Start of winter re-furb / upgrade program on my E89 35is

[B21]

After struggling with a DCT gearbox leak for several months..and finally resolved…topped up the gearbox..usual two stage fill process..and while I was there a fresh Mahle oil filter and 7 litres of Fuch’s finest ester based 5w-30..time to get on with the winter’s program…

So an Audiotec Fischer Match 10 DSP amp with a TOS adapter to MOST as my car has the 677 14 speaker system that uses a digital MOST link to send audio from the CIC head to the amp.

Complete the replacement of all speakers..most done but the two sub woofers in the rear bulkhead are bi***** to get to.

Uprated EKP LPFP controller..as its now demanding more fuel ..Z4s are not as problematic in this area as 3 series but whilst I have it stripped down then..

In the cabin there’s a remote control head for the DSP waiting to be connected.

I’m fitting an ID4 Motion digital replacement for the standard KOMBI instrument display…in my case that will be the last specific item that was on a 35is..the monogrammed tacho..

My carbon fibre trim has not fully seated against the heating controls so a clamp and some expo called for..

My Mr 12 Volt CarPlay upgrade will get a firmware upgrade and a front bumper mounted camera.

As part of the digital dash I’m fitting a rear camera whose display pops up in the new digital display..

Then a pair of microwave blind sport transmitter / receivers to be grafted inside the rear bumper…again rendered on the new digital display..

The DSP amp will take a bit of setting up..but I did a similar project on my 20i..

A few new badges, front bumper re-paint and then time with paint correction..

Very fortunate to have a lovely heated garage …

So that’s me for the winter..

View: https://youtu.be/gF-91URWtZs?si=Gz0t_BJ3rcW4mDuP

 

[Stevo7682]

That will keep you busy on the cold dark nights.
Stephen.

 

[B21]

Great advantage as many of you know with a winter project started early is the joy of stopping and sorting things out and moving on.

For those whose idea of a good audio system is a reasonable volume stereo amp and 2 or 4 speakers then ignore the rest of this post..

I bought the AudioFischer Match 10 DSP amp a while back, but other 1st world issues meant I ran out of time to fit it shortly after I bought it.

I did fix most of my tweeters, mid rnage and woofers which came from Audison, Eton and AudioFischer..

Unfortunately I then learnt the hard way that although I had the 677 aka Top-Fi aka Harmon Kardon 14 speaker system, the power to drive better quality but less efficent speakers.

First of all I thought I had burnt out some speakers, roof down, volume up the OE amp would overheat and slowly shut down, making some very unpleasant sounds, fortunately on cooling normal service, albeit poor quality resumed.

The issue with the E89 although its really an E90 3 series in disguise, BMW couldn't resist doing minor tweaks.

One of the unique tweaks is the addition of woofers to the audio set ups..most BMW have tweeters, mid range and woofers, the E89 has those plus woofers.

What this impacts (and I had this on Match 7 upgrade on my 20i with the 676 mid rnage 11 speakers system) is that the harness the manufacturer supplies (and in this case the suggested initial DSP s/w setup) are wrong...

Neither the harness nor the s/w recognise the existence of the woofers and /or try and push the subwoofer setting to the woofers.

Not a major issue for a competent installer but can catch the not so well informed out.

As this DSP/amp is generic (although AF do, thank god, supply almost a complete harness) then its an integration job to get around the vagaries of the extra 2 channels that E89s have over E90s.

Fortunately the Match 10 DSP is an extremely clever puppy..it has the ability to completely abstract all the input channels, be that 4 analogues, two digitals or an on board card handling bluetooth or USB inputs and then map them through a virtual management intereface to any of the 10 amplified channels and one line out (maybe for a meg subwoofer amp?)..

So in s/w in the DSP you can allocate which outputs physically exist and their amps to any / all /some of the inputs.

In addition for each physical channel you can tailor the low pass, high pass filters so you don't send loads of bass to your tweeters etc.

These filters can have different slopes and use different types of filter eg Butterworth, Bessel and so on.

at some point, because each speaker is a different distance to the lsiterner's ears..you can adjust the time taken to all coherently arrive at those ears..either by simpple physical measurement or by using the clever sampling tools to determine that for it self.

After re-reading everything 5 times over and checking TIS wiring diagrams, an afternoon on the PC saw the basic set up completed.

I'll now set it up in test format before doing a proper physical mount.

The one thing that's new to me is the MOST to digital interface box..the small one!

