SMG steering wheel retrofitted to auto E46 doityourself

[Whitexi]

This is the first pick, it will be a harness once complete and im doing that right now. If everything falls in place then this should be a fun mod for me at least :headbang

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq66/whitexi/photobucket-4865-1318076620349.jpg

[Alphatek45]

Kindly place a micro fiber under that stuff.. :)

[Ryans323i]

I was thinking the same thing, Adam.

And since I'm electrically retarded, whatcha doin Whitey?

[Whitexi]

I gently placed it down on the hood lol very easy.

I can't say because then it would give it away but I should have the finished harness soon, also the most important part just arrived via Fedex :biggrin

[Alphatek45]

I'm gonna say radar hard wire

[danewilson77]

E46 photon accelerometer.

[Whitexi]

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq66/whitexi/photobucket-1869-1318086821669.jpg

[Oli77]

I'm with you Dane, but if I am not mistaken it is not a photon accelerometer but a subparticle accelerometer.

[Whitexi]

Its finished and works :drool


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq66/whitexi/photobucket-2999-1318092539211.jpg

[Oli77]

?

[Whitexi]

Haha look closer like an "I SPY" book type of thing.

[C Withers Media]

I too have always wanted an in car toaster, but I worry about the crumbs.


Nice paddles BTW.

[az3579]

Epic win, Ryan. Great job, looks fantastic.

[Hornung418]

Shit...is that an smg ///M wheel? Super mod, Ry!

RootedDROIDXstatus. Come at me, bro.

[Ryans323i]

Paddles! Awesome! Looks great.

[Hermes]

nice, gonna have to put this on my list of things to do eventually

[Whitexi]

Thanks everyone :)

Yes its an SMG M3 wheel. I was able to find at an amazing price with the clock spring. The rest of the parts were from BMW, Autozone and Homedepo. I think this is my favorite mod now or close to the top of my favorites, its hard to choose. It makes the car alot more fun. The whole reason I built the harness was because

1. I didn't want to just tap into the steptronic wires.
2. Its easily removable.

The harness acts as a jumper. It bridges in between the steptronic plugs and then just has the two wires that run up to the wheel for the SMG paddles.

[danewilson77]

DIY or ban for life.

[Hermes]

DIY or ban for life.

+1

[Whitexi]

Here are the two DIY's I followed. Its been done before so here's what these people did. Follow at your own risk as im not responsible if something was to go wrong or damage your car

http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=571539

http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=826971

I will add what I bought from BMW, which is a spin off a bit.

From BMW

4 bushing contacts part #61130006663
4 pin outs #6113000664
1 plug small blue #61138380696
1 plug large blue #61136925611
1 two pin small plug blue #61136925634
2 bushing contacts #61130005197

Optional from BMW

SMG clock spring #61318379091 NOTE I bought a used one from the same donor car I purchased the Steering wheel from. So I know that's the right one. The part number above is said to be the new updated clock spring. I guess from reading that part number is the same as the clock spring from a non SMG car. That's because I guess BMW updated them to all have the two extra pin outs needed for the SMG wheel to work regardless if you order it for a SMG car or not. Just make sure that the one you end up with has the two extra pin outs shown in the pictures in this diy http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=571539

SMG Steering wheel. Buy a new one if your crazy but otherwise find a used one for not even half the cost.

From Autozone/ Home depo or of the same.

18 gauge 12.19m wire.
This was of the closest to the same of the wire on the contacts and pin outs I got from BMW

Red wire connectors for 22-18 gauge size wire at least 10 with with no mistakes

Heat shrink tubing

Electrical tape

I followed the one wire harness map drawn here http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=571539

The difference is it depends on what year your car is. In 2002 BMW changed the steptronic shift pattern from up shift foward/ down shift back to down shift foward/ up shift back. Mine was up down shift foward up shift back. Just check the two middle pin outs on the steptronic plug with a test light.

For my car the 4 wires that control the steptronic mode in this diy were almost the same http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=826971

The only thing that was different with my car was that those DIY's were both for 2001 E46's. There shift patterns were different since they weren't changed yet as I have mentioned before.

For my 2002 E46 the

Blue/ yellow wire was my up shift signal
Blue/ gray was down shift signal

If I recall the pin outs on the plugs I built that made the Blue/ yellow pin in spot 2, and the Blue/ gray pin out in pin spot 3. For all the contacts/ pin outs they slide into the connectors one way only and snap in. Make sure you place them in all the way, and once done the outer piece of the connector snaps down to lock them in even more.

