DISCLAIMER:
I am not responsible for any damages or modifications of any type to your vehicle. This site is for informational purposes only!
UPDATED: 2007-04-21
PROJECT MITE46
Getting Ready for BimmerFest 2007...
The MITE46 story...5 minute version...For the complete saga...follow the links on the left...
In May of 2000 after my freshman year at MIT, I needed a car my summer internship. My parents contacted a close family friend, owner of Century West BMW, and in a few days a new fully loaded 2000 E46 323i was en route to Boston. School was consuming almost all of my time, but I managed to squeeze a few twilight hours armed with snow jacket battling infamous Boston subzero weather to work on the car. Since I had absolutely zero prior mechanical knowledge, I started out with the basics: clear corners, cold air intake, sway bars, and coil-overs, and of course breaking every plastic clip and losing many bolts in the process. As the months went, the amount of scrapes and cuts increased, but more importantly, I started to learn more about the E46 platform; gathering tips and tricks and sharing them online at E46Fanatics.com. Shortly after, I tackled my first major DIY: a used incomplete 6.5PSI ESS supercharger kit with only a few wrenches and allen keys. I still remember disconnecting the pressurized fuel rail to install upgraded injectors only to find that it was raining gasoline a few moments after.
In the meantime, I gathered the then top of the line PC components and build my first car computer based on the Intel PIII mini-ITX form factor, custom video card with LVDS output capability, and extremely rare DC to DC ATX power supply. The car computer project was a total success; I was able to demonstrate 802.11b wireless MP3 synchronization that I submitted it as my senior project in 2001 when WiFi technology was still in its infancy.
In June of 2003, I received my 90 day courtesy call from BMW Financial Services; I forgot to mention that the car was leased and conveniently forgot to mention to my parents I’ve taken apart the $40K car they’ve given me. I found myself, like most enthusiasts, that I’ve ventured way beyond the point of being reasonably able return the car to stock form. But most importantly, I knew that there was still a wealth of German engineering and technology hidden in all those control units and communication busses; that’s really what I was really after.
After graduation in June of 2003, I returned back to Socal, bought the car from BMW FS, sourced a crashed 2002 E46 M3 SMGII, and started the real DIY: Project 332i, an estimated quick 3 month engine swap that developed into a 2 year automotive saga. What was my motivation? Since BMW never released a 4 door E46 M3, I thought I’d build something one of a kind while learning as much as I can on the way.
I: Engine Reconstruction
The donor engine sustained major damage as something heavy fell directly on top of the intake manifold. Of course I didn’t know it at the time I just thought it needed a new air box. As I dismantled engine, I realized that almost everything except the block was damaged including throttle bodies, crank case cover, coolant piping, air valves, and etc. The following weeks were spent meticulously studying BMW’s ETK (Electronic Parts Catalogue) until I understood and fixed every last part. As a precaution, I also performed the famous rod bearing recall, because I wasn’t going to let this engine blow up and surely BMW wasn’t going to do it for me under warranty.
II: Disassembly
Disassembly took 5 weeks and was by far the easiest part of the entire process. My donor car was pretty much complete, so almost everything from the 323i had to go. Since I did all of the work at home in my garage, I had to formulate a strategy to remove an 800 pound drive train with a few jack stands and two pallet jacks.
Luckily, the front of the E46 detaches from the frame and I was able to directly pull out the old engine after disconnecting the engine mounts and driveshaft, which I should mention is almost impossible without air tools. For the rear subframe, I used the same strategy and dropped the whole suspension onto the other pallet jack.
I proceeded to gut the entire interior including the dash, carpet, and wiring harnesses. When the disassembly was complete, the car was just a metal shell and you could look through the car via the transmission tunnel.
III. Assembly
I figured the assembly would be just the reverse of the install. Well, of course, things are never that simple! I started out with the donor E46 M3 rear subframe equipped with an 3.46 limited slip differential, beefier half shafts than the non-motorsport counterpart, and added Rogue Engineering adjustable rear control arms.
In order to achieve the required 5.0 bar fuel pressure for WOT; E46 M3 fuel pump, solid gas lines, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator, and fuel pump relay were installed.
Next, I added all the E46 M3 specific engine accessories: larger aluminum radiator, engine oil cooler, external coolant tank, etc.
