Liam821's e46 324i k24/dct/turbo build

[falkin42]

Dry sump is only like $6-7k. Would fix those oil pan clearance issues right up!

Also printing in metal is definitely the future. I need to learn 3d modelling.

[Keith_MN]

Wow you're not wrong, those first mounts were ugly. It all worked out, the new ones look great!

I'm not much of a fabrication guy but have enough friends that are that really make me appreciate how things have changed. Really cool project.

[Obioban]

3D scanning, 3D plastic prototyping, and 3D metal printing the final really feels like living in the future.

[liam821]

Pretty much exactly what I'd want to do, although I've always loved the e36 myself. Joined just for this.

Awesome, glad you've joined.

So here is the update on the last few months.

Wouldn't be an update without another car purchase! While I work from home, I still manage to put 20k miles a year. My "daily" is an iX M60, which is great, but I don't want to keep dumping the miles on it (trying to keep depreciation in check haha) - especially if I'm moving a kid between school and gymnastics or running errands. So I picked up this 2018 Imperial Blue BMW i3 BEV. It's, honestly, a super fun little car to drive. ~2800 pounds'ish and is extremely efficient. Perhaps the best city car ever made? My wife drives a red i3s so we're totally matchy-match now.


Wiring... it just never ends. Still lots to do here.




I was able to get enough of the wiring done to power up the car for the first time! Everything seemed to work perfectly...including the fuel pump, which proceeded to dump fuel all over my garage floor. oops. Note to self, pull the fuel pump relay. BMW throttle pedal, gauges, boost select button via e39 wipers stalk, sport buttons, etc all seem to work correctly. More exciting was all the e92M3 DCT parts (shifter, transmission, etc) showed up on the CANBUS and everything seems to work together. Woooo! The car is an absolute mess...


I pulled the motor, again, and started doing final prep work. Installing gaskets, water pipes, front cover, cam chain tension, etc. I also put on the 1-liter spacer on my Skunk2 Ultra Race intake manifold


I figured out all the fuel injector spacers that I need and got them all installed correctly


Got the engine BACK into the car and went to test fit my new engine mounts. And I messed up. I had done all my measurements using the original OLD completely wornout engine mounts thinking the height would be the same as the new ones. With the engine out, I installed the new mounts, and turns out the new mounts are about 10mm TALLER. Apparently, the old ones were so worn out that they had collapsed. So with that extra 10mm height the engine didn't fit right. Plus, the guy who welded them together did an awful job. And they just looked ugly.


Not going to lie, I was soooo upset. I took a step back and decided I'd redesign them AGAIN. Since I had installed the TracTuff RWD water neck (coolant exit from the head going back to the radiator) it was extremely close to the firewall, and I didn't like how close the transmission bellhousing was to the transmission tunnel in the e46. So I took the opportunity and moved the engine forward about 10mm, got the engine back into the correct position, and took yet another 3d scan. This time around, however, I decided to screw the whole laswer cut metal welding thing, let's just design and 3d print metal mounts.








First test print off my Bambu H2D. Fits pretty good.


I ended up printing about 5 versions with small revisions to get them exactly how I wanted


After I got everything how I like it. I exported the model from Fusion360 into FreeCAD and did a FEM (finite element analysis). Fusion can do this, too, but my education/individual license doesn't have that feature. Anyway, I ran some load tests, simulating the stresses I think the mounts might take, and ended up increasing the wall thickness from 5mm to 6mm. Glad I did the analysis. I wanted them to be twice as strong as I thought the forces would be - just in case.

I used Craftcloud and had a company out of China, Shenzhen 3D Innovate, produce the parts for me in 316 stainless steel. The cost was not that much more than having Sendcutsend laser cut the original mounts and then having them welded together. I held my breath that the parts would be produced correctly. About two weeks later, a package showed up at my door.






The small hole is so they won't fill up with water since they're hollow


The quality is _incredible_. Here are the old mounts, a PETG 3d printed I did (in black), and the two new final pieces in 316. The future is now!


