hotwire

I know the alarm - I fitted many of those when they came out in the early 90's. It was their first radar version alarm that had internal & external fields. A very good unit. Unfortunately you cannot programme any other remote to them & I doubt very much that you will find an original remote for them either now. Best bet - pull apart & check/clean/check battery & see if you can resurect.

[EDIT: Jochen, unit's out. What do I do with all the wires on the roof going into the side? Trace them back to their source plugs behind the trim & disconnect - they can all come out. GPS lead - just coil up & tuck behind the trim. Refit the boot light from the nav compartment into the factory slot in the boot roof above. One of the plugs goes into the Jap VICS unit - this unit too can be removed but if you do - plug the two aerial leads together

HB Man, & get on to fitting that nav will you & no doubt that camera too

Not factory fit so probably ditch it

^^^^^^ Totally agree & condolences to his family/friends from me too It is probably innevitable that a tragedy was going to happen at some stage at HD, though we never want to see it. It is always a risk with motorsport.

Access to VM is easy - remove the whole boot liner as one - a few clips either side & slide the whole thing out. Jap nav unit - just remove it (& unplug the wiring to it) - rest of vehicle will still fully function without it. Otherwise - convert it to Euro system to have NZ nav.

Not wrong! I bought the car (with no head) from a guy in Rotorua - he was over it as he had just had the head attended to down there & it failed again soon after - cracked. I had a spare one so fixed the car & drove for about six months, then sold it locally - these people had it about 18 months after which time I lost track of it... until now:

Good job - well done. I see what you mean about the old one. It must surely have seen a lot of sun in it's Jap life. Like I said - have not really noticed this before on E39's & ours (original) still looks as you new one does.

I assume you are meaning the filler strip in a pre f/l (originally chrome look). Most have gone that way now with 20+ years time in the sun. You could get one from a f/l car - these are black

Totally agree... apart from the reference to F1

Seems strange - I can't say Ive noticed an E39 with trim as you describe, ours, at 11 yrs old still looks as new. E30 is a different setup - it has the screen mounting in the rubber, the E39 screen is eurothaned in - the strip is just a trim.

Been coming for a while now. Good bang for buck & ideal for a non monitor equipped car - where it simply plugs in & replaces the original radio. I would not personally take out an OEM monitor/TV system & replace with one of these. All these (Nav, TV, Bluetooth, Reverse camera, DVD/ipod) can be acheived in factory option, albeit a little more expensive to add the Bluetooth. Also, unlike BMW, I see they use the same unit for E38/39 AND X5 - the OEM units are not the same in the X5 - a different bezel to suit the different shape dash & also a different pixel alignment in the screen to allow for the different viewing angle to the cars. I also contest that the OEM Nav is much simpler & more intuative to operate than the Navman I have just got for my work ute - give me my car system any day.

AHH Penny has just dropped - thought I recognised the plate:- Owned it about 4 yrs ago. Bought with car no head, (cracked) resurected it with another & later sold it. Was as now but minus exhaust, leather, Alpina & was auto. Was a bloody nice car when I had it. As to present - What an underhanded trick to pull Edit - stated wrong wheels

They don't wear down but break if the wheel is mishandled while off. As I said - take the wheel back off & check - it is pretty obvious as to how it works once you look at it

No you can't, they simply sense off the sensor in the passenger seat as to ocupation. Keep him in the back seat

Take the wheel back off & check for the black bakelite rim that has a peg protruding - this is the striker to cancel the switch. It may be broken off.

Has the steering wheel still got the bakelite striker peg in place?

Haven't confirmed for myself in the X5 but had the question asked to me by a person I sold a reverse camera to as to how he could improve the sound - he thought the sound was flat & dull. His X5 didn't have factory sub. He ended up installing an exta, realitively small amp & a small sub. He also replaced the door speakers with same size but much bigger magnet units. He used a still conservative wattage Fusion unit. He sent me a pic of old & new units for comparison. He was apparently very happy with the result - a clean crisp sound with good bass definition

Matt - you will probably be hard pushed to get a Jap E39 with PDC - I have only seen one Jap Touring with this. Euro spec (NZ) cars were commonly fitted with. You are obviously aware of the rear camera option - good alternative. I can help with this too when you do nav conversion

Darren, I take it you mean the CD changer is full of discs but shows as empty on the screen? CD changers are common to fail - Max Electronics in Auckland to repair. Regards monitor not opening - you are pushing the button in top right corner? Has this been an intermittent problem or just stopped functioning?

HB Fella. Will get that presi to you soon... promise

.215 best .2406 average

+2. With respect, Don't "rice" it - leave this mod out

Loving the design/fabrication work going on here. Watching with interest

Yep, nice car & I do personally like Dakar Yellow. Couldn't see it suiting a lot of cars but I recon it's good for E36 Prick of a colour for NZ sun though Price - market will dictate - but it's credentials are good - as Graham states above