NBT/CIC/CCC retrofit in E39/E38/E53

[MarlberCruz]

Ay dawg...

Okay, so who's looking for a PROPER controller solution for their E39? I'll be putting these into production in the next 2-3 weeks, they'll be billet aluminum with a brushed finish. They will mount the iDrive controller and a different hazard/lock switch from the E53/E46.

I would like to get some opinions on the USB port. With NBT, we can run 1 USB, 2 USB's, or 1 USB and 1 USB/AUX port.

My goal is to make this look as OEM as possible, so does a USB port look out of place on the center console or is it fine? The problem is that there's not many options to put these ports in the E39. The tray where the cup holders are isn't deep enough and neither is the Euro armrest storage. The best place I would think of is inside the coin storage/cubby. So here are the options:

1. No ports on the center console. Use the coin storage for them or somewhere else
2. USB only port on the console, relocate other one (if using two)
3. USB/AUX port on the console, relocate other one (if using two)

Which would you pick?

youz a biter son, lol!

It finally hit my why this is all so familiar. So...
When I first joined the forum I came accoss a thread from this guy named Xeniczone.
Great idrive project idea, long before this thread was around (although he sadly lost his e39).
But I think its a good idea to revisit some of his ideas and maybe apply them now.


And taking some inspiration from the e53 x5 version for the knob and the screen setup:



I'm pretty sure that with some fiberglass work the hazard/lock buttons can be repositioned to accommodate the iDrive knob:

lmao!

[theshafro]

Yeah, that's the pic I used and referred to occasionally during the course of this thread and am actually making it come to life.

Going to try remaking this whole console in ABS with the controller to snap in. And relocate the hazard/lock-unlock button to the side.



If it works out, mine will be CNC aluminum to match the rest of my trim




If everything goes according to plan, I will have the design/CAD files to make these for anyone else, making the E39 NBT retrofit 100% complete.

[blackknight530i]

Yeah, that's the pic I used and referred to occasionally during the course of this thread and am actually making it come to life.

Not to mention a repeatable manufactured part, not just a one-off fiberglassed stock console that doesn't look as finished and takes longer to make, if you could even get one. I've been waiting for my one-off fiberglassed stock console from a local guy near me for almost a year now, thanks to life events and such.

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[MarlberCruz]

Yeah, that's the pic I used and referred to occasionally during the course of this thread and am actually making it come to life.

Well you know what.... good job making it a reality! Nice touch with the 3D design too (way better than what I did, lol).
Is there any plan on making them match, lets say, titan line trim, or any of the others that are out there?

[theshafro]

Well you know what.... good job making it a reality! Nice touch with the 3D design too (way better than what I did, lol).
Is there any plan on making them match, lets say, titan line trim, or any of the others that are out there?

Yes, that was the point for me to go with a machined aluminum, so I can brush and match it to my Titan line. Most of the other painted trims also have some kind of brushed pattern underneath them, so I think adding some thin layers of paint to match will keep the brushing underneath.

[MarlberCruz]

Yes, that was the point for me to go with a machined aluminum, so I can brush and match it to my Titan line. Most of the other painted trims also have some kind of brushed pattern underneath them, so I think adding some thin layers of paint to match will keep the brushing underneath.

Ah (now that I re-read your older post), I... must have missed that... lol! I'll be down to buy one from you when you make some.
Ever thought about that water transferring to get the same effect rather than painting?

[theshafro]

Ah (now that I re-read your older post), I... must have missed that... lol! I'll be down to buy one from you when you make some.
Ever thought about that water transferring to get the same effect rather than painting?

Hydro dipping would be effective for those who have the wood trims and stuff you can't really paint. But I was speaking about people with trims like Piano Black and the other simple colored ones, they can just be painted to match.

I won't be painting or dipping any of them, that'll be up to the end user.

[lad740]

just wondering, did anyone come up with a solution for the e38, just came across this and plan to start asap

[theshafro]

just wondering, did anyone come up with a solution for the e38, just came across this and plan to start asap

Got your PM. The monitor bezel I'm making is for the E39, but I also just got a E38 navigation bracket to see if I can make my bezel fit both cars.

