Ok... I'm really going to get on my project now... (lengthy)

[uflnuceng]

Introduction:

Ok... first I would like to kinda reintroduce myself as I have mostly just lurked over the last year. I bought a 1990 E34 535i 5-speed and made it my project bitch. It has thus far had:

1. Complete Engine Rebuild, ARP Head studs, forged pistons, multi layer steel headgasket, and a nice new paint job.
2. TCD Stage 2 turbo build done by Todd at TCD.
3. MegaSquirt ECU designed by Pete Florance of first 5's.
4. 850i front brakes, 540i rear brakes... I thought I could put an E32 750iL master cylinder in it to improve the brake pedal but the bastard didn't fit, so I'm just going to put a new stock one in to replace the old one that has 274k miles on it.

So the drivetrain is solid. I want to give a special public thanks to Jon K for putting up with my megasquirt questions at the late hours of the night, and for finally making a man outta me (and no... I'm not talking about that one time in the prison shower room). I had to diagnose some problems I was having with the megasquirt and after Jon guided me through what I needed to do, and finally told me to "man it up" I was able to diagnose my problem (faulty chip) and I learned a lot.

While the vehicle is not moving I have decided to continue with my interior project, which grows more and more interesting by the day. The car already came with a decent stereo system, but I didn't like the complexity of the install (RCA cables running everyone, some stereo equipment had been taken out as there were cables that just terminated with plugs I have never seen before, etc.)

[uflnuceng]

STEREO UPGRADE:

As I said, the stereo that was in there was decent, but I wanted bluetooth hands free cell phone, sirius satellite radio, and a bit of a cleaner look and the greyness of the Alpine unit didn't do it for me. I then did my research and settled on Pioneer DEH-P9800BT. This thing has every feature under the sun and I like it.

1. I had the headliners redone in black, so I was able to run the handsfree mic and sirius antenna cable through the roof. I was going to run the antenna through the sunroof but it doesn't seem to want to close completely with the wire in the way.
2. My rear window is tinted so I'm going to have to put the antenna through the trunk, then up the window gasket to the roof, or something like that. Anyone had better luck running a satellite radio antenna on their E34?

Then the fun begins...

Whoever did the stereo upgrade before did some really weird ****, running RCA cables off the deck wiring harness when there were pre-amp RCA connectors already on the headunit. Whoever did it obviously had some money to spend, but I want to use the factory speaker wire harness to clean up the install. However, I can only find 4 of the 8 speaker wires I need. I'm going to tie the 8 OEM speaker wires into this Quad Phono Jack.

The more and more I delve into it, the more of the interior I have to take out, so I'm just taking it ALL out.

I'm going to track the wires from the trunk back to the front of the car, cleaning out any clutter that I come across. I'm still going to use one set of RCA cables from the headunit to the back for the subwoofer.



That little black 8-pin plug are the only stereo speakers I can find. It was tucked way up under the dash. I can only hope the other speaker wires were tucked away like that too.







I'm also going to have to treat some surface rust, but for as expensive the materials were for the stereo upgrade, you would have thought the installer would have made it look cleaner.

[uflnuceng]

No more factory amp... someone cut it out completely, and all I'm left with are some hacked wires that I'm going to have to follow all the way back to the headunit.





Headlights:

Got some smoked Hella Ellips from Abraham Motorsports, and got rid of the Unitza HID crap that was on there and installed some H1s. Light quality and brightness is way improved over the Unitza eye projectors in my opinion, although I need to get the headlights aligned. Is this something I can get done at the dealership? I'm getting smoked hella fog lights coming special order later this summer. Abrahams is awesome .

Steering Wheel:

I want to get a multifunction steering wheel with a working airbag on my e34. I have only found limited information on this and some E39 steering wheels should be able to work. I'm going to have to play around with the wiring but there is a PAC adaptor that will work with an E39 wheel and this Pioneer unit. I initially think I'm just going to have to get power to the wheel and the adaptor should take care of everything else. Anyone have any input on this? Are there E39 wheels with airbags that you know works on the E34?

[Dave M]

[QUOTE=uflnuceng] although I need to get the headlights aligned. Is this something I can get done at the dealership?

Sounds like you'll have quite the beast when you're done. I can only provide direction with respect to the above question. Yes, you can get that done at the dealer, or, better yet, DIY with help from Daniel Stern's lighting page. I used his procedure for my lights and it worked well. Probably takes an hour or so.

Dave M

[repenttokyo]

1. I had the headliners redone in black, so I was able to run the handsfree mic and sirius antenna cable through the roof. I was going to run the antenna through the sunroof but it doesn't seem to want to close completely with the wire in the way.
2. My rear window is tinted so I'm going to have to put the antenna through the trunk, then up the window gasket to the roof, or something like that. Anyone had better luck running a satellite radio antenna on their E34?

do you live in a major urban area? I have my XM antennae on the rear deck of my car, and I had it like this in my Lincoln as well. Have you actually tested it out with the tint to see if it's a problem? In my experience, indoor antennaes work perfectly well in areas with terrestrial repeaters, and very well elsewhere.

[uflnuceng]

do you live in a major urban area?

I live in rural SW PA, with lots of trees and during the spring and summer with all the leaves in the tree, and hence the water in the canopy, my signal can get really choppy. It improves dramatically during the fall and winter when the leaves come off the trees.

Have you actually tested it out with the tint to see if it's a problem?

No... I'll give it a try I guess... I just hate moving antennas around.

[uflnuceng]

Back to Black:

I already got new OEM carpeting, and with the luck I have had at salvage yards I'm probably going to see my friends at the stealership and order all new kick panels, center console, glove box, etc. I'm also going to order a uniform wood panel kit... just gotta find the one that I like. I talked with the people at EuroDepot and they said they can get me a complete set of new doors... at about $350 a pop. Oh well...

I also got an E46 cup holder, which is the best BMW has ever made... the new ones are absolute crap. I'm going to take it to a custom interior guy and get him to retrofit it into the center console somehow.





Keyless Entry:

Bought the OEM keyless entry kit and somehow my car isn't pre-wired for it I am going to attempt to wire the car myself since the directions are actually quite detailed as to what wires are going where, and the Bentley manual has a detailed skematic as well. This is another reason why I am gutting the interior.

[uflnuceng]

Anyway... sorry for the lengthy post that isn't really going anywhere. There are a couple questions I would like to get answered but I'm definitely going to work on everything I talked about and troubleshoot wherever it comes up. You'll be hearing a lot from me over the next few months so I just wanted to make myself known...

So... hello... again

[Macv]

Damn thats looking nice. Swap you engines... ehh?

[uflnuceng]

lol... not likely;-) Long live the M30, and once I get another 8 lbs of boost behind it (for about 15lbs of boost total) this bad boy is going to be flying!