MSS54 and MSS54HP DME thread

[m325i 709]

This sh*t is so cool that someone here in NZ is able to do this. Mad props to you Tom. I just wish I had more time to learn and understand this type of thing more.

[M3_Power 636]

Happened to chance across a DME I purchased already with a Superchip tune in it ... with the help of the guys over in the USA I now have the full definition file which I am not allowed to share so I can dissect the map and see what's done to it. Going to import this map into another DME (non HP, as it was on an HP DME) and see if it makes any difference.

Ray ... keen to test this one out - maybe a before and after dyno? According to Superchip website it's good for 15hp and 14nm.

Edited October 14, 2014 by M3_Power

[M3_Power 636]

Have now had another go at soldering the H-Bridge onto a MSS54HP DME and have succeeded with better tooling and much better looking soldering joints - still by no means perfect but hey with hand tools not too bad and at least it is now heat sunk to the board.

Reasonably happy now with my ability to solder these on for functionality (if you don't mind obvious hand soldering joints haha!!)

[m325i 709]

Just like to bump this with my thanks to Tom via Ray @ Hell BM.

My review; Awesome.

[HELLBM 1557]

Trialed a MSS54HP with all the usual goodies plus Superchip tune yesterday. Felt good though will need dyno to see what its putting out.

Will organise for a dyno run to compare the MSS54 to the MSS54HP.

`8M3` loved the flash to the MSS52 DME. Will be handy having them all with `dyno mode` permanently on to give an easy more accurate reading.

Awesome work Tom. Hellbm loves your skills.

Edited October 27, 2014 by HELLBM

[M3_Power 636]

Awesome to hear Ray!! Was a little anxious changing stuff in the MSS52 as I obviously didn't have a spare DME lying around just in case in went wrong LOL !!!! Glad to hear it all fired up and works as expected!! I also cleared the flash counter for you there as it had quite a few flashes already (most I've seen on a DME I must say!! - somebody's been busy modifying the maps there!!).

From what I can tell on a very brief look into the Superchip tune, most of the modifications were done to the knock control and vanos maps the rest were a hybrid fuel map out of the early MSS54 and later MSS54HP maps (basically a hybrid of the two) - quite interesting actually. I must try and import this tune into the MSS54.

I guess time to trial manipulating ignition timing for the infamous burble and pops that Evolve does on their MSS54 tune - who wants to be guinea pig?

Have also acquired some engine wiring loom that I am going to modify into a CSL wiring loom for plug and play purposes - time to buy a donor E46 M3 me thinks : )

Edited October 28, 2014 by M3_Power

[HELLBM 1557]

Have an extra M3 here that we converted from smg to manual if you want first option Tom. Will be on the market soon.

[nzodea 25]

does anyone in NZ (hellbm/Ray) do a dme swap? i.e send a reflashed one and swap the old one? I think I would love to do that, rather than try it myself.

In my race car E36 M3 3.0 I got a race ABS reflash from chip wizards in the UK. simple plug and play that is awesome.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[M3_Power 636]

does anyone in NZ (hellbm/Ray) do a dme swap? i.e send a reflashed one and swap the old one? I think I would love to do that, rather than try it myself.

In my race car E36 M3 3.0 I got a race ABS reflash from chip wizards in the UK. simple plug and play that is awesome.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think majority owners would prefer to keep their original DME?? Just so the vin ect match on the cover.

I am quite happy to do DME swaps if that's what owners prefer as I have quite a few already and have done so with Ray on one or two cars. Usually we just courierr DMEs across town LOL.

I am hoping I will be able to flash MSS50s soon also. There's been a bit of progress made on this overseas ... so should be interesting.

[Ahmedsinc 414]

OT - Tom, your inbox is full

[M3_Power 636]

OT - Tom, your inbox is full

Didn't even know!! Thanks!! Now fixed

Also have now successfully practiced taking the EPROM chip off the board with hot air and Kapton tape without damage ... will now attempt to upgrade a standard MSS54 into a MSS54HP

Edited October 30, 2014 by M3_Power

[BreakMyWindow 1874]

From what I can tell on a very brief look into the Superchip tune, most of the modifications were done to the knock control and vanos maps the rest were a hybrid fuel map out of the early MSS54 and later MSS54HP maps (basically a hybrid of the two) - quite interesting actually. I must try and import this tune into the MSS54.

Interesting regarding the knock control. have they decreased the sensitivity of the knock control in an effort for the engine to reach it's ignition timing targets easier? Monitoring knock control on the dyno runs with and with out the tune will be interesting to see.

[M3_Power 636]

Interesting regarding the knock control. have they decreased the sensitivity of the knock control in an effort for the engine to reach it's ignition timing targets easier? Monitoring knock control on the dyno runs with and with out the tune will be interesting to see.

I know a few guys are now turning knock detection off completely ... So it would make sense to say the standard factory knock control is fairly intrusive.

[BreakMyWindow 1874]

I know a few guys are now turning knock detection off completely ... So it would make sense to say the standard factory knock control is fairly intrusive.

Hrmm not sure i trust NZ's fuel grading to be able to do that....

Slightly OT but when I got my Evolve tune for the MSS52 they did ask me what grade of fuel I was running, which is 98RON. I see their notes on the tune file sent back are for 91 Octane, not sure if that's the USA AKI measuring though since they have a lot of USA customers.

Aside from fuel grade, carbon buildup on older/higher mileage S series engines would also play a part in pre-ignition/detonation. So knock control at higher loads and rpm would be important. Would it not?

