Matty

Your link is broken, and I can't find the Logitech adapter you mention.

Simplest thing seems to be this:

http://www.bavariansoundwerks.com/product/...ntegration-Kit/

Thanks Jochen.

I got a fair way into it last night, found the sensors that sense the tape spool rotation. As you say they send a pulse signal out to the main board, where the brains that control it are.

There are a couple of parts to tricking it it seems.

1) you need to fool the tape head position sensors that it is moving when the load/head motor is activated - that switch opens and closes 4 times as the motor runs from one end to the other! (and there are three other switches to worry about also, which sense tape insertion and proper loading). I don't think you can just set it in one position (hard wire the switch outputs) because the tape head disengages when you switch it off or out of Tape mode.

but I could be wrong, as outlined here: http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500287

2) end of tape presumably depends on the speed difference between the take-up reel and the feed reel. I think that might be easy to dummy by bridging a link between the two outputs so they both read the same speed... (however my aim would be to ditch the drive motor to eliminate the noise)

Again though, from the link about, it seems you can get away without a tape even being present...

As you say a CD-changer emulator is much easier (e.g. the DICE system) - but where's the fun in that? (Also it's not cheap)

Today I had the head unit in with the tape module absent, it puts "TAPE ERROR" on the display when you go to tape mode, but I'm not yet sure which part of the system is responsible for it generating that error.

Half the reason for this is that I like the concept of having the iPhone up front where it can be seen and accessed.

oh well, some free brainstorming for me anyway... electronics isn't my speciality.

Thanks for the inputs. I've seen people online do similar stuff tapping into the tape inputs, so I know that much is possible. But I've never seen anyone fool the system that a tape still exists. Call me anal, but it would be nice to totally ditch the tape motors and reduce all noise, even if it makes 4/5ths of f**kall difference when you're driving and have background noise present...

I've figured out most of them so far (power, mute detect, audio, tape sensor microswitches, and the drive signals for the load/eject/head motor), but I need to dismantle the tape drive assembly to figure out what the last few (and seemingly most important) are.

Been a few years since I posted here . Been back in Aus, brought the car over here and fitted an Australian cassette tape head unit. The old Japanese one is a C43 model. I recall jochen on here being the guru of all things BMW ICE, so hopefully he or someone can answer...

Basically I want to rig up something like a Sinjimoru iDeck, but without being fed through the magnetic tape head...

I'm looking at whether it's possible to gut the head unit and trick it into thinking a tape is present, then feeding in an audio signal to the tape module inputs.

The tape player module has a 1x20 IDE header - does anyone know the pinouts? The only three I've figured so far are the audio - pins 3 4 and 5.

cheers,

matt.

thanks guys. saves me from disaster. I'll speak to my wife's friend's German husband about ebay.de

Tip2: NG radios have the twin-display, and are world models. You can buy ex-Japan, USA, or Europe. OG radios are regional-specific, you need to buy from an NZ, AUS new car, or from Europe. Do not get an ex-Japan or ex-USA OG radio, the tuner is different, and wrong, for NZ.

Jochen, can you be more specific here? I have a 2000 E46, so OG, and have now moved back to Australia. What's the difference with US tuning? I know their AM band is in 10kHz steps not 9kHz, but I never use AM. Is the FM band compatible with Aus?

cheers,

matt.

Seriously, bargain here. Price drop to $24500 ono. Want to sell this.

Update - price drop to $26000.

thanks for the advice Apex, I phoned and spoke to them to book a space, emailed the details (organised the same way the in-magazine form is), sent a few photos and they set it up and worded the magazine ad (which I reviewed and tweaked).

Apparently their website (ie selling section) is being revised so it will be easier to make ads in the future.

FWIW it will be in this Thursday's mag. Asking price drop to $26000 (same for trademe ad above). Cmon folks, make a (decent) offer and get a bargain here!

cheers, will try calling them.

Noone is familiar with making an Autotrader ad?

The method of valuation seems a bit of a grey area, but the "worst case" scenario (which customs have told me would apply to me) is that they will use the (relatively recent) overseas purchase price, converted to Aus dollars.