To top it off an E46 M3 AA 5.5psi supercharger kit was added to the project. To aid the forced induction application, colder Denso Iridium IXU27 spark plugs and ignition solutions plasma coils were installed. The AA kit also includes upgraded high flow injectors, an air-to-air intercooler, cast intake manifold, and a supercharger oil circulation system.
Once the supercharge kit was complete, I used the pallet jack to lift engine, transmission, and driveshaft back into the chassis. The E46 M3 engine and transmission mounts mated perfectly with the E46 sedan chassis.
Next, I retrofitted E46 M3 front suspension including steering rack, control arms and bushings, reinforced skid plate, wheel spindles, and wheel bearings. Reinforced by Rogue Engineering rear shock mounts, E46 M3 Praxis advanced air suspension provides instant vehicle height adjustment in the cabin.
E46 M3 Ground Control sway bars complete the suspension package while Stoptech 14inch BBK stops the car with ease. Custom GRAY painted DPE 20 inch forged LS5 20x8 20x10 wheels are wrapped in BFGoodrich G-Force 225/30ZR20 and 245/30ZR20 tires.
In order to successfully retrofit the E46 M3 engine, I obtained the entire BMW electrical wiring diagram for the 2000 323i and 2002 M3. After digging though hundreds of these documents, deciphering German color codes and symbols, I realized that the diagrams weren’t always correct. After a grueling week of spaghetti wire hunting, I was able to reverse engineer a custom wiring harness by tracing every wire and cross referencing the differences between the two cars.
The majority of the additional wiring is for the SMGII transmission control unit (TCU), hall sensors in the shifter, SMG clutch speed switch, and DSC sensors. The DSC control module also had to be upgraded to E46 M3 spec due to the LSD; however, the actual valves and brake lines do not have to be changed. Additoinal wiring harnesses were made for drive-by-wire system, fuel pump relay, SMG steering wheel paddles, additional hood contact switches, OBDII connector, and Parking Distance Control(PDC).
Since the E46 M3 fan shroud would not easily fit on the sedan, I knew I would have overheating supercharged engine on a hot summer day in Los Angeles. To address this issue, I replaced the stock mechanical fan with an electrical 18 inch Permacool fan. The stock auxiliary pusher fan had trouble fitting due to the massive intercooler. To remedy this, two 10 inch Spal fans help push air through the radiator, while an additional two 8 inch Permacool fans pull hot air off of the intercooler keeping the engine coolant happy. The fans are trigged by a relay connected to the ignition signal. When the key is removed, the fans run for additional 10 seconds before shutting off.
IV Startup + Calibration
After I assembled the core drive train components of the car, I had the car towed to Century West BMW, where a few things had to be double checked before the initial startup. Since I as never given the original donor car keys, a new key set and EWS was coded to the DME. To avoid stored mileage discrepancies, matching E46 M3 Digital Motor Electronics(DME), instrument cluster(IKE??), and Light Control Module(LCM) were used. The only 323i control modules that were retained were the general body electronics for the rear sedan windows and airbag modules.
The DME and TCU were upgraded to the latest revision before DME was sent to AA for their SC software flash. Now that I’ve vaguely demonstrated that I can assemble a bunch of car parts, the moment of truth comes where it all has to come together and work! Amazingly enough, the car startup with no problems; some smoke was released due to excess oil being burnt off. We let the car idle, connected it to the GT1, and it instantly detected it as a 2002 E46 M3. We tried to perform a full SMGII transmission adaptation which includes learning the clutch curve and offset angles, but ran into a Load Deactivation fault. Turns out, the SMG pump activates when the key is in position 1 and/or if the door is opened. I didn’t wire my car to activate the SMG pump when the door is opened thus the fault was triggered. After I fixed that, the fault cleared itself automatically.
V. Paint
Immediately after the engine diagnostics were squared away, the car was towed to Marco’s Autobody for a complete repaint using BMW’s individual color, Interlagos Blue. Facelifted coupe bixenon headlights fitted with Predator Chromium Angel Eyes were also retrofitted to the car.
