bmwman91

Thanks for the info. Does the interface support both 3.3V and 5V differential signal amplitudes?

I am finishing up integration of my E36X and am looking to add a CAN EGT module. The thermocouple ADC module will be of my own custom design and will not draw over 100mA. Can I use the 14V and GND pins on the 5-pin CAN2 connector for power and data, or do I need to use an external source? I am not using the 5V reference supply pin on the Expansion connector for anything. What is the max output current for that pin, and would it be suitable for powering my CAN EGT module?

Thanks Adam. How about the O2 heater relay control?

From looking at the manual's pinout, and in PCLink, I do not see the main and O2 heater relays listed under nay of the aux outputs. Are the relays' operating coils controlled via discrete logic & the ignition switch input on the E36X, or am I missing a setting somewhere in PCLink? My application is not a BMW M50, but another engine which also happens to use the 88 position main connector, and it'll help me decide how I want to re-pin a couple of wires once I know how those two relays are activated. The wiring is substantially similar to that of the M50, with the O2 heater relay's power coming from the output of the fuel pump relay, so really I am interested to know the conditions under which the main & O2 heater relays are active if they are not controlled via programmable outputs. Thanks.

Cool, just making sure (a little helping of paranoia has never hurt when it comes to wiring plans). With that being the case, I assume that I can completely remove the constant 12V wire from position 26 (the spec sheet lists it as "nc (Constant 12V)"? I've started roughing-in some of the new wire runs and reorganizing / untangling the remaining original wiring. I have to say that I am now a big fan of Tefzel insulated wire...expensive, but the smaller OD is super helpful, and the smooth surface finish combined with its surprising rigidity makes it a heck of a lot easier to feed through PVC sheath tubes (not pictured). The original wire that BMW used is perfectly good considering it has not cracked or deteriorated in 30 years, but the PVC insulation leaves a bit to be desired (or at least I think it is PVC). Anyway, happy new year. I am pretty excited to get the car going on the E36X in 2021! It's probably about time that I made a build thread in the proper section...

Good to know, thanks for the confirmation. In that case it'll be a few quick op's on the manual mill rather than having to fixture things in the CNC.

I am finalizing my wiring diagrams and preparing to start constructing the modified OEM harness. Just as a sanity check, ALL pins listed as "nc" in the Quick Specs are internally floating and not connected to anything at all, correct? Thanks again.

I am going to be running a pair of these for oil & fuel data (and to run modeled fuel calcs on my G4X). Physical adaptation is looking like the sticky point though. The data sheet has a fairly lousy drawing that (intends) to show the bore dimensions & seating face for the flared end of the sensor. However, life would be immensely simpler if I could just do a blind M10 tap and seal the thing with a copper crush washer. Do any of you have experience with the sensor being installed that way? I can only guess at the internal construction, and based on the fact that the metal housing is 3 parts (laser welded together) I'd assume that the silicon pressure transducer element is up closer to the connector and not down in the little boss which would be compressed against a crush washer. But who knows, and adding or changing the stress field in the body of the sensor seems like it could be problematic, so any input on this is very much appreciated. Also, regarding issues with the trapezoidal connector, is it mainly that the contacts don't stay in place in the housing and cause intermittent connection issues, or is it something else? Thanks!

Great, that is enough info to keep my plans going while I wait for the ECU and a spare harness to build up. And yes, if at some point it is an option to get a pinout diagram for the board-to-board header so that I can solder leads as-needed, it would be much appreciated. We'll see if that is needed...I am not running A/C either, so that buys me a couple more inputs. CAN expansion for things is a good idea as well, so I'll have to see what options are on the market. I'll probably post a build thread in the Customer Vehicles subsection once I get things going. If I do end up soldering things / making modifications to the hardware, is there any issue with posting details about that, or does Link prefer not to have people encouraging that? I don't mind leaving those details out.

