HELP! E46 Navigation radio Removal

[RITA2004]

Has anyone attempted to swap the e46 Navigation radio/cd changer to the OEM Business class radio? if so, what was your process? As I look out into the future I hate the thought of a brick sitting in my dash... 15 years into the OEM Navigation and looking at installing something new and shiny that will be a brick in two years seems like a huge hassle. I enjoy driving the car & don't want the aggravation of constantly dealing with outdated technology .

[MarcoZandrini]

The guys of the factory navigation system resides in the left side of the trunk behind the carpet liner. Basically, the head unit in the dash is a human-machine interface. The only module among those in the trunk that you want to reuse is the amp. You may need the cable that runs from the head unit to the amp. Hopefully others who have done the swap will add their expertise.

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

You 'could' swap from the OEM nav setup to the radio/cassette one but it won't be straightforward. You'll need to swap out from the navigation loom to the loom that works with/for the radio cassette setup, so it'll be seats out/carpet up and then also to remove the GPS antenna's as well. Once you've swapped the correct loom, you'll install everything back.

It's not worth it really. I'd say to fit the Alpine iLX-007 or the very new Alpine iLX-W650. You'd need the extension harness to connect to the back of the car and route that along on the side of the carpet to the front dash area of the car. Depending on the exact setup in your car now, have a look through this section and the E46 section for any tips, also look at the E46 fanatics forum. You could go for a chinese clone type unit instead of a high quality unit but there's an increased risk you'd get issues/problems with such a unit.

Cheers, Dennis!