In order to fit coupe headlights on a sedan, custom front fenders were made by merging coupe and sedan parts. In order to perfect the fenders, a total of 5 front fenders had to be sacrificed to find the best joining area. To match the wider couper fenders, I decided to install an aggressive Reiger CS bodykit consisting of a CSL like front bumper with dual intake holes, matching side skirts, and a PDC ready rear bumper.
JC Design’s custom cat back exhaust was specially hand made to ensure a free flowing path without waking up the neighbors. A Vorsteiner M3 hood with matching blue and black carbon fiber vents was also added. A Hamann roof spoiler and BMW aero kit wing completes the rear of the car.
VI. Electronics
While the car was being painted, I started on the interior and electronics portion of the project. After evaluating several PC form factors including mini-itx and nano-itx, I made a list of important CarPC features including: power consumption, heat dissipation, shock tolerance, integrated features, and foot print. I decided to go with a fanless Xenarc FL9 CarPC running Intel Pentium M 2.1Ghz and 1GB of DDR PC3200 memory. The FL9 was a clear choice for me because it comes with a built in startup/shutdown controller. This feature allows the CarPC to monitor the ignition signal and starts the computer 10 seconds after the car has been turned on giving the voltage time to stabilize. Likewise, when the car is turned off, the CarPC will automatically hibernate Windows XP. The FL9 also takes unregulated 12V input power, so it is very resilient to voltage spikes, another critical feature in automotive computing. It also has dual-screen video via DVI and analog VGA. For audio support, the FL9 has the standard analog 3.5mm headphone jack and also digital audio via a coaxial SPDIF connector. All of these features are available in an extremely compact case surrounded by metal fins which acts as a heat sink.
In automotive applications, typical hard drives do not last long due to shock, especially if you have a stiff suspension. To address this, I used a solid state 4GB IDE Flash disk from M-Systems. This isn’t your typical flash drive, because it is rated for over 5 million write/erase cycles. This is factor of 10 times more than the usual rate; however, it is important to disable any sort of disk swapping in the OS.
The main screen is a LG 14.1 inch LCD from an old HP laptop. The LCD uses Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS) and is the perfect size when installed in portrait mode. In order to drive this panel you will need a video card that can output LVDS like the one in the original notebook, but of course you can not use that since it is a proprietary format. The 2nd option is to use a generic LCD controller that will take common input signals and give you a variety of outputs such as LVDS or Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS).
I decided Digital View, which is like the Rolls Royce of LCD Controllers which takes DVI, VGA, and composite signals and outputs LVDS directly to the LCD. A G-touch 4 wire resistive touch screen overlay allows you to use your finger as a mouse.
Two additional 7 inch motorized touch screen LCDs have been modified such that they extend out from their housing. They were mounted vertically with their faceplates removed such that they rise up through the dash. The left screen is the 2nd video output from the computer. This screen is used as an accessory monitor to view real time engine statistics, GPS map, or anything else.
The right screen is used for a Scansys TM4 standalone 4 channel Digital Video Recorder (DVR) which was heavily modified to fit into an automotive environment and fitted with solid state drives. There are three day and night vision CCTV cameras: front view via the left intake hole in the front bumper, rear view via the key hole in the trunk, cockpit view via the motion sensor box in the roof liner.
The fourth channel on the DVR is fed through a TView scan converter which is an exact copy of the 2nd computer screen. This allows engine statistics such as RPM to be recorded real time with the video. An electronic microphone also captures any real time audio. A Powerstream DC-to-DC voltage regulator installed in the trunk provides a steady constant 12V power supply to these voltage sensitive devices.
Besides the computer and the monitors, there are also a bunch of USB devices integrated into the car connected by two powered 4 port USB 2.0 hubs located in the center console and the trunk. GPS is provided by a USGlobalSat BT-355 receiver magnetically mounted on the rear deck and iGuidance mapping software. WiFi internet access is connected by a Dell Truemobile 1300 802.11bg adapter also mounted on the rear deck. A Verizon Wireless USB720 cell modem uses EV-DO technology for backup internet access. Combining GPS and internet connectivity, the CarPC can also upload real time coordinates to mapping software like Google maps for online vehicle tracking. On the other hand, the car also acts as a WiFi 802.11abg access point with a Proxim ORiNOCO AP-4000 fitted with a high gain omni-directional antenna and Power over Ethernet (PoE). Combining the wireless component with the DVR, it allows you to remotely view and record all of the CCTV channels. Other USB devices include Kenisgton Knob, Bluetooth wireless keyboard, and the LCD touch screen.
