Hello from Cairo

[SSense]

Im stunned after reading the whole thread how you undertook the whole process of swapping a regular sedan 3series into a monster M3.. This is a proper and neat home made job, well done !

BTW, how long did it take for the whole process from day one to get fully ready and what exhaust are you running at the moment

[Ayham]

Just awesome, coming from an indy shop owner and a long, LONG time BMW enthusiast and racer.

Now to technical bits, did you have to swap the body harness? DSC? Reconfiguring the car to the SMG inter-comm with the other modules? And just outta curiosity, why go for the SMG?

You're a GREAT addition to the Club and we're honored to have you amongst us. Please feel at home...

[RAFiK]

Duuuude !! An entire harness and wiring done at home ? :bow: to that !!

[eoudeh]

Did you get inspired by the E46 M3 (sedan) that was built and posted on E46 Fanatics ?

^ that damn MIT student :banghead:

Yes, George aka MITE46 definitely inspired me.

guys are you talking about this one? i was trying to follow his steps but as i said earlier......its all fail coz of the damn rules :(

[///Mahmoud]

Im stunned after reading the whole thread how you undertook the whole process of swapping a regular sedan 3series into a monster M3.. This is a proper and neat home made job, well done !

BTW, how long did it take for the whole process from day one to get fully ready and what exhaust are you running at the moment

Thanks :)
Took about 1 year and 8 months. I started driving it after 1 year but without the fender flares or exhaust (no body work done). This was the test driving phase, and engine break-in period due to rod bearings being changed. The biggest obstacles and time killers were importing spare parts. It takes time, and the customs here are slow, very skeptical, and they tend to not believe the actual price of the spare part. So if the invoice says $100 for an item, they say: Well this is worth $300 so you pay taxes 500EGP. And sometimes they simply refuse to "release" the item....I'm quite sure our fellow member "mahmoud_bedewi" knows what I'm talking about. I'm just thankful that I managed to complete the project. You get to see alot of nice unfinished projects for sale on eBay mainly due to owner running out of time, or money, or both.

I'm running the stock ///M3 exhaust.

[Bruno]

someone i know cut a e46 m3 and shipped the car as a whole to egypt... you should've informed us and we should've cut one for you and sent it over.

[///Mahmoud]

Just awesome, coming from an indy shop owner and a long, LONG time BMW enthusiast and racer.

Now to technical bits, did you have to swap the body harness? DSC? Reconfiguring the car to the SMG inter-comm with the other modules? And just outta curiosity, why go for the SMG?

You're a GREAT addition to the Club and we're honored to have you amongst us. Please feel at home...

Thank you brother, I'm honored :)
The body harness isn't a must, as you could modify the car's existing harness. What I did though was lay down both harness side by side, equiped with wiring diagrams, studied both and modified the ///M3 harness because it was Right Hand Drive. So I did use the ///M3 harness.

For DSC: A friend got me 2 DSC units from Belgium. One from a 2004 ///M3 and the other from a 2005 ///M3. I used one of them, I think the 2004. You then have to code the DSC unit to put the matching VIN number on the control or else you'll get an error lamp in the cluster.

I don't quite understand what reconfiguration are you referring to. As far as I remember, the SMG control unit communicates with the following:
- S54 DME (engine control unit)
- DSC (ABS control unit which talks to the wheel speed sensors, and the 2 sensors under the seats: DSC sensor and Acceleration sensor)
- Some switches like the hood sensor and door hall sensors. I think those are directly connected to the GM (General Module) which gives feedback to the SMG unit.
For the hood sensors I grounded them so the car always thinks the hood is closed so the SMG will never refuse to switch gears even if the hood is opened.
For the door sensors, I modified the harness to include 2 rear doors. That way when you open any of the rear doors the SMG pump operates just like if you opened any of the front doors on a real ///M3.
If I missed something please let me know.

I didn't choose the SMG, infact I was against it for many reasons:
First being, I love using the clutch pedal.
Second, it complicates the project and will cost more especially if I had a failing SMG pump or any expesnsive missing electronic/hydromechanical part.
Third, I'm one of those who prefer simplicity. To the extent that I'd prefer manual windows over power windows: I trust my arm to lift a window rather than wonder is the switch broken? Is it a fuse? Could the electric motor be burnt?

