Thread: BMW 525i with I-drive

and this is how it sits under the passenger chair:



a couple of months ago my screen was stolen so I bought a new one and made it in such a way that its easily removable. I got rid of the vents on top of the dashboard and put a piece of mdf and a bracket to hold the screen:

(the bricket is the little black thing sticking out, and slides in a rail on the back of the screen. i mount or unmount it in less than 10 seconds)

this is how it looks like with the screen placed:


I know those pics are a bit vague, but I didnt have proper camera then ops:

the latest addition is the I-drive knob from the modern BMW's... I demolished a £30 logitech joystick for it :?
before:

after:


then I "modified" the plate where the gearstick sits in:




this is what it looks like just before mounting it in the car:


the two buttons will probably be changed for more elegant ones later on

here are the inner workings:



here I made some space above the gearbox:


and this is what the result looks like:



I can move the knob in all directions to access menu items in the software.. and turn it left/right to change values, like audio volume. the knob is easily accessible except in reverse gear as on the pic.. but when reversing I dont play with the pc

the music comes from a small but fine alpine amp (2x70w) of which I have no pics. the pc is just a 800Mhz/256Mb/20Gb pentium which does the job for playing one of the 2600 MP3's I have.. and navigating me all over the place. a gps receiver sits under the rear window.
alltogether Im quite happy with it. in october I want to add mobile phone connection and a built-in camera. 8-) any other ideas, suggestions?

ah yeah.. before I forget.. this is the car:

wow what a great install dude!

Originally Posted by Enforcer

BTW what joystick did you hack (ie model number)?

also where did you get the knob?

the joystick I used is a logitech extreme 3d.. as pictured



the knob I just got it from the BMW dealer.. its the i-drive knob of the 7-series. If you want I can get you the part number. I paid £15 for it.

@shelbrain: the buttons are nicked from a black IBM keyboard.. and for now they are upside down because it fits better this way. Ill test it a bit now.. maybe ill completely change the buttons, or just paint them black. we'll see!

same goes for the german plates.. if I stay in england ill change them, for now I leave it as is so long nobody complaind. where you from, enforcer?

Originally Posted by Enforcer

Just south of you, NW London

oh, thats cool! maybe we'll meet on a car-pc gathering once. that steering wheel you got on your HP looks interesting