Oh booyyyy everything fits PERFECT




I decided not to include the 20mm spacer I need to make the mount level with the 3 bolts in the final model. I can always weld this on later if I'd like. It was way easier to print with a flat face.


The next little side project was finding a home for the Volvo power-steering pump. I scanned the drug bin, designed a mount in Fusion, 3d printed in PA612-CF, and we're good to go!


A reminder of how far back the engine actually is!


Starting to attach parts. Oil pump (lower right), intake manifold, turbo stuff goes on.




Nissan GTR R35 coils using a PRP bracket. Twice the spark as the Honda coils






Installed the front radiator support and e46 M3 radiator (in the factory locations). Sooooo much room! I can stand between the engine and the radiator.


Next up was mocking up where I'm going to put the BMW F30 coolant overflow. Got it in place and took another 3d scan. It's gonna go about there.


Here is the scan. Not awful, not great, but considering I've been using my Apple iPhone 14 ProMax for all scanning so far, I can't complain.


With that in mind, I bought an Einstar 2 3d scanner. What a game changer! The quality is incredible. My next task is designing an oil pan that fits around the steering rack and front subframe, so I took a scan with the Einstar. Getting measurements from the new scans is so much easier.




This is a "k-miata" oil pan, I'm going to design something like this, but that big sump will be on the other side, since that's where my steering rack is, and I have an external oil pump.


So what's next? Gotta finish the oil pan and finish the wiring. Then plumbing and all the oil lines. Oh, and I need to design and 3d metal print the turbo downpipe. Going to try to route a 4" downpipe down the side of the motor towards the factory section 1 location. I'll do a 3d scan of the area and design something.

More to come! I'm hoping to get this thing running and driving this year.

[falkin42]

Pretty much exactly what I'd want to do, although I've always loved the e36 myself. Joined just for this.

[Bebop]

Very cool !

[liam821]

Been a few months... here's the latest!

First off, it wouldn't be a new year without buying another e46...

'01 325i, 102k miles, sports package, auto, MINT interior, typical blown headgasket


Yeahhhh...that's not fog, that's a blown headgasket


Really clean interior though


I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. It's pretty low on the list of "Things Liam needs to fix". For now it sorta moves under it's own power...future me.


I pulled the motor (like 6 times) to trim some of the webbing off the e92m3 transmission. It's SO wide it was hitting the trans tunnel. So in and out, cut cut, bash bash, more cutting. Thankfully, it's easy to get in and out and only takes me a few minutes


cut cut, grind grind



Big upgrade in my office...got myself a new 3D printer. Bambu H2D. Man, this thing is incredible. Finally I can play around with the bigboy filaments like all the cool kids.


Finally finished all the motor mounts for the k46. I ended up scrapping my first design and redoing it....4 or 5 times. I wanted something that looked nice, but also strong, and it needed to be sendcutsend'able out of mild-steel. As much as I'd love to do a solid billet aluminum mount...


Drivers side


Passenger side


Here is the finished metal version from Sendcutsend. Needs a bit of cleaning (literally right out of the box). 6.35mm thick mild-steel. $190 shipped to my door, not bad! I need to get them into the garage, clean them off, and then have a buddy tig weld it together for me. (I don't have a welder...)


All the random Honda, BMW, and Bosch sensor connectors finally came in. I have most of these connectors, but I figured, let's go fancy and start fresh.


Here are the sensors I ended up using. I tried to stick to Bosch Motorsports sensors, except for the map sensor, where I used a Honeywell sensor. I used a Honeywell because I needed something that screwed into my intake manifold, most of the Bosch air pressure sensors are plastic. Also because Honeywell makes literally every aftermarket pressure sensor out there. Haltech, AEM, etc map sensors are all rebranded Honeywell sensors. I picked mine up for digikey.com, they have a great price on them.