More modern cars, and the 677 amp on the E89 use a fibre optic daisy chain called MOST to move many types of higher volumes /faster data around the car.

Just cause its digital doesn't mean its directly compatable with the simple two chanel digital input to most (pun) amplifiers.

The MOST protocol, carries audio along with many other things..so what's needed is a bridge between MOST bus and the fibre optic digital input to the amp..this is a highly specialised bit of kit..AF makes this baby that can be configured for many verions of BMWs and others..Audi, LAnd Rover, Lambo, Merc, Porkster, Volvo and the VW Toureg..

So after I've stripped the back of the car out to get to the subwoofers to replace them with my uprated AF subs, we'll do an initial test..

 

[Stevo7682]

Nice write up looking forward to hear how your tests get on .

Stephen.

 

[B21]

A couple of project related posts..

It’s no mystery why hardly anyone offers sub woofer upgrades..it took about 5 hours of steadily working at it to get to the suckers..

To be fair I needed to work out how to get cabling from the cabin and forwards to the rear for the rear camera and the blind spot detectors..

Last time the trim that covers access to the subs I bent down from the top and squeezed my hands in.

This time I took the whole trim panel out.

So to do that you need to..

Remove outer trim panels on deck

Remove out roll over hoop covers

Remove top trim panel

Remove inner tool hoop covers

Remove out quarter top trim panels

Remove front top trim panel

Remove rear quarter speaker grills

Remove sill trims

Remove lower quarter trims.

Remove central speaker and tweeter

Remove upper tie rings

Remove cargo net

Remove lower bolts

Remove centre console

I’m sure I’ve missed a few things..

 

[B21]

The new DSP amp needs a 50 amp supply.

The old amp has a 40 amp fused supply.

I decided just popping in a bigger fuse and praying wasn’t a good plan.

Normally you just add a thick cable with an in-line fuse and bolt it to the battery positive terminal.

Tried to be neater..I saw that adjacent to that battery is a red box..it’s the main distribution point for ultra heavy current distribution.

I saw one ‘slot’ was free but no ‘spade’ to plug into was free.

So I bought a used one to take apart and cannibalise..unfortunately internally it’s not just one bus bar but two bus bars separated.

Not to be defeated I’ll still use the idea but attach my new amp feed to the main bus bar and route it via the blank port..

 

[B21]

Various steps forward…

New rear subs fitted to replace OE 677 subs..new Audiotec Fischer subs much lighter than the 677 subs..

Getting ready to install new digital screen..had to add pins to the new harness to support the boost sensor and radar based blind spot units.

Scra head as to how to get boost data from cabin to engine bay as well as front camera..

Turns out that the DME sits in a nice plastic box which has a duct into the cabin.

Unfortunately the harness for the boost sensor was designed for a LHD car and isn’t long enough…I’ll move the boost sensor into the cabin and extend the pipe from the charge pipe to the boost sensor.

Had to access main fuse box to tap power for boost sensor and the blind spot radars..

 

[B21]

I have an issue with the CIC aka sat nav rebooting repeatedly..usually on a damp / cold morning…

Suspicion is that the hard drive that sits in the CIC is failing.

So I’ve decided to clone in and use solid state drives..

The file / data structure of the CIC disc is proprietary…so a simple file copy won’t work.

So I’ve got a ide adapter to allow the disc to be plugged into a pc…then some specific disc image copy s/w ..

First stage is copy the image of the HD to a usb stick as it has to be a whole image on a hardware device..then that image has to be copied to the new SSD…then plugged back into its carrier and popped back into the CIC…

 

[andyglym]

Impressive stuff and great thread

 

[Z Victor 1]

Totally impressed with this, you're really going to town to get the sound you want. I rarely have the 'wireless' (it's my age) or player on in the zed as I prefer to listen to the car.

 

[B21]

Impressive stuff and great thread

I sometimes wonder if its worth posting these ditties..I'll keep going!-

 

[B21]

Totally impressed with this, you're really going to town to get the sound you want. I rarely have the 'wireless' (it's my age) or player on in the zed as I prefer to listen to the car.

I did a similar journey on my E89 20i MSport (also yellow)..that had a 676 hi-fi set up..this car had the 677 top-fi..I tend to use the car for weekend plus outings, mostly solo..a nice sound track to me is part of the pleasure..I know others just like to listen to the engine /exhaust..that's not my bag..

Obviously its a law of rapidlly diminishing returns..but its my money and time..

