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Thread: E38 High Gauge Cluster in Driving Sim

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2019
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    E38 98 740iL & 01 750iL

    E38 High Gauge Cluster in Driving Sim

    Hi all,

    First post here but a long time BMW fan. I have a side gig creating custom driving simulators that (usually) use E36 parts such as the gauge cluster and steering wheel. I have a friend who just had to get rid of his 1998 740iL after a pretty nasty accident, but it actually ended up at a DIY auto parts junkyard. I went there today and grabbed a few things from his car for him but especially, I'd like to make the gauge cluster into a custom one for him so that he can continue driving his car, even though it might only be virtual.

    I have a good amount of experience doing this sort of thing with E36 clusters, and I can essentially wire one in my sleep at this point in time, but I've been struggling to find info on the E38's gauge cluster and how to interact with it.

    With an E36 cluster, everything is analog to the cluster. I.E. there are PWM signals that would have come from a speed sensor or crank sensor, etc. With those signals, I can re-create them using an Arduino board connected to the computer and the game, and then I connect that board to the various signal inputs to make the cluster think that it is actually in a car still. When all is said and done, you get something that adds just a little more realism to a racing/driving game.

    I've found the wiring diagrams for the E38 cluster but I have heard much conflicting information about how the gauge cluster gets its information, and the diagrams were in such low resolution that it was hard to make anything out from them. I have learned that I have the "high" cluster with three connectors. One is black, one is blue, and the last is white. This is identical to the E36 cluster, but the connectors are different sizes. I did find a guide on how to power on the cluster, and that works fine, but I am looking for some help figuring out how to get the gauges to work properly with my system that I have in place. If I do end up needing to use some sort of CAN bus emulation, I might look into that as well. Does anyone know which pins do what?

    Thanks for any help you can provide!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    KC North, MO, USA
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    1996 740iL
    Welcome to the forum. I sent our resident IKE expert a note asking him to respond.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Charlotte, NC
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    Quote Originally Posted by tylamb19 View Post
    Hi all,

    First post here but a long time BMW fan. I have a side gig creating custom driving simulators that (usually) use E36 parts such as the gauge cluster and steering wheel. I have a friend who just had to get rid of his 1998 740iL after a pretty nasty accident, but it actually ended up at a DIY auto parts junkyard. I went there today and grabbed a few things from his car for him but especially, I'd like to make the gauge cluster into a custom one for him so that he can continue driving his car, even though it might only be virtual.

    I have a good amount of experience doing this sort of thing with E36 clusters, and I can essentially wire one in my sleep at this point in time, but I've been struggling to find info on the E38's gauge cluster and how to interact with it.

    With an E36 cluster, everything is analog to the cluster. I.E. there are PWM signals that would have come from a speed sensor or crank sensor, etc. With those signals, I can re-create them using an Arduino board connected to the computer and the game, and then I connect that board to the various signal inputs to make the cluster think that it is actually in a car still. When all is said and done, you get something that adds just a little more realism to a racing/driving game.

    I've found the wiring diagrams for the E38 cluster but I have heard much conflicting information about how the gauge cluster gets its information, and the diagrams were in such low resolution that it was hard to make anything out from them. I have learned that I have the "high" cluster with three connectors. One is black, one is blue, and the last is white. This is identical to the E36 cluster, but the connectors are different sizes. I did find a guide on how to power on the cluster, and that works fine, but I am looking for some help figuring out how to get the gauges to work properly with my system that I have in place. If I do end up needing to use some sort of CAN bus emulation, I might look into that as well. Does anyone know which pins do what?

    Thanks for any help you can provide!
    The e38 cluster should be able to be coded to use conventional signals rather than CAN bus signals. You'll need to either code it in a car or wire up an OBD2 port to your system to be able to code it. You could also send it to me and I can code it for you. I would just need to know what signals you're wanting to send to it to be displayed. You could also get a CAN Shield for your Arduino and convert the conventional signals to CAN bus messages to send to the cluster. There is a very extensive thread on doing just that for e46s, but it is very similar to e39 and e38 and should be quite usable to someone that knows what they're doing. Here's the thread: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...an-bus-project. They would be a good bit more helpful than I would be, I think.

    -Paul
    2003 "M5" - Full M5 conversion, AMG C63S 6 piston front calipers, Porsche Panamera 4 piston rear calipers, GC Coilovers,
    Eibach ARBs, UUC Evo3/DSSR, Borla Exhaust w/Muffler Delete, BMW NBT with Carplay/Android Auto, Bi-Xenons, e38 Style 37 M-Pars, e60 Hubs 530i 6-speed swap build thread
    2005 Range Rover 4.6is (M62TU Powered) - 4.6is Engine Swap from X5, BMW NBT with Carplay/Android Auto
    2006 Porsche Cayman S - Soul Performance Competition Headers and Exhaust, H&R Coilovers, 718 Boxster Spyder wheels, Rennline 35mm rear spacers

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2019
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    My Cars
    E38 98 740iL & 01 750iL
    Oh, awesome. That's good to hear that it can be done with traditional signals. I'd like to stick to that method as I have code written and everything for it. Not sure if I have the right equipment to code the cluster though, and I definitely don't have a car available to code it with, so I probably would send it to you to code. If that's something you'd be willing to do, I'd be happy to compensate you for your time as well as pay for shipping both directions.

    The Arduino sends fuel, temperature, speed, and RPM data to the cluster, as well as an on/off signal to move the fuel economy needle back and forth. So those are the signals I would need to send to the cluster. I don't need any of the "messages" on the screen to work, just the gauges themselves. If you are able to code the cluster, then all I would need to figure out is which inputs on the back are which signal.

    Thanks for the response!

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