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Got bored and built a benchtop programming harness for GM ECMs. Using the free PCMHammer and TunerPro programs to reprogram an 04 ECM to take out VATS and various O2 sensors just so I could run the engine on my test stand. Thank you YouTube!.
Last year, I went to a local flea market and scored 2 brand new LS harnesses. One is for ATX and one is for manual setups (blue/red).
I'm using the manual one, with some extra pins and a bunch of stuff not connected to get the engine started. The harnesses were for DBC but my ECM (blue/green) doesn't have the DBC chip, I'm trying to retrofit the connections to the DBW controller to see if I can get throttle control.
This is not the setup going into the car. It's just temporary for the engine test stand.
The engine starts and builds oil pressure, but I didn't run it for long as I forgot to plug up the transmission's oil cooler lines and it started spewing all over the garage.
The E36 just got dropped off at my place. I was supposed to get only the rolling body, but got the entire car instead To my surprise, it starts and runs. I have to remove the engine and give it back to my buddy who provided the car.
Got a little bit of progress. Drove this into the garage. A perfectly running 2.8L. Engine is coming out and going back to the previous owner of the car.
I'm going to try to integrate them all together into a custom harness and try to keep them pretty much in the same place so it will look similar to an E36 harness.
You can buy a E36 to LS swap harness for about $1500, but I would have to tear it apart to customize it for the DCT anyway, so I'm making my own. When I'm done and it all works, I'll post the wiring info I used.
The MAXXecu will live in the same cubby hole (right hand side in the firewall) that the BWM DME used to be in. I'll just run some USB cables from behind the glove box area to the inside of the cabin for laptop access to the MAXXecu and logging.
When it's done, the harness and MAXXecu should look like this, only with an LS engine.
Should be able to connect to existing fuse box and wires to cabin area and keep it pretty much keep that part stock except for Gauge cluster.
Also, ABS in the E36 is independent of the DME, so that should still work.
I'm going to swap out the existing 5.3 knock sensors and replace with these. The reason is that MAXXecu insist that you don't mix signal and chassis ground. The existing LS knock sensors use the chassis as the return loop. I'm a strong believer in not mixing grounds. I have implemented that practice in my C3 turbo car (with an AEM ECM) and have had zero noise problems from day 1.
I don't know for sure what I'll do with the gauge cluster. I may replace the E36 cluster with an E46 cluster (I have one available to me) because the MAXXecu supports the E46 CANBUS to the cluster, so we'll see if it can both the E92 CANBUS for the DCT and the E46 can for the cluster. This is still a grey area for me so we'll see how it ends up.
Worst case (or maybe best case), I could easily duplicate the display in the corvette:
, put some slick BMW graphics on it, and use that for both gauge cluster and shifter (PRNDL to elimate the need for CANBUS buttons) instead of buying an E92 M3 shifter and M3 Drivelogic button (changes shifting aggressiveness). Anybody with cool BMW LS graphics let me know. If I go ahead with my own display again, I'm going to make a universal circuit board that can double as a CANBUS enabled touchscreen controller and display as well as a 4L80e and 4l60E DIY trans controller platform. Of course, as with all my stuff, I'll share.
I also want to add a large LED single digit display to show what gear I'm in. Something like this, but not $400.
More like a 2.3" inch display 5 for $12.
That data comes from the MAXXecu CANBUS, so I could kill all those birds with one stone.
I'm also going to see what's involved in adding a paddle shift steering wheel. That's also a gray area for me so anyone who has input please chime in.
I ordered the MAXXecu with a flying lead harness, meaning no connectors except the one that goes into the ECU. Gotta say that it's a quality setup. Each of the wires is labeled in ink that is readable, negating the need for me to check which pin a wire belongs to. Nice!!
I started laying out each of the sensors and other functions and labeled them with a temporary label. Later I'll make it more permanent.
Commercial harnesses reduce the amount of wire in the harnesses by splicing in, for example ground wires (also 12V Battery, 5V, 12V IGN), at various locations along the harness. That works fine. For me it's more important to keep track of stuff and to have the flexibility of not having to calculate where each splice needs to be ahead of time. So for every function, let's say a map sensor, I run all 3 wires and have all the common junctions near the MAXXecu connectors. More wires, but simpler to keep track of for a DIY custom fit harness.
Once I'm satisfied with all the wires in a group, I'll heat up the clear heat shrink tubing (probably have a number of labels for each group along the length of the bundle) to make them permanent.
No that was not an install, I just put it in to see how much space I had for everything. No mounts, just temporary hangers.
When I had it in late that night, it looked promising, but i didn't notice that the output of the transmission is not in line with the existing drive shaft. The DCT trans output was much lower, than the drive shaft. There is plenty of room to lift the trans up to make them line up, but that causes interference where the firewall meets the tunnel and the oil pan. I think the problem that I have is that my F body oil pan is not flat enough near the front of the engine.
Choices are, modify the oil pan (or replace it, do some raising of the area where the tunnel meets the firewall or modify the removable subframe piece that interferes with the part of the pan I highlighted. Not alot of room to modify the subframe because off all the stuff attached to it like steering rack.
I could just lower the drive shaft mounts, but that would introduce it's own can of worms.
The bottom of the engine pan and the bottom of the trans are not too low for ground clearance. If fact I feel I could even lower them for lower weight, but the current oil pan to the subframe clearance won't allow that. I may start looking for other oil pans, although I already built a great baffle setup for this one.
I will definitely have to fab up some DIY trans mounts, Nothing I see on the market will work.
Wonder if you could just slice and dice a 750d rear drive line for it? Then youd get the bits for a heavy heavy car with massive torque to support your new engine?
Wonder if you could just slice and dice a 750d rear drive line for it? Then youd get the bits for a heavy heavy car with massive torque to support your new engine?
I like your idea,or the X5 diesel. The torque is monstrous. That's the vehicle that towed the E36 to my house.
I'm going to check with my friend who is really up on what can be swapped. Those M3 rears are going for a fortune now.
Was under the car this weekend and noticed that the oil pan on the DCT sticks down almost an inch below the aftermarket F body engine oil pan. The engine pan have is 5.5 inches deep. I would say a 6.5 inch deep pan would also be safe and bring the engine and DCT oil pans to the same height.
02-09-2023, 08:32 AM
both axles will need to be shorter.. 