The decision to get that S54+SMG combo was mainly due to price and excellent condition. Many were avoiding that car probably due to the same reasons and it was just sitting there for a while. The car had only 12,000KM and was offered cheaper than a manual with 48,000KM.
The parts looked very clean, so I followed my instinct, since you can't actually try the drivetrain when going for these kind of projects, it's like buying a watermelon as Egyptians say.
Later on after driving the car I am actually glad I chose SMG for many reasons. The main one being avoiding an expensive mistake like 'money shifting'. That said, the SMG vs Manual debate is a controversial topic, so I'm sure both are great. I'm quite happy to drive an S54 regardless of the transmission. Specially in a land where the price of a 2010 E90 316 is equal to the price of a 2010 E92 ///M3 elsewhere.

I have one question for you since you're an Indy shop owner:
How do you guys diagnose/code/program any F series car?

[///Mahmoud]

someone i know cut a e46 m3 and shipped the car as a whole to egypt... you should've informed us and we should've cut one for you and sent it over.

That's a great idea, it's not late too. A cut E92 ///M3 would be nice to have to take parts from to feed the hungry E30 I have. Will look into that, thanks!

[mahmoud_bedewi]

good idea grounding the switches that paralyze the SMG, like hood switch, they are stupid in my opinion just germans donot like to leave something without adding complications, sorry for the harsh words if it offends you bimmers but i have heard about dubai workshops tragedies because of those switches
in my opinion SMG is an invention and I respect the point about what influenced your decision to use SMG, the funny part is that I asked a friend who works for bavarian company in egypt (BMW agency) and he said "wat is SMG???" he is an engineer in BMW service who never heard the word, this is where my fear comes of where will you ask for help in case of failure god forbid?
thats why it was a good idea to join this club you will be surprised how those guys can sort you out in parts and advice in trouble shooting especially E46 since most of the old member here own SMG M3s

[Ayham]

I actually work with Autologic as my scanner, all the F series BMWs are having their software under development at HQ. Logic is simple; indy shops with AL scan clients cars and send the files to HQ, the more they compile the faster that specific F series software is released. As we speak, I think they're done with the new F01 and Rolls Royce platforms.

[mahmoud_bedewi]

what is F series BMWs? am i missing something?

[///Mahmoud]

what is F series BMWs? am i missing something?

The new 7 series is F01, the new 5 series is F10, and the new 2012 3 series will be F30 I think. BMW has dropped the letter E from their chassis naming and moved on to F.

They have also unnecessarily complicated the Diagnosis/Coding/Programming platform as if they're fighting to cripple Indy shops. I've been looking at the code and the amount of time/money/effort wasted just to complicate the system and keep others out, is boringly amazing. Very bad corporate move from BMW imho. And if these young coders they've hired to secure the system are the same ones who'll be using their elite scripting skills to write DME or iDrive software, then I expect new BMWs to be more annoying than Windows Vista.

A friend of mine who has an indy shop had pointed out this issue to me 2 years ago and I worked out a solution for him so he now can work on recent BMW/Mini/RR cars. So I wanted to know what other indy shop owners are doing and how are they dealing with this.

[mahmoud_bedewi]

:cursing:

[Ayham]

As long as dealers will have the work ethics they have today, indy shops will always be the logical and friendly solution to any BMW driver. You will always have the "posh" drivers who believe walking into the dealer is like walking into designer outlets, these thankfully are enough to keep BMW happy. The rest will always seek out enthusiasts and experienced professionals.

It was never the complexity of the system, it's those who run it. These codes will be cracked and a tab click away in no time.

[///Mahmoud]

As long as dealers will have the work ethics they have today, indy shops will always be the logical and friendly solution to any BMW driver. You will always have the "posh" drivers who believe walking into the dealer is like walking into designer outlets, these thankfully are enough to keep BMW happy. The rest will always seek out enthusiasts and experienced professionals.

It was never the complexity of the system, it's those who run it. These codes will be cracked and a tab click away in no time.

Hahaha love the "designer outlets" part...Very true and well said :)