MAP Sensor	Honeywell MIPAN2XX060PAAAX
Intake Air Temp	Bosch 0280130039
Fuel Pressure	Bosch 0261230365
Oil temp (in the oil pan)	Bosch 0280130026
Oil Pressure/Temp combi sensor in filter housing	Bosch 026154401f
Coolant Pressure/temp combi	Bosch 026154401f
Coolant temp in thermostat housing	BMW 11537549476 (e92 335i)
DCT Oil pressure/temp	Bosch 026154401f
Knock Sensor	Bosch 0261231046 (fcpeuro from a Volvo)
Crankcase pressure	Not 100% sure on this, but LowDollar 8990015 (0-15psi)

Plus, in addition, I'll be using OEM Honda cam/crank sensors, and Nissan R35 GTR ignition coils. Bosch 0280750474/Porsche 74mm DBW throttle body (FCPEuro part, $175!). Dual-fuel setup, I'll be using the factory BMW M3 fuel pumps and filters with Bosch 960cc "pump gas" injectors, the other using Radium "spare-tire" fuel-cell with Bosch 2200cc "e85" injectors. I haven't finalized any of the e85 fuel system yet, I'll deal with that once I start on V2 aka "turn the boost up and make the jam". The stock e46m3 fuel system is enough for 300-400hp, reliable, quiet, and parts are easy to obtain. No reason to change it. The Maxx will blend fuels as some amount of boost comes in, and finally be e85 only for high(er) boost.

Since my engine wiring harness will be using factory BMW X60001/X60002/X60003/X60004/X60005 connectors, I wanted to get them new and not reused an old 20 year old one. BMW doesn't really sell the connectors, but TE/AMP, the company that made them, sure does. They're also like $0.85 a connector, so you can skip the bmw prices. Getting all the part numbers was a lot harder than I thought it would be, so you're welcome for the 3 people out there that this might actually help.

DME Connector header: TE 7-967288-1 (this is the actual 5 female MS43/MS45/MSS54 DME connector side. If you wanted to make your own adapter harness, as I did.

BMW Connector Name	TE housing PN	Pin block A PN	Pin block B PN	PIN contact PN
X60001	1-968307-2			927768-1
X60002	1-968317-3	2-968318-1	1-968318-1	5-963715-1
X60003	1-968325-3	2-968326-1	1-968326-1	5-963715-1
X60004	1-968321-2	2-968322-1	1-968322-1	5-963715-1
X60005	2-968307-2			927768-1

Just search for the PN on digikey.com, mouser.com, or wherever you buy your TE/AMP parts from. You can also find schematics, CAD drawings, specs etc at te.com (again, just search for the part number), or both digikey and mouser have them as well. I ordered all this stuff from digikey.com, and it cost me like $40.

Next up was just the small matter of designing an engine harness, which I did in Excel. Just a lot of time, mapping sensor A to pin Y. Once I had everything I think I need, I translated it all into yourspec.com, which allows you to order custom wiring. They'll do most of the pinning, wire labels, cutting, etc. I ended up having them do one side of the wire, which goes into the TE connectors above, but I'll do the other end pinning into all the sensors since I wasn't sure of the length.

There are about 100 wires in my engine harness. But here is a screenshot from yourspec's design interface. You can see that the VTEC signal, TXL 22 AWG, blue, goes into X60003 pin 46 which is mapped into GPO 5 in the Maxx. Neat. You can also order shielded Tefzel wire, such as my crank trigger signal wire.


A few days later and...




And jumped right into it




I'm only about 10% done with the harness... I haven't had a chance to work on it much


Next up was mounting the MaxxECU Race in the e46 DME box. The MaxxECU instructions recommend removing the DME mounting tray and just stuffing everything inside. But I have a 3D scanner, Fusion, and a fancy printer...so let's scan the ECU box and design something.




Looks pretty good, let's see if the MaxxECU fits. YUP looks good to me!


Just did a quick test print in PLA to make sure it really fit correctly.


There was one small little fix I had to do, so I'm glad I did a test print, but overall it fit perfectly


Final version was printed in Fiberon PA612-CF15 (Nylon filament with 15% carbon fiber)


What layer lines? How insane is this made in my home office!


Pushed in some nut inserts


PERFECT! The other little box is a Canchecked MCE18 canbus sensor extension. I ran out of inputs and outputs on the Maxx along time ago, so I'll be using this and reading values over the BMW P-CAN network.


