adro 1052 Report post Posted March 8 Stretched it’s legs over to the Wairarapa today. She really sings all the way to redline. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1052 Report post Posted March 9 230xxxkm New headunit Xtrons IA8246BLHS after consulting with @Karter16 I pulled the trigger on an Xtrons unit. I went for a lower spec as I only intend on running CarPlay and a reverse camera so not sure I need 8gigs of ram…but let’s see. Not sure what the difference is between the IA8246BLHS vs IA8246BLH but it was cheaper so I rolled with it. Landed in a few days and at the same time so did the HVAC relocation bracket from @Vass (along with a couple of other goodies, thanks!) Pretty sweet install, but a bit of a jungle of loom back there, have fabric wrapped the loose connectors for now but will be back into connect up reverse camera and route the USB’s through the Center console maybe. Also as Karter pointed out I need to file down the top of the bracket which is currently making it look a little squeezed. car came with an FM transmitter which worked ok but I found my self trying to change songs etc while I was driving which is naughty. Now I’m left with an adhesive circle which I fear will rip the gray painted dash off if I try remove it so might just leave it, the steering wheel hides it from the drives position anyway. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karter16 323 Report post Posted March 11 Looking good! Nice thing about that IA unit as well is that you get the icons on the buttons instead of text in a font that doesn’t quite match BMW’s!!! Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1052 Report post Posted March 13 (edited) after seeing the ‘no signal’ everytime I went into reverse I felt motivated to get this reverse camera in. Quite a bit more involved that I would have liked but overall just fiddly. Few learnings, even if the ad says it’s HD, if it’s going through an RCA you can guarantee its actually only going to be 720p. I got the number plate light and camera and it’s quite fiddly to put together, if I were to do it again I would opt for a camera that screws into the trim, and save mucking round tapping into the number plate lights. I had to do quite a bit of dremelling to get my camera to fit. my camera points down to much. I can live with it as I have a rear window to look out but I would like it tilted up a bit more. the cool thing was the RCA had a little positive pig tail on it which connected straight to the head unit so didn’t have to tap into the reverse lights. I did have to cut the RCA plug off though in order to feed it through the elephant trunk and then attach it again. I routed the USB‘s under the cup holders, it didn't really fit, but once the phone cable is attached it can pop out the coin bit quite nicely. I went through the elephant trunk and taped it to the existing loom running down the outside of the window, then in through the grommet at the bottom (tell me your car is a central Otago car without telling me it’s a central Otago car) a lot of gravel dust to clean up here. Once that was all working and made into a bit of loom with some soft tape I replaced the battery ground cable that I broke ages ago. still working on getting the splash screen working, at the moment the unit won’t recognise the files on my usb stick. Other than that, it’s working awesome. I suspect the encroachment on the number plate might be an issue at some point, I think the plate will just have to be lowered though. quick clean and jobs a goodin. Edited March 13 by adro 7 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1052 Report post Posted March 19 230,6xxkm oil+filter change with Penrite HP5 5W40. had a bit of an inspection underneath. All pretty good apart from these power steering line mounts are fully perished…bit odd but will get some new ones. car seems louder than I remember, wonder if I have an exhaust leak somewhere. Maybe an inspection when I get round to doing some rear end stuff. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karter16 323 Report post Posted March 19 38 minutes ago, adro said: All pretty good apart from these power steering line mounts are fully perished…bit odd but will get some new ones. Mine were the same when I replaced the power steering hose. My theory is that because those hoses always leak that the power steering fluid makes the rubber degrade. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adro 1052 Report post Posted March 19 Ah yeah that makes sense. Quite expensive little bushings it turns out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vass 701 Report post Posted March 19 Yeah they bloody are. I had to dig through a few cars at Pick-A-Part to scavenge up a few decent ones. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1517 Report post Posted March 19 You could try urethane sealant to re-bond them eg Sikaflex, 3M products etc. Not that cheap either but maybe cheaper than the bushings?. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Harper 465 Report post Posted March 19 (edited) Both my E46s have the power steering lines cable tied together and have been for years. Who needs bushings. Edited March 19 by Harper 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
