Black & Tan 332iT

[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.

[Bry5on]

Boy am I glad I found your thread. Was searching for 17x9 fitment for my S54 touring and came upon your post about the +52 ARC-8s, and eventually found my way here. I'm still in the midst of the swap, lots to unpack here, thanks for sharing!

Good luck! Yeah the setup I've got is definitely the hot ticket for the M3 suspension on the non-m body. You'll probably need to flip your strut hats (or run camber plates) to get more than -1.5 degrees of camber to keep the front tire under the fender.

[SkunkWorks]

Boy am I glad I found your thread. Was searching for 17x9 fitment for my S54 touring and came upon your post about the +52 ARC-8s, and eventually found my way here. I'm still in the midst of the swap, lots to unpack here, thanks for sharing!

[Bry5on]

I haven't seen anyone mention that lower bushing before. What was a sign that it needed changing? Play in the steering wheel besides turning it left and right?

Grab your steering wheel with a firm grip at 3&9 and pull up/down. If it moves, there’s play in the bushings. Based on the design, if you’ve got white ones, I’d recommend changing them to the new style. You’ll need a small pry bar, it’s kind of a bitch to get them in.

[Ubaderb]

Overall, this is a fantastic change to the car. It really makes the whole car feel firmer and much more direct, and actually reduced! vibration from the steering wheel. Well, it might be more accurate to say it added a slight bit of high frequency feedback, but removed the sloppiness and low frequency vibrations of the stock parts. Steering inputs are way more direct and controlled and it’s my opinion that the car should have come from the factory this way. I’d say this is in my top 3 for changes I’ve made to the car, 1 being seats, 2 being the Slon and v-brace chassis stiffening, with 3 being the more direct steering. Hope this encourages more folks to make this change!

I haven't seen anyone mention that lower bushing before. What was a sign that it needed changing? Play in the steering wheel besides turning it left and right?

[Bry5on]

Rainy day today, so I did a little work on the car again. Today’s task was to tighten up the steering with two specific changes: 1) New lower steering column bushings and 2) an LPSR solid steering shaft

The lower column bushings made a big difference with how perfectly solid the steering wheel is now placed in my hands. The new bushings were actually a different design and shape than the loose ones that came out, and I expect these to stay tight and perform better over time. This was a surprisingly big change to the firm feel of the car in the hand.




Second was the LPSR steering shaft. Because this shaft doesn’t have a collapsible section anymore for installation, it is slightly shorter than the original, but the column has plenty of travel to accommodate this. I was also concerned that it was clocked differently so I purchased a spare plastic cover for the rack splines and trimmed the alignment fin off to allow any clocking at the rack side. To install, I locked the steering column in the center aligned position, and was then very careful to not disrupt the rack’s position as I removed the stock parts and installed the new ones. The result was a perfectly aligned steering wheel on the test drive. Here’s what it looks like installed.


Overall, this is a fantastic change to the car. It really makes the whole car feel firmer and much more direct, and actually reduced! vibration from the steering wheel. Well, it might be more accurate to say it added a slight bit of high frequency feedback, but removed the sloppiness and low frequency vibrations of the stock parts. Steering inputs are way more direct and controlled and it’s my opinion that the car should have come from the factory this way. I’d say this is in my top 3 for changes I’ve made to the car, 1 being seats, 2 being the Slon and v-brace chassis stiffening, with 3 being the more direct steering. Hope this encourages more folks to make this change!