And with all the BMW relays clipped into place


Fun side project, I hate the chrome SMG ring. So literally 10 minutes in Fusion and a 3d print later for testing...


But I wasn't really feeling gray, so I ended up using Bambu PLA Matte Black printed with a 0.2mm nozzle. Came out pretty good, although I think I'll probably do another pass at it. Also which are you liking better, the e92 drivelogic button (right) or standard e46 SMG drivelogic button (left). hrrmmmm Ignore my messy desk!



So whats next you ask? I'm continuing to work on the wiring harness. I hopefully will get that done here in the next few weeks. Started work on all the MaxxECU programming as well. If all goes well we can at least power everything up, test sensors, etc. Perhaps even crank the engine. The front timing cover hasn't been sealed, oil pan needs to be modified to clear the steering rack, water pump housing isn't attached. I gotta design an alternator bracket, AC bracket, water pump brackets, Volvo electric power steering pump brackets, do all the AN oil lines... man I have a lot of work to do still.

[heinzboehmer]

Man, that engine sits really far back! Car is basically mid engined at this point.

Good stuff!

[liam821]

Been a few months... here's the latest.

A top-down view of the engine in the engine bay. Lots of room for activities


Finally pulled it out of the garage for the first time to check the new doors from the donor above, donor Orient blue door matches Orient blue car, go figure.


Getting the door aligned is a pita, and it's still not perfect


Pulled off the whole ZHP front knuckle, brakes, suspension


We won't be needing this


That's better. M3 knuckles, M3 LCA, M3 brakes with Aston calipers, and my FA Muller suspension go on. The e46 non-m and M3 front subframes are identical, so all those parts just swap over.


You have to use M3 tie rods ends since the M3 LCA's are about 15mm wider vs the non-m.


With the M3 bits larger front track and an 18x9.5+38 witha. 265, it's pretty tight...


I think I can make it work, worst comes to worst I can go down to a 8.5" front. There is almost no camber in it right now


Front stock M3 style 19" style 67s fit perfectly


I want to believe


Picked up an e92 335i Pierburg waterpump. The MaxxECU can control it directly via a BSD interface, so I can vary the flowrate based on whatever.


It's like Christmas in the fall. All new ZHP bumper bits (trim, brackets, hardware etc).


Did a low-ball bid on this and WON this beauty for $400


K24a2


Typical Honda. Put a jump box on it and it started right up. Doesn't even have a check engine light.


I just want the engine for a core. Head goes off to 4piston for their Pro TSX CNC head package and block off to Ramey Racing for sleeving. Once I get all that together i'll swap motors with what's in the car now. I have another project for that k24...


Another project I tackled is replacing the leather on my old driver-side Imola red M3 seat (from my blue car on page 1). Since the whole mouse incident destroyed the seat, I tossed the leather and cushions, but I kept the rails/seat base since it was basically new. I found a used set of black leather with cushions on eBay and got it all installed. Heated manual seats! I'm a sucker for the manual rails.


This last part has been ongoing for awhile, the wiring. So I'm using the plug'n'play MaxxECU MS43 harness, which basically just plugs right into the ZHPs X60001/X60002/X60003/X60004 connectors. But since I'll be Honda 💪 powered, I have to design a custom X60002/X60003 engine harness. So BMW connectors on the ecu side, Honda plugs on the other. Each wire needs to be mapped to the right location. I'm moving a bunch of things around and adding new things. For instance, the k24 has no DISA nor does it have 6 cyl. But I'm going to run 8 injectors (4 for pump gas, 4 for e85) so we'll need to add two more. You get the idea.


I'm using Yourspec wiring services to do all ECS side pin ends (TE MQS connectors) and custom wires with labels. Once I get all the wiring from them, I'll do the motorsports-style Raychem shrink tubing and pin all the sensor side connectors.


The next step is having the motor turn over on the starter! sooooooooon

[liam821]

Been a minute since I've updated this, so here are the last few months...

