heinzboehmer's 2012 Alpine White 128i

[heinzboehmer]

Done a decent amount of stuff to this car recently.

First off was a Carplay/Android Auto module install. I ended up going with the BimmerTech unit, even though it was significantly more expensive than other options. I thought about getting one of the eBay units, but wanted something that would just work and that I didn't need to mess with too much.

Install was super straight forward, especially with the install videos they have on Youtube, but I did do a couple things differently. Instead of running the aux cable along the center console and plugging it into the aux jack, I ran it under stuff in the center console and out the hole where the aux jack panel sits:




I ordered a female connector that will plug into the harness connector for the aux jack. Once I have that, I'll remove the 3.5mm part from the cable and crimp some pins on to go into the female connector. With that, I'll be able to have everything hidden under the center console, instead of having a cable snaking up along the outside of the center console. I'll lose aux jack functionality, but who cares.

The other thing I did differently was the placement of the module. The instructions say to place it in front of the fusebox, which I did not like at all. If installed like that, access to the fuses is completely blocked unless you remove the module, which isn't trivial. Instead, I decided to just leave the module in the glovebox. Takes up a bit of space, but it's not a big deal. Plus, this way I have super easy access to it if needed and it doesn't block access to the fuses at all.

Wiring harness ran behind trims and cleaned up:



And installed:



Next, I removed the airbag warning stickers. Isopropyl and paper towels made this pretty easy:




Much better.

After that came the dashcam install. Turns out that there's some plugs in the dome light that have constant and switched 12V, which is great! Unfortunately, the female connector seems to be BMW specific, so I was unable to find it at the regular electronics distributors, so I ended up buying a used dome light panel and scavenged the connector from it. Then I designed a quick breakout board to use to tap into the wiring harness.

Surprisingly, the connector was not soldered on, just pressed in. Honestly, this made it a bit annoying to remove, but I got it off after some messing with it:



Here's a closeup of the pins, you can see the protrusions that dig into the PCB when pressed in:



Since the connector is proprietary, I wasn't able to find a datasheet for it either. This meant making a footprint for it off of my own measurements. Before getting the PCB made, I printed it out and checked that everything fit well:




Nice, got it correctly on the first try. Now I just need to wait for the PCB to arrive and then I can finish up the harness for the dashcam.

I also bought the BMW alarm system, but when I went to install it, I realize that the car isn't prewired for it. Turns out BMW stopped doing that in 2009ish, so that means I get to make my own harness for that as well, yay. Have ordered the connectors and will work on it soon. Doesn't look too hard really.

[heinzboehmer]

Something nice about driving a car that you don't have to care too much about, but is still clean and everything works.

Yep! Totally agree. It's very refreshing.


Also, quick update. Finished up the second key. Soldered the replacement battery on and glued the two halves of the key back together. Used 3M emblem and trim adhesive (mostly because I had some on hand) and some masking tape to hold it shut. Worked great.

Worn key on the left:





Pretty happy with how it turned out. Feels much nicer to use the brand new key than the worn one. Will have to see how the adhesive used holds up though.

[K-Dawg]

Something nice about driving a car that you don't have to care too much about, but is still clean and everything works.

[heinzboehmer]

More daily things:




Yes, I know it's kinda sketch, but these were only like this for a quick run over to the tire shop. Doesn't make it less sketch, but at least the exposure time was small. Anyway, I'll feed some stainless steel cables through them next time.

Gave the wheels a quick clean before taking them to the tire shop as well, as I was ashamed of how disgusting they were. This was quick, so the wheels aren't completely clean, but the difference is still quite noticeable:




The other two were even worse. Barrels were 100% black.

I've been really enjoying driving this thing around, mostly because it makes the M3 feel like a rocket ship whenever I jump back in it

[heinzboehmer]

This is the key! The size of that car is going to help too. Nice pickup my man!

Thanks! Size was a big factor that led me to the E82. Hard to find another non-turbo, RWD, sorta practical car of this size.

[WestBankM4]

....whenever I need to park somewhere that I don't want to take the M3 to

This is the key! The size of that car is going to help too. Nice pickup my man!

[heinzboehmer]

A daily when you barely drive the M3 and don't have a commute? Lol

You mean something for the gf to run around in instead of the M haha

Lol, you're not wrong, it's not really a daily. She doesn't have a car commute either, so won't even get used for that. It's more of a weekend daily. A weekendy?

Main uses cases are going to be driving to Tahoe/Yosemite/LA/etc., running around to pick up M3 parts and using it whenever I need to park somewhere that I don't want to take the M3 to

[timmo]

A daily when you barely drive the M3 and don't have a commute? Lol

You mean something for the gf to run around in instead of the M haha

[heinzboehmer]

Funny, I literally just bought a manual E87 130i a couple weeks ago for the same purpose. I don't think you guys in the states got them but they are cool little things.


It's a bit ropey and manual swapped so it's a bit of a project but that's the fun part. I tried to open the accelerator pedal up since it still had the kickdown in it as well, and just about every clip snapped in the process

Nice! I wish the E87 was sold in the US. Would have gotten one of those instead of an E82 without thinking twice about it.

Yeah I wish the pedal was easier to open. Took me way too long to get mine apart, but managed to not break any clips. Fortunately the hella ones (the one on my car said hella on it, so should be the same) aren't crazy expensive.

[heinzboehmer]

Next (in progress) project is fixing the second key.

Was given two keys with the car, but one was completely dead. Tried driving around with it so that it would recharge and no dice. Then thought that maybe the key had gotten unpaired from the car, so tried repairing, but once again, no change.

Since the key was pretty much useless anyway, I decided to open it up. Managed to get it open with very little effort. Razor blade was all I needed, no heat or anything. Took out the metal key and started cutting/prying from a spot that isn't normally visible:



Worked my way around and got it open pretty quick:



Battery inside measured something like 0.8V, so yeah, pretty dead. Desoldered and rigged up a pair of AA batteries to test. Good news is the fob works just fine, so I bought a new battery on eBay for ~$10 and will finish fixing it whenever that arrives. It might turn out terrible and shitty looking, but figured it was worth a shot for the amount of money and time needed to do this.

[Thoglan]

Funny, I literally just bought a manual E87 130i a couple weeks ago for the same purpose. I don't think you guys in the states got them but they are cool little things.


It's a bit ropey and manual swapped so it's a bit of a project but that's the fun part. I tried to open the accelerator pedal up since it still had the kickdown in it as well, and just about every clip snapped in the process

[heinzboehmer]

Nice....I bid on a manual slicktop on BaT last week but 2 people got auction fever. Would love to pick one up as a daily/winter beater while the M3 is down for maintenance and projects.

They're fun little cars. Really liking it so far as a daily.

And yep! It's awesome to have something to drive around while I'm messing with the M3.

[DJAM3]

Nice....I bid on a manual slicktop on BaT last week but 2 people got auction fever. Would love to pick one up as a daily/winter beater while the M3 is down for maintenance and projects.

[heinzboehmer]

Look into a transmission tune. It's the only reason I kept my 335d around as long as I did because it made the 6HP somewhat tolerable.

Interesting, I hadn't even thought of that. I'll look into it and see if anyone offers tunes for this transmission. Thanks for bringing this up!

[stephen]

Look into a transmission tune. It's the only reason I kept my 335d around as long as I did because it made the 6HP somewhat tolerable.