Take the up shift wires and connect them together as shown in the wire drawing and with a piece of the extra 18 gauge wire you bought. Do the same with the down shift wires. These are the two wires that get ran up to the steering wheel clock spring. I cut about 3ft of wire per side which was more than enough. The pin outs come with wire connected from BMW already so that plus the 3tf is plenty.

The number 2 pin out for the up shift signal runs into number 2 pin out for the small 2 pin connector that gets plugged into the clock spring. The down shift signal wire gets run into number 1.

The two end wires on the large 4 pin plugs just get bridged across to the same side pin out.

Over each wire connector I used I put shrink tubing, I used the electrical tape to just wrap over the finished wires etc to clean it up.

When building the harness just make sure you double check what wires run where as its easy to mix them, like said before make sure you check with a test light as anything could be different.

Once done it plugs right in between the stock steptronic plugs.

[pleasecorrupt]

saw this diy, beat me to it. rather i was unmotivated to do it, but sure glad someone here did. glad it worked out for you.

[kayger12]

Great looking mod, Ryan.

Nice work!

Droid X. Forum Runner. Use it.

[zj96sc]

Almost as cool as a real transmission :) :)

Awesome mod. Should've come like this from the factory.

Heads up to those that are going to try this, you can build a bit nicer harness using this:

http://www.delcity.net/images/photos/loom-loomclamps/1845_tab.jpg

http://www.delcity.net/store/Expandable-Sleeving/p_278.a_1

as a loom instead of electrical tape. It will hold up to heat better than eletrical tape too. Sorry, I'm a bit of a harness snob ;)

Paul

[kayger12]

Almost as cool as a real transmission :) :)


Almost a good post.


Droid X. Tapatalk. Use it.

[Whitexi]

I had the actual cloth wire wrap from BMW from another kit but decided it was all hidden and will never be seen so I decided to not use it.

Now I can say I have a " flappy paddle gear box " just like Mr Clarkson does on Topgear lol.

[zj96sc]

This was a "learned from experience" thing on my part. I've made numerous harnesses with electrical tape, but with time they just get gross. The adhesive melts and gets all over the place, especially with southern in-car summer temps probably pushing 140F or any engine compartment applications.

After a few bad experiences I've tried to only use expandable loom and heatshrink.

Similar kind of thing to t-tap connectors. Eventually they will make you regret using them.

Either way, nicely done and nice DIY. Especially like that you got the BMW connectors to do the connections like a boss.

Like I said, I really can't believe BMW didn't put them out like this to begin with.

Enjoy the flappy paddles!

http://gearinches.com/images/misc/clarkson-flappy-paddle-gearbox.jpg

[ryankokesh]

Do mine next? I'll supply refreshing beverages...


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[Whitexi]

Do mine next? I'll supply refreshing beverages...


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Its really not as bad as I was thinking. I ran across those diy's about a year ago and though that it is a lot of wiring. After looking at it again I realized it was nothing really. The hardest part was locating a SMG wheel and clock spring, but that ended up being the easiest. The parts needed to make the harness was $30.

[Whitexi]

Has been working great still, I used it on the drive during the meet.

I honestly wanted to just bump it since a few people asked me about it:biggrin

[johnrando]

I was one of those. Thanks for the conversation and the thread bump.

[terraphantm]

Has been working great still, I used it on the drive during the meet.

I honestly wanted to just bump it since a few people asked me about it:biggrin

Do the paddles work if the gear selector isn't in the S/M mode?

[Whitexi]

No I have to move the shifter into SD but once it's in SD you flick either paddle and it changes to M mode then I pull back on both paddles at once and it will change back into SD mode.

[ELCID86]

Adding some pics here. Will add text later. 11144

Clockspring without wires for paddles.
11145

Two of these on the bottom of steering wheel shroud. Push in on center to release/loosen.
11146

New wiring goes in between original maroon connector.
11147


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1).

[ELCID86]

11148

11149

11150

11151



Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1).

[ELCID86]

Clockspring with wiring for shifters.

11152

Connecting wiring from shifter.
11153

[johnrando]

Success?

[ELCID86]

Yes. Works great. Pip talked me through it.


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1).

[johnrando]

Great news. Final pics?

[ELCID86]

Great news. Final pics?
Posted on on the "what did you do today" thread.

[johnrando]

Hmmm, I must be missing something as I don't see it.

[ELCID86]

Hmmm, I must be missing something as I don't see it.

#5818 http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8698


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1).

[ELCID86]

Great news. Final pics?
Sorry I never posted these here.

12864

12865

[330itoy]

This is amazing. I wish I had the skills and patience to do this. I always wanted this. Great Work!


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[johnrando]

It's def a mine mod!

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