Finished all the wiring on the inside of the car, mainly wiring in the MaxxECU GT150 12-pin DCT "female side" plug so the MaxxECU DCT harness plugs right in. It's not super difficult to wire in. The only thing that is actually wired into the car is the power and ground.

CAN-H and CAN-L (which gets plugged into the CAN on the Maxx MS43 plug-n-play harness)
Paddle up/down (see above)
Ground (wired into the factory ground location next to the passenger seat on the tunnel)
12v+ (Added the correct fuse (20amp) and wired the power right into the factory fuse box where normally the SMG gets its power, fuse location 22, so dct powers on at the same time the Maxx does)


Modified the MaxxECU MS43 plug-n-play harness to add two CAN plugs using Deutsch connectors. One for the DCT, one for the CANChecked MCE18 can-bus extension (adds 9 analog inputs, 6 digital inputs, and 3 digital outputs).


I finally got myself some high-quality Deutsch/AMP/Delphi pin-extration tools. LIFE CHANGING! Depinning and modifying all the BMW connectors is a massive pain, but this tool makes it easy.


Still a mess in here, but it's looking more and more like a car again


E92M3 DCT shifter bolts right in! All the wiring is finished in the interior. Will probably leave a lot of the interior as-is until I can fully test everything.


Pretty cool that everything is plug-n-play.


On to pulling the boat anchor M54B30. The first time I've ever really looked under the car. I know the previous owner "hit a curb" and it looks like the front wheel took a pretty big hit. Bummer. I wasn't going to run the ZHP wheels, I was planning on selling them, but they're generally worth more when they're round.


Exhaust was nearly impossible to get off. 20 years and it's probably never been off. With a lot of liquid wrench, I was able to get the bolts off. Thankfully, I don't see any other damage under the car.


Ugh It's so big (that's what she said).


Working on a 4-post lift is a bit of a pain, but I made it work. With the car on jackstands on the ramps, and raised up just enough to slide my cherry picker under and was able to pull it out.


Prying that ratchet strap doesn't break...yikes! (GT World Challenge on in the background there)


It's free!


What a mess...


Sadly, BMW did not win. Engine bay is super dirty


That badge


Lucked out and found a 99 323i in fantastic condition in Orient Blue with under 100k miles locally that was being parted out...


Grabbed the doors to replace mine that have a huge dent, and grabbed another slicktop headliner, so now I have two


Pulled the car out of the garage and went to town on cleaning the engine bay. Of course I forgot to take a after picture lol


My daughter and I drove up to Tacoma to pickup a new front windshield for the ZHP. Grab 'em while you can, they all went NLA. JUST barely fit in my iX.


Started work on the Honda k24a RBB3. The first step was replacing the intake cam sprocket with an RBC 50-degree version.


I had to pull off the oil pump, we won't be needing that where we're going, and tilted the motor on its side and pulled the pan only to find the motor was full of JDM land oil. What a huge mess! I should have checked to see if it had oil first, I guess. On the plus side, the oil (while dirty) had zero flakes and the pan was super clean. Good sign.


New RBC sprocket on, timing chain back on and set. You all WISH your S54s were as easy to do a timing chain like the Honda. The bottom sprocket is what the crank angle sensor uses. The intake/exhaust cam angle sensors are on the other side of the motor.


Okay, I jumped ahead a bit. I just HAD to see what it looks like with the 4Piston billet timing cover, intake manifold, and turbo bits.


It's a really good-looking engine


TracTuff billet oil filter relocation/oil cooler plate. Artec RWD K turbo manifold.


@charlie.moua.doryoku on Instagram did this valve cover for me. Rear PCV port delete, -10an top ORB PCV with baffle, removable baffle plate, finished in Type-R wrinkle red. Hit him up for all your valve cover needs, he does fantastic work.


BorgWarner EFFR 8374 62mm turbo looks massive!


Honda glory, B18C5 and the e46's k24a in the same picture?!


Okay okay, enough gawking, let's get back to work.

Adamat bellhousing adapter on, torqued, thread locked


Adamat flywheel torqued and thread locked


Sprung hub torque harmonic damper to protect the DCT clutch basket. Again, torqued and thread locked. DCT in the background on the right.


