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I'll start out by saying this. This project is not entirely difficult, though
I still have a few issues left to resolv. I've left them because life has gotten
in the way of this project - you know that work thing...
I started out by attempting to remove the old console and stereo. In hindsight I would recomend plugging in everything in the trunk area and testing to make sure you've gotten it all hooked in correctly. This way you only have to install it all and not debug it while it is in your car! 1. I removed the side kick panels. These are removed with one phillips screw down by your feet and then you gently slide it towards the rear of the car. 2. Remove the wood trim. These were very easy to 'pop' out. You then remove the screws behind the wood trim. 3. Glove box - I allowed the glove box to become unhinged - these were clips on the end of the straps holding it up. The left hand side is a pneumatic plunger, the right side is the strap.. This granted me access to more screws to remove from the side of the console. 4. I removed the cover underneath the intrument panel area. Remove the plastic piece under the steering column first. There is a huge amount of styrofoam that will get in the way if you don't remove this piece first. Place to the side - there are more screws here than normal, no left over parts. 5. Seats. They're going to have to go at some time - this is as good as any. There are torx screws holding on plastic coverings on the drivers side. Move all the way back then remove the front and the front large torx screws. Slide forward and remove the two large torx screws. There is also a cable attached to the seat for positioning of the seat belt. This is located on the left rear of the seat, right rear for the right side. I found it easier to then move the seat to the middle position. Remove the seat carefully (this is a $60,000 car) and place them next to the car. The seat belt is still attached and does not need to be removed. Don't bang the seat against the door. If you need help, get it! 6. Center console. I removed the covering on the side of the parking brake. Then the shifter knob. I have the six-speed and the knob comes off with some gentle tugging. If you have an automatic ... you'll be on your own to figure it out. Email me the procedure and I'll add it here. Then remove the cup holders in the back seat. The climate controls are next - only two connectors and it will come free. There are two screws there holding down the console to the center of the car - they get removed. Then there is one screw in the shifter area that gets removed. After that - pull your hand brake all the way up and the center console should sorta slide out. Oh, there are screws near the front on the sides of the kick panel that need to be removed also. 7. Sill center console. There are a few connectors that you need to document where they go, if not you'll hook your heated seats up backwards - pretty funny when the chick next to you turns hers on, and now you have to pee! Anyway, just pay attention to the connectors and you'll be just fine. BMW does a good job making one connector - one slot. Should sound familiar to you guys out there. 8. Remove the center console! 9. Okay, you have removed the center console, now you should be able to remove the dash unit. This is kinda a pain, I had a hard time figuring out how to remove this. The wires that connect to the old radio are not very long, (for you to inspect how to remove) there are two metal tabs on either side of the 'bottom' display unit that you push in and the 'bottom' piece will slide out and you can remove the top piece with a small allen wrench. This then allows you to remove the frame from the dash piece. I on the other hand used a 90 degree screwdriver and farted around with it for about an hour or so. Your welcome. 10. Now I would remove the back seat. There are two bolts on either side (10mm) that hold in on. You remove them, pull up, and pull out. The bottom seat should come out then. 11. Remove the rear head rests. Firm karate-chop style upward motion should remove them. Then, oddly enough, you just push up on the rear seat and it too comes out. This is a good time to vaccuum out the rear seat area. I then removed the light panels on either side. They are snapped into place and have a small wire attached to the light that needs to be disconnect. I think it would be smart to have clean hands when you do this. 12. No go to the trunk and remove the subwoofer deck. I have the harmon-kardon stereo. Then there are three bolts holding on the rear deck cover. It would be helpful to have some help, especially if you have the power rear shade. The deck is heavy enough to make it's removal difficult with one person. I convicned it from the trunk area and then pulled it forward from the rear seat. I let it dangle for a while. You can then run you wiring harness. 13. The wiring harness was a big concern of mine. I had no idea where all of the connectors go. I could only guess some of them and deduce the rest. Now, I know where they all go. If you have the harmon kardon installation you should probably go through the extra effort and connect up the speakers to the speaker wire connectors, if you don't, then I can see just doing the bare minimum. I did the bare minimum, only because I was limited in time and didn't really have a clue what I was really doing. The monitor connectors are really the only part that goes to the front of the car. Thread the rest of the harness from the back, through the back seat hole to the front. Then zip tie the wiring harness to the old one. You can see where it goes. Under the drivers seat and along the side of the car. 14. Run part of the wiring harnes up to the drivers side radio antenna connectors. I also installed the gps reciever now. I order the bracket, didn't need to. Had to clip some of the plastic to make it fit in the slot. But then used some superglue to attach it in place. It isn't going anywhere. 15. Then it's onto the trunk. Sigh, this is where all of the work really is. So I would recommend putting the car back together now. Put the dash back together, put the rear deck in. Put the rear seat in, then the seats. Your BMW should start to look like a BMW again. Now comes the tough part. As of right now, I don't have all of the answers and it took me another 2 days to debug the problems that I was having. Two problems were subtle, one was not. 16. First of all there are alot of plugins in my trunk area. I am pre-wired for phone and home security system. I didn't figure out (because I didn't remove the old wiring harness) that one of the big white connectors on the new harness was the 'main' power connector. This was figured out later after much time with the multimeter. The other problem was the grafting the two harness together. Now, I would simple take the time to remove the old harness and install the new one. But it just takes time to get the connectors grafted together. 17. After that you install the versioning CD's (I'll post these files later). Everything should work. It was a great project and after it was all done - well worth it. |
