Hey there everyone. I got around to tapping into the CAN so I can use the various data for my Racecapture and figured I would share how I went about it, as well as some of the CAN data I found in case anyone else was interested.
As I didnt take any pictures a long the way, I'll be borrowing some pictures from a few threads and sharing the links to them and to the site I got my cable to tap into the CAN wires with.
I personally tapped into it at the FEM on the passenger side, but there are countless other areas to tap into (other than right at the OBD port since this requires a ZGW check).
I followed the second half of the Awron installation guide for M3/M4's by tom@eas as it had some really great pictures for this.
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1017936
Essentially, you need to use a 10mm socke to, take off the two nuts holding the kickpanel under the glove box in, and try to work your way around the edges to pull it down. This was probably the biggest PITA. Once you get that off, you can pull gently pull up the passenger side doorsill, then then pull the kickpanel holding the FEM and remove it.
Using a T20 Torx driver, loosen up the screw holding the FEM cover in and remove it. It is held in by clips as well, so be careful during this.
Next, I used this post (again by Tom@eas) to point out the proper wires I needed, and in which loom I needed to look for.
https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...21&postcount=7
You'll be tapping into the wires on connector 8. Before you go any further, make sure you open up the wire wrapping and are tapping into a point BELOW where the connector goes into the connector housing, or you're going to have a bad day. The two you want are the blue/red and red wires on pins 47/48, where blue/red is CAN-hi and red is CAN-lo. I then tapped into the wires on pins 20/24 of connector three for power, where power is on pin 20 and ground is pin 24.
Autosport Labs makes a premade CAN tapping cable that I used, or you can make your own, which they have instructions on how to do. They include some taps, though a few friends who work in the automotive industry have recommended using another junction that might be a bit more secure than the taps that come with this.
https://wiki.autosportlabs.com/BMW_E46_CAN
I routed my cable under the passenger rug and under the seat to the center console where I put my Racecapture, though with more cable and more ambition, you could probably find a better routing.
After that, put everything back together, and you're all set to go.
Here are a few CAN id's I found that may be useful for those interested:
Steering: ID: 770 Offset: 3 Length: 2
Throttle Pedal ID: 217 Offset 3 Length 1
RPM ID: 165 offset 6 Length: 1
Brake pressure ID: 239 Offset: 2 Length: 2
Brake Pedal ID: 239 Offset: 3 Length: 1