Stupid transmission went on and off like 10 times. I had to grind down part of the bellhousing to clear the Honda k24 starter.


I knew the engine/trans would fit into the car - we test fit everything in the previous chassis. So I yeeted it back into the car and immediately test-fit the intake and turbo manifold.


Like a glove


Plenty of clearance for the hood


Test fit my 3d printed left-side engine mount. Fits perfect! I do need to modify the plate a little bit, I guessed on the hole placement and I'm about 5mm high - easy fix.


Pretty cool how well the engine mount fit on the first try. I'll be using factory e46 non-m fluid-filled engine mounts


Next up, working on the engine harness. I need to swap all the LCA/subframes/arms front and rear over to M3 bits. Design the right side engine mount... it's a long list. More to come!

[liam821]

Small update. I've had no time the last few weeks, too much stuff going on. But I did finish a small project.

I needed to get the e46 M3 SMG paddle shifters working with the DCT. The SMG cars had a specific clockspring aka "Switch steering column slip ring" which passes all the steering wheel buttons but adds two more pins for the up and down paddles. Some of the newer BMWs use a single wire but add two difference resistance when pulling up or down so it's a bit more involved. Thankfully, the e46 M3 SMG is simple, each paddle has its own pin that grounds to the steering wheel (chassis) ground. Keep in mind that manual cars (non-m/M3 manuals are the same) clocksprings are different than SMG cars, which adds two more pins for each paddle. So you need to source a SMG clockspring. I thankfully had a spare.

Now the E92M3 DCT TCU paddles work the same way as the e46, connecting ground triggers an up or down shift. However, it requires the up and down paddle to use it's OWN TCU ground and not chassis ground. So I have two options: I can route the TCU ground through the steering wheel clockspring, or I can use some sort of relay that will connect it's own ground on request.

I decided not to mess with all the steering wheel wires and use a relay instead. Now I don't want to hear a "click click" of a relay every time I pull a paddle so instead let's use a mosfet instead. A mosfet, or Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor, is a type of semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals. It's essentially a voltage-controlled switch, where the voltage applied to the "gate" terminal controls the current flow between the "source" and "drain" terminals. It's basically just a fancy relay. And since it uses transistors, it offers fast switching speed and a longer life then your traditional relay.

So I went on a search for a mosfet to fit my needs and found that the Panasonic AQY212S will fit the bill. They cost $2/each from digikey.com. You can get them in both DIP (pin mount) AQY212EH or SMD (surface mount) AQY212S style chips. I chose the SMD style chip and use a SMD proto board to mount everything. The wiring is very simple.

[12V Switched] ----[1kΩ Resistor]-----> Pin 1 (Anode)
[Paddle Switch] ---------------------------> Pin 2 (Cathode) (to GND_CHASSIS when pressed)

Shift up/down to TCU --------------------> Pin 3 (Drain)
TCU_GND ----------------------------------> Pin 4 (Source)

The resistor on pin 1 limits the current going into the mosfet.

This is by far some of my best micro soldering I've ever done. This is not my profession, I'm a software engineer, not an electrical engineer.


Close up using my desk microscope, came in clutch doing the soldering.


Here are all the wires soldered on and wired into the car harness. I was able to test to verify that it works perfectly. I wired them into ACC 12v power, plugged in the battery, and pulled a paddle to get that satisfying beep of my multimeter! wooo


I also finished all the wiring I need. Here are the things I've added:

Center console TPMS & sport buttons. TPMS goes into the MK60 ABS module, sport button is routed into the Maxxecu.
E39 wiper stalk button is routed into the Maxxecu.
Paddle shifts which we just talked about
E92M3 dct shifter 12v ACC power is using the old automatic wiring harness, but with a Deutsch connector
DCT gear display wired into gauge cluster power/canbus (also using a Deutsch connector)

And I think that's about it. I didn't have to add/change much of the wiring in the cabin. Everything was Tesa taped together and routed just like factory. Everything looks factory, except for the Deutsch connectors. I thought about sourcing OEM-style TE/AMP connectors but it's a bit of a pain in the ass and nobody is going to see it.