[hybrid 1043]

To remove something means you understand 100% the effects it will have downstream.

In this case, you are assuming you know exactly what grade of petrol you are running at any given time. Including full trust that the petrol stations tanks dont have a large water table effecting pump octane.

That your environmentals such as air temp and air density are the same at all times, that any of these factors are not slowly over heating various pistons slowly causing them to crack down the sides of the piston to the first compression ring lowering compression in the effected cylinder. Or just overheating the tops of the stock cast pistons.

Detonation doesn't usually happen in a big bang like in those youtube videos of wrongly tuned cars... it happens over time without you knowing.

Removing knock control removes the engines last reactive line of defense to any or all of these issues. To do so is the reverse of what experienced aftermarket tuners do. They in fact add knock control to an engine if the aftermarket ECU isn't running it to give them a safety barrier.

If the sole reason is to trick / remove the ECU function to circumvent the stock safety measures because it is interfering then I say that is highly foolish.

A better approach would be to identify the knock control table and vector too it and adjust that on a dyno so you can see the results. I would also be doing it with full data logging.

[M3_Power 636]

To remove something means you understand 100% the effects it will have downstream.

In this case, you are assuming you know exactly what grade of petrol you are running at any given time. Including full trust that the petrol stations tanks dont have a large water table effecting pump octane.

That your environmentals such as air temp and air density are the same at all times, that any of these factors are not slowly over heating various pistons slowly causing them to crack down the sides of the piston to the first compression ring lowering compression in the effected cylinder. Or just overheating the tops of the stock cast pistons.

Detonation doesn't usually happen in a big bang like in those youtube videos of wrongly tuned cars... it happens over time without you knowing.

Removing knock control removes the engines last reactive line of defense to any or all of these issues. To do so is the reverse of what experienced aftermarket tuners do. They in fact add knock control to an engine if the aftermarket ECU isn't running it to give them a safety barrier.

If the sole reason is to trick / remove the ECU function to circumvent the stock safety measures because it is interfering then I say that is highly foolish.

A better approach would be to identify the knock control table and vector too it and adjust that on a dyno so you can see the results. I would also be doing it with full data logging.

Oh I agree totally Josh ... my reply was meant to illustrate that the factory setting was probably quite aggressive, personally I think you would have to be nuts to turn off knock control and to be honest I can't see any benefits in doing so.

[M3_Power 636]

Photo of the new better soldering on the heat sunken H-Bridge for creating the MSS54HP CSL DME clone

and the additional capacitors needed

Next up ... socketing the DME and turning a MSS54 into a MSS52 : ) Just waiting for the parts to arrive

Edited November 3, 2014 by M3_Power

[M3_Power 636]

Time to start messing around with socketing and turning the non HP DMEs into the HP variants : )

[M3_Power 636]

I honestly have to say that we as a community is blessed to have real enthusiasts like Ray@HellBM that goes out of his way to help out in the name of experiments and for the greater good of the community as a whole.

Thanks Ray for putting this up for experimental purposes!!! TRUE CHAMP!!!

Edited November 27, 2014 by M3_Power

[M3_Power 636]

Small update, but significant I suppose.

Have successfully turned a MSS54 into a MSS54HP CSL DME ... well on the bench tester at least. Will vehicle test when I have time, but reasonably confident it will work perfectly.

[M3_Power 636]

Tested the converted DME last night and it worked perfectly as expected - no error codes. Didn't get a chance to drive around to live stream data to make sure it is all reporting correctly - but I am told that it is. Will do this when I get a chance and when the weather is good again.

Some photos:

Started with this:

Changed The AM29F200 to AM29F400 and added the H Bridge and associated caps

Changed out the resistors as guided by Terra in the US forums who has done the traces to find the differences between the two boards. If the resistors are not changed you get a code 233 which is map sensor related under CSL software.

Flash on CSL software via WINKFP and voila (you will get an internal driver error (code 151) which is due to the difference in injector drivers in the non HP DME vs the HP variant. According to Terra the two drivers functions exactly the same, but are just different. This code can be taken out of course quite easily.

Put in car and search for codes and no errors.

All credit to Terra in the USA for figuring this out for the community.

Edited December 9, 2014 by M3_Power

[M3_Power 636]

MSS54 converted to HP DME confirmed to be working correctly by Ray@HellBM - thanks Ray for donating his time and live data logging key readings to confirm everything is reporting correctly and functioning as it should.

[M3_Power 636]

MSS50 EWS delete confirmed working ... But flashing only via OBD at the moment as bench flashing this DME have been a bit perplexing for the moment.

Edited January 8, 2015 by M3_Power

[M3_Power 636]

Now in possession of some pretty cool tooling and ability to work on multiple types of DMEs I suppose (although I've only tested it on MSS54s so far) ... including:

FGtech Galletto 4 with BDM and JTAG functions

BDM100 tooling

Spring loaded BDM connectors for Siemens, Bosch, Marelli and Delphi DMEs (no more soldering needed)

Chip burner and various types of sockets - still testing some of these (have tested 29FX00 chipsets and M35080 and it seems to work okay)

On board Motorolla M35080 connector (no more removing chips from clusters : P hehe)

BDM frame for BDM spring loaded connectors.

Also in other news ... now in possession of a highly tuned Evolve MSS54 DME file : ) Supposedly 385hp+ so I am told.

Next project ... Velocity Stack modification : ) Anyone want to be guinea Pig? Apparently makes more power than the CSL airbox : )

Edited January 27, 2015 by M3_Power

[M3_Power 636]

I'll just leave this here