VI. Interior
A BMW M5 steering wheel with illuminated paddle shifters was also retrofitted to the car. A matching M5 illuminated shit knob tapped into the hall sensors in the shifter allows the knob to display the transmission’s state; Drive, Netural, or Reverse. The headliner, pillars, and dash are lined with black suede. Status Racing’s Ring Alcantara seats finishes off the interior of the car.
VII. Lighting
For the rear, I used a set Eagle Eyes sedan LED tails. I ended up rebuilding the whole kit with brighter LEDs, changing the turn indicator from amber to red, and filling in the infamous missing LED. For the front, I used the JleviSW LED light kit for the front corners and side markers. I also did the front corner parking light delete which removes the half lit corners when the headlights are on by replacing the turn signals with load resistors and rerouting the side markers to the corners.
Any future plans for the car?
Track, FAST TCP Technology integration, Wireless Wi-Max technology, grid traffic, sensor networks...
What sort problems or obstacles did you have to overcome?
The largest obstacle for Project 332i was the electronics. BMW does not release very much info on how the control modules talk to each other, even to dealers! Many hours were spent dedicated to probing signals and trying to reverse engineer control modules. But now you can show me a connector on the e46 wiring harness I can tell you what it plugs into, maybe it will be useful for the next generation 3 series.
6. How long did it take to build your project?
I’ve started modding my car a week after I first got it in 2000. For the project portion of that, I would say roughly about 2 years, over 200+ hours of planning, over 800+ hours electronic and wrench work, and over 100+ trips to the dealership for diagrams and parts. The complete process with over 3000 photos are available on this site.
2. Is this your first project? Also explain briefly your two other BMW projects?
First Project
2000 E46 323i 332i
2003 E53 X5 4.4 Rims, Paddles, TV
2004 E46 M3cic Rims, Lights, Angels
1990 E30 325is Engine, Race
Yes, the 332i was my first project car. I’ve had little to no mechanical experience before this project. Once I finished it, I was hooked and wanted to start something new.
In the spring of 2005, my older cousin David and I decided to transform a 1990 E30 325is into a track car. He's been in the tuning scene much longer than I have and when I showed him the success I've had with the 332i, it would only be fitting to join forces.
We were able to successfully retrofit a 2005 E46 M3 SMGII Engine into a 15 year old chassis with minor difficulty. The hardest parts of that project was to retrofit power steering based brake booster as found on the EXX, retrofit MK60 DSC and related magento-resistive wheel speed sensors, and of course all of the electronics. More info on this project can be found at http://E30.mit.edu/
In October 2006, I picked up the one of the first E92 335i's with traffic enabled navigation. When I heard BMW brought back turbo technology since last (year) I knew I had to get ahead start. The car has already been modified Xcede from Vishu Peformance pushing x numbers at x boost. The lighting including hyper white angel eyes and 10000K HID fog lights have been installed. DPE 20x8.5 and 20x10 Signature Series S-5 three piece forged wheels wrapped in Toyo T1R 245/30/20 and 285/25/20 help keeps traction resonable. Stay Tuned for the next episode, Project 335i also available at http://E92.mit.edu/
3. What is your occupation/field of study?
Currently, I am 2nd year graduate student in Computer Science at Caltech working on next generation high speed network protocols (http://wil.cs.caltech.edu/). Also, we recently started a company called FASTSOFT, commercializing the inventions we have made at Caltech. More information can be found at our company website, http://www.FASTSOFT.com/.
10. Who do you want to thank?
I would like to thank Century West BMW and New Century BMW, without them I would have never been able to finish this project. Thanks Ben Liaw of Rogue Engineering, without his advice I would’ve been going in the wrong direction. I would also like to thank my sponsors: DPE for making the best looking forged wheels I have ever seen, JLeviSW and Umnitza for being the lighting gurus, Modbargains for the body kit, CDesign the suspension and seats, and Vorsteiner for the beautifully crafted carbon fiber vented hood. And finally, the online community at E46Fanatics that has given me the overwhelming support over the years. =)