The last update I have is BMW of NorthWest in Tacoma, WA FINALLY got the slicktop roof panel I ordered. Took 6 weeks to get here from Germany. It was only supposed to take two weeks, I'm assuming all the tariffs and shipping delays caused this delay as well. But I was able to grab it! One of the last left new in the world.

It came in a huge box which said "glass" with lots of padding inside, uhh is that going to fit in my X5?


Yep, no problem


Next steps is getting the dash in and starting the Maxxecu wiring engine bay side. I also need to pull the stock M54 and get the K in the engine bay. Future Liam.

[liam821]

I have had almost no time this week, so many things going on. But I still snuck out into the garage for a few hours here and there.

Clean black carpet going in. Amazing how much better it looks - even without the dash


Dash support bar back in.


Replacing the center console buttons with one from an M3. This gets me the TPMS and Sport button.


For those wondering about wiring, there is a great DIY on zhpmafia about wiring in the TPMS. It's a single wire (pin 2 of the control buttons) into the MK60 ABS pump and then some coding. Easy peasy. The sport button has two pins (17 and 18), one is the switch that goes into the DME in an input, and the other is just a low-side ground that lights up the sport LED. Since the stock BMW DME is getting the boot, the sport button is going to be wired into a Canchecked MCE18 input/output canbus expansion module and then will talk over canbus to the Maxxecu - since my Maxxecu race inputs and outputs are at a premium. I'll have the sport button configured to turn the car to max effort (full boost, exhaust cutout open, transmission in drivemode 5 etc) with a single click - "M" mode? haha

A few other goodies I wired in as well were the e39 windshield washer button, which will flip through a preset list of boost/power settings. And the most exciting button, the MDM ZCP steering wheel button, is now launch control (if stopped) and the rolling anti-lag (if moving).

[liam821]

A few more updates over the last few weeks

There is a nice dent in the ZHP's passenger door, sadly, I didn't really notice how bad it was until the car was up on the lift and the dent was right at eye level. So before that silver crashed car went off to the great dumpster in the sky I saved both passenger doors since they're in good condition.

Not much left


Sad to see


Finally got around to printing the mock up for the k24 engine mounts. My stupid 3d printer refused to print, and I was about to throw it out the window, but after nearly hitting buy-it-now on a new one, the Prusa miraculously started working correctly. This is generally how it works, it refuses to print correctly and wants to make spaghetti, I yell at it and spend a few hours releveling the bed and threatening to buy a new fancy one, and before I hit the buy button it starts printing perfectly.


Came out perfect. I'll test this out on the engine in the car before I send it off to be made


Bought the Autosports labs ESP32 canbus board soldered all the wires and cleaned up the code. Seems to be working perfectly. The Autosports board has built-in dual canbus channels and a reliable 12v input so I can write the power directly into the e46 and not have to worry about slight voltage variations or USB power.


I wanted to get some of the electronics stuff done before I start really ripping into the ZHP. First up was swapping to an M3 cluster so a few things needed to be done.

- Adding the rear door LEDs to the M3 cluster (M3s only came in coupes, but the gauge cluster electronics are pretty much identical between all e46s so you can solder on the LEDs and resistors and then code them)
- Modify the mileage / vin so it matches the ZHPs LCM

I built myself a gauge cluster test bench so I can do all the programming and modifications outside the car


My daughter's e46 gauge cluster died a year ago, but I kept the bad cluster, which was a super bro move for Future Liam. I needed the door LEDs


Which is which? 325i above M3 below. You can see even the 325 has the pads for warmup rev limiter and all the m3 only bits


Close-up of the 325i door lights


Close-up of the M3 door lights. You can see the two rear door LEDs are missing plus the resistors


I used solder paste and a hotair station since using an iron on such small compounds would be challenging


Here is the resistor, they're so little


All finished. Perhaps not my best work


Next up is coding. You need to remove the M35080/3 EEPROM which stores all the mileage/vin information. Again best to use a hotair station and it comes off easily


Drop the chip in a R270+ BDM programmer and you can modify the code. I leave the VIN but zero out the mileage to 0


Solder the chip back to the board, again using your hotair station, and verify all the pins are correctly attached and test. Boom looks good, zero miles. Tamper dot because vin/mileage doesn't match lcm


Using PASOFT, recode IKE using your lcm VO and VIN. (Picture before coding, but notice 0km on the M3 cluster)


Then reset the cluster and if you did everything correctly, it should grab the mileage and tamper dot should be gone. Works!