[ColtonBH]

Hydro dipping would be effective for those who have the wood trims and stuff you can't really paint. But I was speaking about people with trims like Piano Black and the other simple colored ones, they can just be painted to match.

I won't be painting or dipping any of them, that'll be up to the end user.

My current project for my e38 is stripping and staining trim, if it goes well I could start doing it for other people

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[GenericUserid]

Got your PM. The monitor bezel I'm making is for the E39, but I also just got a E38 navigation bracket to see if I can make my bezel fit both cars.

Shaf, what's your time frame for the E39 bezels?


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[theshafro]

Shaf, what's your time frame for the E39 bezels?

Trying to get a 3D printed prototype this weekend

[garou81]

Thinking of trying out sirius since I have the certs programmed. Does anyone know of an alternative to the "shark fin" antenna. Preferrably something that will handle the gps signal as well as the xm signal.

Also is anyone getting gps traffic updates through their regular antenna? I read somewhere in this thread that the radio signal should provide that data I could be wrong

[lad740]

i would be very much interested in that for my 01e38s,please keep me in the loop

[lad740]

nice. keep me posted

[ejaz3739]

Shaf you planning on printing E46 bezels?

[theshafro]

Shaf you planning on printing E46 bezels?

No plans. Will only do something like that if I see a legit market or if I get pre-orders to pay for my time.

[ejaz3739]

No plans. Will only do something like that if I see a legit market or if I get pre-orders to pay for my time.

Sounds good. It hasn't really taken off with people on M3forums. Would love to do an install one day. For now it's an it out of my budget.

[pyro225]

Anyone know what needs coding to hide the tyre pressure menu , lights menu, doors / key menu ? Cheers


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[Cedric02]

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, much appreciated!

I'm not sure if you retrofitted NBT or NBT Evo. I retrofitted NBT EVO in E64. No sure what you explained applies to me. It appears NBT EVO is a bit more capricious.

I presume if I want to change a few parameters (FDL coding) I first have to rebuild FA (VO) as you described because I cannot simply activate FA, correct?

Is there a risk of bricking the unit or losing the FSC codes?

Thanks,
Ced.

[pyro225]

Hi all - I really really need some help - so you know I've had both the Br and CS setups - I had mainly got the Br setup working 100% two problems - PDc and camera didn't work - after lots of conversations the truth came out that it just doesn't work - I was annoyed but anyway that's that...

I then got a cs adapter and had two problems - on full brightness the screen faded on and off all the time this was resolved by setting to half brightness but on a really bright day you had to set it lower.

Problem two was the gps location - tbh I gave up on this and bought a new antenna - this didn't seem to work but was the least of my problems because of problem 3.

Problem 3 seemed quite a problem so I don't believe I posted here I went direct to cs. Basically the system after 5 minutes or so would fade off like the screen problem but would actually shut off all music etc like i took the key out . Only fix was to turn off and on again - almost like it thought the car was off. This was infuriating and useless so - to their credit cs agreed to an exchange - anyway just got the new box plugged it in ... the same problem WTF!?! - they also included a new plug and wiring - so I reworked from different power ground and ibus points and the same s**t is still happening - I really need a hand with this I'm losing sleep over it and it's not a cheap setup - can anyone help?

There is a strange thing I have noticed when these shutdowns take place - the units changes from mpg to l/100km - this happens every time after a random shutdown?

Also I have three (yes three!) nbt units and it happens on all three...

Finally when you do turn the key off and on it does not boot up, it's exactly where you left it when the screen went off? Any ideas? Many thanks!


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[blackknight530i]

Hi all - I really really need some help - so you know I've had both the Br and CS setups - I had mainly got the Br setup working 100% two problems - PDc and camera didn't work - after lots of conversations the truth came out that it just doesn't work - I was annoyed but anyway that's that...

