Start of winter re-furb / upgrade program on my E89 35is

[B21]

Day 3..finally got a trial fit..my poor dremel has had a few tiring days…

Here’s a few static pics plus a YouTube link….

View: https://youtu.be/q2z9V6H6chE?si=8waufCWyKE_RDpTe


The key point that emerges is you have to take the top cowl off the instrument cluster, then fit the new ID4 cluster to the removed top cowl, then refit the top cowl to the dash..

The issue is the 4 of the 6 screws are hidden..two are easy, one difficult, three almost impossible..

My friend in Italy fitting his to another Atacama Yellow LHD 35is has lost his temper and butchered the fittings and glued the whole thing together.

 

[B21]

I broke the two outboard lugs off the dashboard when I removed it..on one side my defence was that some Germanic hand maidens had attached a set of GPS leads to part of it..

I decided to buy a second hand one..on arrival it too had the lugs broken..and unlike mine no sign of the broken bits..plus two other major bits damaged ..not bad for £400…

So decided to try and repair mine.

I super glued the lugs back on and then attacked it with a ‘welder’…

Basically it’s a glorified soldering iron head..two off…that uses the current through the metal pin to heat it to red hot..it then melts into the plastic and you let it cool whilst in situ..then you remove the ‘gun’..the pins are push fit into the end so the gun simply detaches itself from the now embedded pin.

There are several versions of the pin.

There is a spatula device to warm bars of material anc melt them as well.

It’s not pretty and needs a degree of finishing but compared to a glued joint much much stronger.

It’s the same effect as re-bar in concrete..

We’ll see how it goes on re-installation..

I was so impressed with it I used some scrap plastic to restructure / add some support to the area in the dash where I had dremeled (with the benefit of hindsight) too much material away..

For areas that are not visible it seems a possible salvation for all those broken clips etc..

There are some videos showing super glue ..the liquid version with binders like cotton wool, bicarbonate of soda, even cigarette ash to support broken parts..but in this case there isn’t the space to use that technique…..

 

[Althulas]

I looked at one of those for repairing one of my under trays but opted instead to melt in some stainless mesh and soldering in some plastic rod with a satisfying repair. I need to update that in my thread at some point but another option to add repairing plastics.

 

[B21]

I looked at one of those for repairing one of my under trays but opted instead to melt in some stainless mesh and soldering in some plastic rod with a satisfying repair. I need to update that in my thread at some point but another option to add repairing plastics.

I used some chunky aluminium plates pop riveted for my under tray..depends on the problem area I think..the problem with the lugs is there’s no space either side to strengthen the join as the lugs ‘slot’ into an area with limited width..

 

[B21]

Coming back together …rear cabin cinched up…

New c/f covered roll over hoops with nice leather fronts with themed yellow stitching..

Rear cam now mounted neatly …

Remounted spoiler..my god that 3M tape sticks ..I’ve got the rear slightly mounted off the line on the boot in the middle..looks like a custom diffuser gap…only visible to moles..

 

[Stevo7682]

Now that looks nice.
Stephen.

 

[Jam03]

Coming back together …rear cabin cinched up…

New c/f covered roll over hoops with nice leather fronts with themed yellow stitching..

Rear cam now mounted neatly …

Remounted spoiler..my god that 3M tape sticks ..I’ve got the rear slightly mounted off the line on the boot in the middle..looks like a custom diffuser gap…only visible to moles..View attachment 293449View attachment 293451View attachment 293453View attachment 293455

The Boss keeping you company in the man cave

 

[B21]

The Boss keeping you company in the man cave

Along with Chris Rea, Al Stewart, Eagles, Jackson Browne, Bob Seger to name but a few..I do love my music..hence my audio upgrades to the Yellow Peril..

 

[B21]

Audiotec Fischer Match 10 DSP and 12 new speakers coming on stream..setting up soundstages..with the optional Director control in the cabin you can load different sound stages to suit roof down, roof down windows down and roof up..

View: https://youtu.be/S_Xe0d0vHlU?si=xnYObapYqRxmDYmz

 

[Mint]

I admire your commitment to great sound quality. I wish my ears were 50 years younger and I may be able to appreciate it.

Great use of duck tape too.

 

[B21]

I admire your commitment to great sound quality. I wish my ears were 50 years younger and I may be able to appreciate it.

Great use of duck tape too.

The great thing about human beings is their perception of things is all important rather than the absolutes..my hearing is way off what it was when I was a pup..but…you can really hear the difference ..whether it’s worth the £3k ish is a more subjective judgement!

 

[Mint]

The great thing about human beings is their perception of things is all important rather than the absolutes..my hearing is way off what it was when I was a pup..but…you can really hear the difference ..whether it’s worth the £3k ish is a more subjective judgement!

Ha yes, I remember the law of diminishing returns when I was into HiFi kit

 

[Althulas]

I love my tunes as well, that does sound good.

 

[B21]

Got the Mr 12 Volt MMI box online finally..

The replacement later CIC unit I bought to replace my failing original wasn’t coded to support the multi cd player option..(I guess in 2015 why would you)..

The problem being the coding tools couldn’t ‘see’ the CIC unit to work on it.

It turns out the MMI box as it’s fully connected to the CIC in this latest version pisses on the CAN bus stopping coding tools accessing the CIC box.

I took the MMI harness out of the circuit between the car and the CIC and voila..I could now code the change ..

In BimmerCode it’s

CDMM_CHANGER_3 option and change it to mp3_cdc in expert mode within the CIC coding menus..

similar exercise in Protool which I used as I just have the demo mode of BimmerCode

I had been cursing the ID4Motion instrument cluster for this issue..in this case wrongly..

Getting there..

 

[B21]

Final splash screen updates and tidy up..another day goes by..looks like it (or most) works…tomorrow is test drive day..

View: https://youtu.be/UrBHulW6dxQ?si=sJfl569o5DmjxD2c

 

[bertiejaffa]

Thats a very impressive effort there Peter - I would love a big garage like that

Looking forward to seeing the hard work in a couple of weeks time

 

[B21]

I’d like to give an initial report on the ID4Motion digital cluster now that I’ve driven the car for a few miles.

View: https://youtu.be/BfiaNa4uGf4?si=iEqaBIcWpi70Kgt9

View: https://youtu.be/YFth_72r2Cg?si=oiLuwHM3MAM1ULt2


I shot a couple of videos to illustrate it in the car working.

So to address the obvious point..the reflection you see in videos really doesn’t present itself as a driver..yes if you change your focus then you can see a reflection of yourself ..you could address this with a matt overlay they provide …I tried it and yes no reflections but the crispness and clarity of the display is diminished somewhat.

The graphics are truly fabulous, the animations are nice without being tacky..it just oozes class.

After some misunderstanding on my part about the menus I got the unit set up ..there are many configuration options.

I set up a modern take on the traditional E90 cluster for my normal day mode, a night version in a lovely blue for lights on and a more modern later M series style for sports mode. The day versions I didn’t like as much as the night version..you can see both in the videos.

You can only have one sports theme assigned at the moment…so pushing the sport button, left push on the DCT shift or sports+ all trigger the same theme..you can choose that the theme is selected only with either the shift DCT or pressing sport/sport+…I’ve done it with both..

So much pain on the journey..if it had been discussed I’m not sure how that would have influenced my views.

It appears that despite numerous complaints from others that in the E89 the cluster seems to play ok with most of the rest of the car the new Mr 12 Volt MMI box causes more issues with the CIC unit…

So yes, it’s lovely but not without issues..