You may get lucky if you can get a lower valuation when it lands in Aus, which would probably exclude shipping costs and rego costs from the valuation, but unfortunately you can't do that until it lands in the country... Still, as the same car in Aus would probably cost about $10-15K more, it's not unreasonable to work on the NZ purchase price.

So someone buy my car!!!

we've been planning on heading back as well and was planning on shipping back my car, i didn't think it was going to cost that much. I know there is duties of 10% and gst 10%

good luck with the sale.

10% duty.

shipping and insurance is nearly $4K quoted

10% GST on the (value+duty+shipping+insurance) total.

Then we'd still have to get compliance, roadworthy, and rego...

And we'd still have to pay up the loan on it over here somehow.

If we had the money it would probably still be better to take it with us (what with the difference in purchase price, and making a loss from selling it here), but alas don't have the cash (after shipping all our furniture and cats etc back).

Cain - does tiptronic count? nah...

what is the other "cd player" in the boot?

Kenwood (Japanese) navigation system.

So I've got the car advertised on Trademe, which was straightforward enough: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=134695526

I started doing an Autotrader ad online, but there's no section that I can find for adding details like make, model, specs, etc (which appear in everyone else's ads...). You just put a title and description in manually, which doesn't seem to make sense to me.

anyone else know what they're doing there and can tell me how?

Heya all. Well, the wife and I are packing up and leaving NZ (back to Melbourne!). So our lovely 330i has to go! (we wanted to ship it back but it would cost about $10K in shipping and fees.)

It's been a brilliant car, and we'll definitely miss it! You don't know how lucky you are to have such cheap cars here.

More info here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=134695526

Cheers,

Matt

I've already looked into it a bit:

The same car back in Aus would cost about $10K more.

Personal import to Aus: $50 application fee.

(Car valuation: ~AUD $25000)

10% customs duty $2500

Shipping ~$3000 (+)

10% GST on the total of the above: $3050

Then licencing, compliancing, roadworthy...

So add around another 10K in costs, and at the end of the day it would be harder to insure and harder to sell than an Aus-new car... and still have the Jappa radio etc...

still, on the flipside it may be hard to sell for a reasonable price exactly when we want. Any methods like auctions or dealer trade-in that wouldn't rip us off too much?

This is both a tentative For Sale ad, and a request for selling tips...

The wife and I are returning to Australia at the start of March next year. Based on what info I've had to hand, it will cost more than it's worth to ship the car over with us.

Not having much experience in the NZ car market, any tips on privately selling such a car? I get the feeling it may be hard next to the flood of similar imports. And trying to sell near to a particular date (without giving the car away) might be hard.

For those interested, some specs:

~77000km, purchased Feb 2007 (Jap import).

recently serviced by BM Workshop, Trevor reckoned it was in excellent condition.

Silver, colour coded bumpers, rear lip spoiler

Xenons, foglights, clear indicators all round.

5-speed auto (they all are...)

17" 7-spoke wheels

cloth seats, 3-position memory

usual 330i spec stuff.... no mods

wife drove it daily only about 10-15km typically.

some photos: http://mattkingsphotos.blogspot.com/2007/09/bmw-330i.html

Thoughts on a good price would be welcome.

cheers,

matt (021 588 949)

Good on 'em. I f**king hate people who use foglights. (Except when it's foggy.)

Coupe or sedan?

Sedan. 330i to be specific...

Do you have a RHS wiper arm for E46?

Hey all. The clip on our RHS wiper arm is broken off. So the whole wiper assembly that clips onto the metal arm needs replacing. I've emailed BM Workshop about it, are there any other sources worth asking?

m

Yellow = low oil level = top it up soon.

Red = low pressure/failure = stop immediately before the big smoky bang.

As far as I can tell reading the listing, that HU doesn't include the Dice, you still have to buy one to hook up your ipod. (Correct me if I'm wrong though).

$2500? farken! I could buy 4 Torsens for my MX-5 for that much...