I then got a cs adapter and had two problems - on full brightness the screen faded on and off all the time this was resolved by setting to half brightness but on a really bright day you had to set it lower.

Problem two was the gps location - tbh I gave up on this and bought a new antenna - this didn't seem to work but was the least of my problems because of problem 3.

Problem 3 seemed quite a problem so I don't believe I posted here I went direct to cs. Basically the system after 5 minutes or so would fade off like the screen problem but would actually shut off all music etc like i took the key out . Only fix was to turn off and on again - almost like it thought the car was off. This was infuriating and useless so - to their credit cs agreed to an exchange - anyway just got the new box plugged it in ... the same problem WTF!?! - they also included a new plug and wiring - so I reworked from different power ground and ibus points and the same s**t is still happening - I really need a hand with this I'm losing sleep over it and it's not a cheap setup - can anyone help?

There is a strange thing I have noticed when these shutdowns take place - the units changes from mpg to l/100km - this happens every time after a random shutdown?

Also I have three (yes three!) nbt units and it happens on all three...

Finally when you do turn the key off and on it does not boot up, it's exactly where you left it when the screen went off? Any ideas? Many thanks!


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I have seen the fade out shutdown thing before, but usually once in a while and not consistently. I did make sure that any of the stray wires coming off the harness for the CS adapter were taped up individually so they didn't touch any metal, since one of them is used with a momentary switch to act like the power button on newer cars.

As for the booting up after turning the key off, you have to wait about 30 seconds for the system to shut down before you can turn it back on and see a full bootup. If you turn the key back on in less than 30 seconds, it is still running, so it comes back to the same spot. This is a "feature".

In regards to the mpg to l/100km thing after the random shutdown, that doesn't sound right at all. I haven't seen that personally. My adapters are really early ones, so maybe they have some glitches in the later adapters that I haven't seen.

[theshafro]

Hi all - I really really need some help - so you know I've had both the Br and CS setups - I had mainly got the Br setup working 100% two problems - PDc and camera didn't work - after lots of conversations the truth came out that it just doesn't work - I was annoyed but anyway that's that...

I then got a cs adapter and had two problems - on full brightness the screen faded on and off all the time this was resolved by setting to half brightness but on a really bright day you had to set it lower.

Problem two was the gps location - tbh I gave up on this and bought a new antenna - this didn't seem to work but was the least of my problems because of problem 3.

Problem 3 seemed quite a problem so I don't believe I posted here I went direct to cs. Basically the system after 5 minutes or so would fade off like the screen problem but would actually shut off all music etc like i took the key out . Only fix was to turn off and on again - almost like it thought the car was off. This was infuriating and useless so - to their credit cs agreed to an exchange - anyway just got the new box plugged it in ... the same problem WTF!?! - they also included a new plug and wiring - so I reworked from different power ground and ibus points and the same s**t is still happening - I really need a hand with this I'm losing sleep over it and it's not a cheap setup - can anyone help?

There is a strange thing I have noticed when these shutdowns take place - the units changes from mpg to l/100km - this happens every time after a random shutdown?

Also I have three (yes three!) nbt units and it happens on all three...

Finally when you do turn the key off and on it does not boot up, it's exactly where you left it when the screen went off? Any ideas? Many thanks!


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This problem happened to me twice and haven't seen it since the customer picked up the car. There was someone on here that experienced the same thing, I PM'd him about ever finding a fix but haven't heard back yet.

I know that as soon as I plugged this adapter into the car, all the US English turned into UK English. HVAC temp is in C°, "Bootlid open" instead of "trunk", "Tyre defect", instead of "tire", etc.

[pyro225]

Hi guys - I completely reworked it yesterday without the provisions for the br adapter and it made no difference but now I'm in a bad spot - I also ran a fatter screen cable which stopped the fading on and off at full brightness- which doesn't make sense as it didn't happen on the BR adapter - I could try a software downgrade ? My last play is an old nbt display I have laying around but it works with br no proba


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[pyro225]

Also the latest shutdown the idrive controller jammed it then. Over for a second and the screen went off...


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