[jusbechillin]

I might not be the most detailed person but its not brain surgery....

Now Im going to assume everyone knows how to get into the ECU box. So obviously do this first....


Now connect your USB-Serial cable into the PROcede. I bought mine here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812156009


The following step could probably be done better so someone go ahead and speak up if you did this without cutting... You need to get the cable outside of the watertight ECU box. I ended up poking a small hole in the rubber grommet closest to the passenger side of the car. I read that someone else did it without cutting.


Put the rubber grommet back in place and run the wire towards the corner of the hood on the passengers side.


Bring the wire out the corner of the hood and tuck it into the crack (yes thats the technical term) between the fender and the hood. It should end up only visible when directly above it. The wire will come out into the passenger door area. You will obviously need your door open for the next part.


Gently pull part of the door seal so that you can put the wire behing it.


It was a little tough getting my fat hands behind the glovebox but you'll need to reach back there in a minute. First there are two clips which you need to turn to remove the back of the glovebox. they are inside the glovebox on the far left and right.



With this removed you should be able to reach behind and find an opening to put the USB plug through. Pull all the extra cable you have into your glovebox and your good to go. Here is a picture from underneath the glovebox showing the only visible part once installed. You cant actually see it unless you look from below......


Oh and of course its always a good idea to let your child play with metal tools by your nice new car!


GOOD LUCK!

[rotaz]

that's awesome...thanks for sharing!

[jon@themshop]

Cute kid!

[jreaton]

Pray tell what new Mods did he perform with the ratchet??

[HyperM3]

I thought the mod was supposed to be THROUGH the firewall, not around the door frame. Either way this is good (thanks for making the DIY) but theres gotta be another way. If Im planning on running a boost gauge, theres no way Im running a vacuum line around the outside of the A-pillar.

[RiXst3r]

i think a black usb cable would blend in better...

[ArmyBimmerDude]

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

i think a black usb cable would blend in better...

+1

Cute kid. Go bash on daddys car

[lance]

You definitly need to run that wire THROUGH the firewall. Come on now!! Good idea but dont run wires around door jams.

[jusbechillin]

Originally Posted by lance

You definitly need to run that wire THROUGH the firewall. Come on now!! Good idea but dont run wires around door jams.

No I didnt want to take it through the firewall.... This will be very easy to remove when going to the stealership. I do agree that a black cable would have been better. It didnt even cross my mind when I ordered the cable.

Either way it would be just wonderful if you could post a DIY on doing it through the firewall! Im sure there will be people that appreciate both ways!

[scottp999]

Thanks for putting this together. I will definitley try it out in a couple of months from now.

** The newegg link doesn't work, do you have the part number? How long was the cable?

[BoostedBMW]

Very nice write-up, thanks for taking the time to post this up. I think that I would have also gone through the firewall though, but i'm sure its a PITA in this car.

[turbocoins]

Originally Posted by jon@themshop

Cute kid!

+1

[jbake]

cute kid, cool mod....But clean your engine bay!

[RetroGamerJP]

You can pull the ECU and proceed out and off to the side. After that the yellow plastic box comes out and exposes the gromet in the firewall. You go right through that and you come out behind the glove box. Honestly by the time you expose the ECU your halfway there. You just have to not be afraid to pull out the ECU.

[schneid4323]

I wonder what my service advisor would say about that one

[BoostedBMW]

This is just an idea, but why not just keep the cable inside the engine bay after you run it out of the ECU box. If you are going to remove it anyway when you go in for service this would make sense since you can still update maps quickly by just popping your hood and not having to take the ECU covers off, and there would be no wires in your door jam.

[RetroGamerJP]

Originally Posted by BoostedBMW

This is just an idea, but why not just keep the cable inside the engine bay after you run it out of the ECU box. If you are going to remove it anyway when you go in for service this would make sense since you can still update maps quickly by just popping your hood and not having to take the ECU covers off, and there would be no wires in your door jam.

This is very good sugestion...

Although, if you have a cable inside then you can take advantage of data logging and other monitoring options in the future.

But that can also be done by taking that same wire from under the hood and running it through to door jam temporarily since data logging is not an everyday activity for most.

[M3to335]

I just tried to pull out the ecu from the box. For me there wasnt enough slack in the cables to get it completely out. Specifically the cables (red/black etc) coming out of the grommet closest the fender.

Also, since I couldnt pull the box out, I wanted to run it around the jam temporarily. Isnt it going to get smooched when the door is shut?

[LOLrance]

Thanks for the writeup! Mods can you please add this link to the sticky of DIY's

[lvwirelessguy]

Wireless USB is the only way to go

[mesier1111]

Originally Posted by lvwirelessguy

Wireless USB is the only way to go

I'm not great with computers or wireless stuff.....so please, how would you get a general wireluss USB that could connect to a computer?

[ChadE]

Go through the firewall and thats a good ass DIY...thank for the post bro