I have placed an order for the E36X through a distributor in my region and am looking forward to a new project. As I have been going over the wiring diagrams for the M50TU, I noticed that it uses a Hall effect cam position sensor, whereas the M42 uses a VR sensor. Can pin 17 (cam signal+) be used with a VR sensor, or were the signal conditioning components stripped out? Based on how the cam VR sensor is connected on M1.7, the other sensor wire just gets tied to ground, so that much is easy to take care of. I have some spare MAX9926's around so it's not a huge deal if pin 17 requires a TTL input, but it'd be cool if it worked directly with a VR sensor. The M42 does not use the "resistor" shield connection on pin 45 like the M50. Is that ground pin filtered the same way as the other ones you listed (or rather, are they all the same/similarly filtered)? The photo of the E36X gives the impression that it is a G4X mainboard attached to a daughter board in the Motronic form factor. Does the G4X board have some of the input/output buffers/drivers removed (for the lines that are not broken-out on either the main or expansion connectors), or are they all there and functionally-available on the dual-row header pins between the boards? Between using the 4 wheel speed sensor signals for TC and some other stuff I want to do, it would be great if the other 4 digital inputs were available for use (since it looks like the G4X XtremeX has 11 DI's, and the E36X makes 7 available). Same deal with the rest of the analog inputs. You can see where this is going. Any info you can provide would be helpful, but I understand if it is outside the scope of "proper" tech support, and obviously any warranty goes out the window. Thanks again.

Thanks. Yeah, the M42 uses "dumb" coils as well, and I am running M52 coils in a COP configuration. I 'scoped the ignition primary signal of my setup, and I was pulling 8A @ 4ms dwell with the Motronic's ignition transistors clamping the flyback to ~420V. I assume that the "igniters" in the E36X are IGBT's that will operate similarly? I don't foresee needing Ign5-6 for anything else, so leaving those de-pinned is fine. M3.3.1 does have a few additional ground connections for stuff like the knock sensor shields and other shields. Are those all just internally tied straight to the main grounds (pins 6/34/55), or is there some noise filtering (ferrite bead, etc) in between? The M42's harness just tied the sensor shields to one of the main ground cables with a splice in the harness. Analog signal integrity is a big priority for how I plan my harness build, so if you recommend that I modify the grounding arrangement of stuff like cable shields to run through the E36X (match the M50TU harness) rather than existing splices in the harness I'll work that into my plans. Have any E36X users mentioned EMI issues on analog signals due to the "dumb" coils? R8 coils fit reasonably well on my engine, and I assume that EMI is significantly less of an issue with those. I'd prefer to stick with the "dumb" coils since the wiring is already there (including shielded cable for the switched leg) and they are screwed down rather than held by friction like the R8 coils, but if your experience indicates that "smart" coils always enable cleaner analog signals then I'll take that into consideration. If the G4X does something like sample the analog inputs whenever there is NOT a spark event, then I suppose it's a non-issue for me. At this point, I think that I'm sold on the E36X as my solution!

The E36X is one of only two solutions on the market with the old-generation Motronic 88-pin connector, and I feel like the Link product is likely the more robust of the two. With the caveat that all wiring and PCLink reconfiguration are my responsibility, is there anything specific about the E36X ECU that would prevent it from being used in a more general purpose way with a car that used Motronic 1.7 (identical physical form factor & connector as M3.3.1, and ~90% identical internal electronics)? I have an E30 318iS with a fully built 2.1L M42 engine, and I have been researching aftermarket engine management options. The M42 is basically a non-VANOS M50 engine minus two cylinders, with effectively the same sensors and actuators from an electrical standpoint. I've rebuilt a couple of M42 harnesses and possess the various extractors and crimp dies needed to properly work with TE/Amp Junior/Standard Power Timer series connectors, so re-configuring the ECU plug is no big deal. It sure would be nice to be able to tune without a hex editor and UV eraser! Thanks!