Whoops, I've gone German!
Whoops, I've gone German!
I had the diff fitted by a friend as I mangled all the bolts trying to get the old one off. I've increased the rear ratio from 3.09 to 3.38 which gives it a bit more punch when you put your foot down. Well worth doing! It now feels like a car with a big engine.
I've turned my attention to the entertainment system in the car. It's got an analogue TV tuner which obviously is useless in the UK as Freeview took over ages ago. I found a guy in Australia who makes a PCB to go inside the TV tuner box, that allows you to fit a Chinese digital TV tuner and still have it all work like stock with the buttons on the head unit etc. I've got all the parts now but while I was investigating I discovered that you could have AV input and reversing camera functionality via the TV tuner as well!
I'm now building a second TV tuner unit to swap in, which has a wireless reversing camera receiver hardwired into it, a digital TV tuner for Freeview, and a Chromecast. I already wired the Chromecast up as a test:
[youtube]LCsJpSEnKAI[/youtube]
I recently got a BMW diagnostics cable which allows you to reconfigure the way the car behaves via the OBD2 port. So far I have activated flashing the indicators when the car is unlocked (by default it just turns on the interior light), auto up on the window switch that does all windows and disabled the 'pinch' check on the windows as they would stop halfway up. I've also switched on dropping and raising the roof from the keyfob which is pretty pimp - you hold the unlock button down and the roof drops. However because as my keys are a bit old the microswitches are wearing out, so the car thinks I have taken my finger off the button and stops moving the roof. On top of this, the buttons inside the car also have to be held down the whole time the roof is in operation, so you can't do anything else. I fitted a one-touch module this weekend which means I can now press the keyfob unlock button 3 times and the roof drops with no further interaction. Likewise with the lock button to close the roof. Pressing it 4 times drops the windows as well. It sounds silly but it means I can press the button to drop the roof when passing the window on the way out of my office and by the time I've made it downstairs the roof is down and I'm ready to go! It has also made the buttons inside the car one-touch, so I can press the button to drop the roof once, then faff about playing music from my phone, doing my seatbelt etc while the roof drops itself.
[youtube]P5hcU5ECtnM[/youtube]
More to come on the TV tuner project when I get the bits I'm waiting for from China.
I'm not allowed on Facebook at work any more so I might as well update this. Not much to report, it just keeps going and going and doesn't break! I've refurbished the 18" wheels and fitted Michelin Pilot Sport 4 all round and the car drives amazingly now.
I had the diff fitted by a friend as I mangled all the bolts trying to get the old one off. I've increased the rear ratio from 3.09 to 3.38 which gives it a bit more punch when you put your foot down. Well worth doing! It now feels like a car with a big engine.
I've turned my attention to the entertainment system in the car. It's got an analogue TV tuner which obviously is useless in the UK as Freeview took over ages ago. I found a guy in Australia who makes a PCB to go inside the TV tuner box, that allows you to fit a Chinese digital TV tuner and still have it all work like stock with the buttons on the head unit etc. I've got all the parts now but while I was investigating I discovered that you could have AV input and reversing camera functionality via the TV tuner as well!
I'm now building a second TV tuner unit to swap in, which has a wireless reversing camera receiver hardwired into it, a digital TV tuner for Freeview, and a Chromecast. I already wired the Chromecast up as a test:
[youtube]LCsJpSEnKAI[/youtube]
I recently got a BMW diagnostics cable which allows you to reconfigure the way the car behaves via the OBD2 port. So far I have activated flashing the indicators when the car is unlocked (by default it just turns on the interior light), auto up on the window switch that does all windows and disabled the 'pinch' check on the windows as they would stop halfway up. I've also switched on dropping and raising the roof from the keyfob which is pretty pimp - you hold the unlock button down and the roof drops. However because as my keys are a bit old the microswitches are wearing out, so the car thinks I have taken my finger off the button and stops moving the roof. On top of this, the buttons inside the car also have to be held down the whole time the roof is in operation, so you can't do anything else. I fitted a one-touch module this weekend which means I can now press the keyfob unlock button 3 times and the roof drops with no further interaction. Likewise with the lock button to close the roof. Pressing it 4 times drops the windows as well. It sounds silly but it means I can press the button to drop the roof when passing the window on the way out of my office and by the time I've made it downstairs the roof is down and I'm ready to go! It has also made the buttons inside the car one-touch, so I can press the button to drop the roof once, then faff about playing music from my phone, doing my seatbelt etc while the roof drops itself.
[youtube]P5hcU5ECtnM[/youtube]
More to come on the TV tuner project when I get the bits I'm waiting for from China.
Thats a good old update, tell me more about this mod your doing with the freeview integration and one touch module im intrigued now
I ended up using a module from an Italian company called FBC Electronics. It taps into the buttons in the car, and also listens on the car's K-BUS for the signal from the fob to activate. It was 7 wires (snip the signal wires from the buttons and intercept them, +ve/-ve and k-bus). I wired it in properly so it has its own fuse in the factory fuse box and plugs into BMW's "comb connectors" (basically junction boxes) for -ve and k-bus. You know what I'm like for doing things as per the manufacturer!
Module was from here - most of their modules are a con, they just activate built-in functions that you can turn on with the software cable but one-touch operation is unique: http://www.fbc-electronics.com/en/x46.aspx
Digital TV conversion info is here: http://pibus.info/tv/
The digital TV stuff can be done by a company called Carphonics for £400, I am doing it for roughly 1/4 of that price.
One touch I cheated a bit. I was going to use latching relays on the switches in the car to give me one touch while I was in it, but as soon as I activated the built in ability to do the roof from the key fob I knew that I wanted one touch from the fob too.
I ended up using a module from an Italian company called FBC Electronics. It taps into the buttons in the car, and also listens on the car's K-BUS for the signal from the fob to activate. It was 7 wires (snip the signal wires from the buttons and intercept them, +ve/-ve and k-bus). I wired it in properly so it has its own fuse in the factory fuse box and plugs into BMW's "comb connectors" (basically junction boxes) for -ve and k-bus. You know what I'm like for doing things as per the manufacturer!
Module was from here - most of their modules are a con, they just activate built-in functions that you can turn on with the software cable but one-touch operation is unique: http://www.fbc-electronics.com/en/x46.aspx
Digital TV conversion info is here: http://pibus.info/tv/
The digital TV stuff can be done by a company called Carphonics for £400, I am doing it for roughly 1/4 of that price.
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Read my thread here: The Evolution of my Turbo Lexus from NA-Supercharged-Twin Turbo-Massive Single
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Sparkystav
22-08-2024, 06:52 PM #14Love some of them mods! It amazing what hidden systems are available
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Read my thread here: The Evolution of my Turbo Lexus from NA-Supercharged-Twin Turbo-Massive Single
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