You can run a test via PASOFT/Ncsexpert to verify all the LEDs you soldered on works. rear doors works!


Dropped the cluster back in the car and drove around the block to test. Everyting works as expected


That quick test to my mailbox and back into the garage was its last drive under M54 power. Hopefully, it will leave my garage under k24 power.


Turns my attention to the front of the car. Sadly, the bumper is trashed, the bottom is ripped from curbs and where it mounts to the side clips are destroyed.


I'm going to have drag the chassis out of the garage to pressure wash and clean everything once I get the m54 turd out.


Next up is removing the interior.


Dash out


Under dash support and rear carpet out


Gotta pull the HVAC to remove the front carpet, at least without cutting it.


ugh, my garage is a disaster again



Depending on how much free time I have, in the next few weeks I'm going to be pulling the M54/auto transmission out and will start putting the new black interior back together.

[liam821]

I ordered this Skunk2 Ultra Race RWD intake manifold way back in September and it FINALLY came in.

Bosch 74mm DBW with billet adapter looking gooood


Don't mind the mess...


I had Charlie Moua https://www.instagram.com/charlie.moua.doryoku do a custom vavle cover for me. Shaved the side PCV port (it hits the e46 hvac fan) and relocated it to the top as a 10an ORB fitting under the baffle plate. The stock baffle plate was removed and a CNC zinc plate goes in. All finished in OEM Honda wrinkle red. It just shipped today but here is a picture he took for me.










Another interesting part is my pulley setup. ATI Super damper to run my alternator with a Jones Racing oil pump pully (middle) and another pulley for the a/c compressor. While two pulleys you might ask? Well the alternator is under the intake manifold and the a/c compressor is under the turbo manifold on the other side. I don't want to design a complicated belt system so this seemed like the better option.


I designed a DCT gear gauge that will fit into the stock e46m3 gauge cluster to replace the SMG display. I could use the SMG display, but it only has 6 gears and my dct has 7. Making my own I can also monitor and print any information I want via canbus to the display. It's an ESP32 board with MCP2551 canbus chip. It's code is written in CircuitPython and really pretty simple - it's like 20 lines of code. The hard part was designing all the images - basically, one image for each possible state (i.e. sport + drivelogic mode 2 + gear 3 etc). It sits on the e46 canbus looking for specific values and updates a 1.3" oled display. I'll cover the display in a red transparent color film so it looks like the stock gauges. Extremely cheap. The ESP32 board was $8 and the display was $10. I was going to design my own custom ESP32 board which had voltage regulators so it can cope with the 10-14v dc it might see plugged into the cars electrical system and have the canbus module all on one board but I found a board that does all that already done from a company called Autosport Labs. It was $49 which is expensive for what it is, but it saved me hours in development and would probably cost me more since I'd have to buy 5-10 to get a company like PCBWAY to make it.

[liam821]

The roof on the ZHP is pretty faded and there is a nice dent. The previous owner told me a truck cargo cover flew off on the freeway, that's how the dent in the hood happened, and as it flew over the car it also put a little dent in the roof. I can probably PBR the dent in the roof, but the paint is another problem. Well, I've been hoarding a slicktop sedan headliner and now is the time to use it! Apparently, the e46 sedan slicktop roof just went NLA and there are 42 left in the world - all in Germany - well now there are 41 because I just grabbed one. So if you to slicktop your sedan, now is the time! I also grabbed the front and rear top window brace and center support just in case those don't survive me ripping the stock roof off. Fun fact, the slicktop and sunroof roof covers use the same center support.