Hope you enjoy the thread..

 

[andyglym]

I sometimes wonder if its worth posting these ditties..I'll keep going!-

Always worth it mate, it's a good read and there for others should they wish

 

[B21]

Leaping around from one sub project to another..

The prospect of trying to install a new dishwasher distracted me enough to tackle the issue of how to mount the new Audiotec Fischer Match 10 DSP / amp and the required MOST gateway adapter to allow the two channel conventionAl optical digital in for the amp to talk to the MOST BMW data link that’s used for several purposes on E89s and if you have the 677 top-fi 14 speaker system the CIC head unit..

The old 677 amp sits on the rear boot bulkhead..it has a custom made bracket to hold it in place.

After much much mastication I decided to try an re-use it for both the new DSP and the MOST to digital input bridge..

Neat job..I’ll use the tang on the original bracket to glue to the removable bracket on the amp to fully support it..result..

I discovered that I need access to the jumper pins on the MOST bridge as part of the set up ..so access was required to both sides of the MOST bridge.

First world problems.

On a side note my attempt to use the new boost sensor for the ID4 Motion meant I needed more than 1 metre of 5 bar boost pipe..only ordered a metre..so now ordered 2 metres..

 

[OneFastMac]

Nice setup! Having recently completed work on the "top hifi" dsp system in my E85, I am definitely getting flashbacks to having to get creative in some of my solutions lol

 

[B21]

Nice setup! Having recently completed work on the "top hifi" dsp system in my E85, I am definitely getting flashbacks to having to get creative in some of my solutions lol

I find its best sometimes just to ‘ponder’ for a while..solutions tend to form then..great advantage of a slow paced winter rebuild..costing me a fortune in freight and postage..

 

[B21]

So after a minor cold before Christmas and a mother of all colds after New Year back to the grindstone.

Many things to do and still takimg more bits off than putting back together.

Today fitted the boost sensor tap to allow the IDMotion digital instrument cluster receive its boost pressue readings from its own private off board pressur sensor.

As usual with these 35d party things even more of a f€%£fest than even BMW offers.

The very expensive Forge Motorsport version of the boost sensor tap comes with a nicely machined sluminium fitting and supplied ‘with all the fittings’ for N20, N54 and N55 engines.

Takimg the old screw out..M5 standard I pondered on the new screws..some discrepancies it seemed..


Yup they had provided some fairly brutal self tapping screws..perfect for fitting to a precision machined aluminium casting…not..

Fortunately I had some suitable screws albeit with a Philips head rather than torx or Allen..

Anyway now fitted..hopefully there won’t be a boost leak from it.

The ID4motion wiring harness was designed for LHD car..there’s not enough cable to go from an instrument cluster on the RHS across to the duct on the left hand side into the electronics box in the engine bay.

So I’ve ordered a 2 metre boost pipe (20 bar) and sent that into the pax cabin via the electronics box..I’ll fix the new ID4 specific boost sensor in the paxczbin then I’ll have enough cable to reach the ID cluster.

Whilst I was there I laid the cable in for the front parking camera.

A suitable 13mm hole drilled in the electronics box and then some black sealant to render it water tight.

How to spend most a day..

 

[B21]

It’s the little things ..

I’ve always hated Jubilee clips aka Terry aka worm drive ..

They always make an installation botched.

These Murray constant tension clips are sooo much nicer..

I’ve got some T bolt versions but they are overkill even for me..

 

[B21]

The fitment of the ID4Motion digital cluster is turning into a nightmare.

The primary issue appears to be that the generic hardware ..used on many BMW models like 3/5/7 series is just too big to fit in the E89 instrument cluster space.

I couldn't make their installation instructions work..certainly without severely scratching /damaging the plastics in and around the instrument binacle.

So I've taken the whole dash out to fit it.

Even then its a f$%kfest...some of the screws that hold the dashboard together and to the rest of the car have to be jettisoned.

I'm not very happy at all.

Had I known how difficult and the compromises needed I certainly wouldn't have bought it.

But I've started so I'll continue..

The darkest hour is before the dawn..

 

[B21]

Day 2…the nightmare continues..

My buddy in Italy also with a yellow 35is is doing the exact same retrofit…he’s kept the dashboard in place..but he’s struggling as well.

Here’s my wooden mock up of the ID4Motion screen to help with initial set up.

Called it a day..by this time the dash is looking like a guyere cheese.. :headbang: