHM):




While I had NCS expert open, I corrected my FA to include all the retrofits I’ve done:
$464 - ski bag
$508 - park distance control
$521 - rain sensor
$710 - M leather steering wheel
$716 - m-tech 2 aero kit
$760 - high gloss shadowline
$772 - black cube trim
$775 - anthracite headliner
$7MA - M3 competition package (brake bias, m-track, steering rack)

[Bry5on]

And while I'm in there running PDC harnesses, I'll be running the two/four wires necessary for the OEM tow hitch module. Again using one from an e53 because those are intended for US trailers (although I'd bet they're the same internally)

[Bry5on]

Morning update: late style e53 buttons work the same, we’re on.

[Bry5on]

Brake update: very much silent still on the red brakes after 500 miles or so.

Side project update: Looks like Front + Rear PDC retrofit is pretty trivial, got it all working on the bench. I’ll be using f01 black sapphire sensors in the rear bumper in place of the giant factory ones, and flat black/unpainted sensors in the front bumper strip in an attempt to avoid drilling/cutting the bumper support beam. By retrofitting the e39/e53 stuff, that also means my rear PDC beeps will actually come from the rear of the car, instead of under my feet.
Front e39 retrofit harness PN: 61-12-0-027-997
Main/power e39 retrofit harness PN: 61-12-0-027-006
Rear e46 harness PN: 61-11-6-930-771
f01/02 self-adhesive bumper mounts for the f01 sensors: 51-12-2-147-035

Anyone want to donate an M3 switch console that has the roller blind in it? I need the extra button location for the PDC button now. Late model e53 uses the e46 style buttons which should swap right out for the roller blind with a quick white wire job inside the switch center enclosure.

Warning, beeping noises are loud, louder than my voice:

https://youtu.be/qVv13uDgmcE?si=gYfocWP7Plq3Pv2i

[Bry5on]

Red calipers are on, bled, and not making any humming noises. I swung by heinzboehmer's place to borrow his pressure bleeder and confirmed that his calipers are also showing signs of spinning pins. Hopefully his don't get so bad to the point that they're making as much noise as mine were!

Interestingly, after cleaning the bores, it appears that they're stepped and the factory used some sort of adhesive or gap filler as well. Clearly, it did not work. I hit the pins and bores with 400 grit sandpaper, followed by acetone then IPA wipes then mixed up some high temp Hysol EA9340 epoxy. I made sure to coat the bore and pin surfaces completely and pressed them in to avoid any air pockets. Following that, drove in new split roll pins and put them on the desk heater to cure for 2+ hours at 140F.






Some nice relaxing YouTube content while I worked away and let the EV charge..


They're pretty crap condition but will tide me over until I repair the black ones. Red is just too loud for this car, I'll be glad to get the black ones back on. So far, so good - no humming on the highway. The pins in the black calipers are *very* loose, and I'd wager that it's just a matter of time for every car running these calipers until they loosen up and start making noise.