Hi All,

I have just purchased a 318ti and need to put a pumping system in there. I was looking for some ideas from an _Australian_ BMW specific community for ideas and specific model pitfalls before embark on this project.

Can anyone point me to one, as google isn't helping any for some reason.

Cheers,

Splunk

www.eurocca.net

just ask for bobby_digital

http://www.dtmpower.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=37

DTM power is the largest group of BMW nutters on the planet and that like is to their australian chapters forum .. they'll hook you up with info!

DTM should be shut down, way to many tools on there.

Bimmer Forums

Here ya go and welcome to the Bimmer community! I have a E30, BMWTurbo has an E30 (I think) and Marc drives an E36, so you're in good company! What state are you in man?

Hey,

I am in Melbourne.

Bought an e46 318ti... with the mean lookin m sports package.

I want to keep the stock HU as it is linked to the steering wheel and bluetooth. Anyone know if it is possible to add a mp3 cd changer to it?

Cheers,

Splunk

Bimmer Forums Car Audio Forum

Dunno - try the above link

I have recently got a Ti too and had alot of unwanted hassle finding reasonable stereo solutions whilst keeping the factory steering wheel controls.

Basically no company (at this stage) selling aftermarket headunits in Australia can hookup the steering controls to work. Even when the headunit companies say "steering remote control ready" they mean only for cars like Commodores/Falcons. However, if you import from a headunit overseas that has the right socket at the back (just a 3.5mm stereo one that none have here!) you can then buy a third party adaptor that will work "most" of the time.

Another option is using a PAC SWIX interface for approx $300 to just control an aftermarket headunit but these interfaces are apparently very difficult to program and won't work with some headunits (ie: Sony) and even then can often not comprehend the button presses.

As for mp3 stackers you can add an Alpine CHAS634 with an adaptor again from the US and you can have very limited control of your collection, ie: select disc 1 to 6 from headunit and then track by track on the steering wheel. Latter is very bad if you have lots of tracks...

Lastly, the option I went for, is ipodding your Ti. This can be done either via the genuine BMW kit or a Dension aftermarket kit. Basically the latter has alot more features but does cost more at approx $300. However it will let you select any playlist on your ipod (BMW version only lets you select from 5 playlists accessed from buttons 1 to 5 on the headunit and the playlists must be named BMW1, BMW2 etc...) It has a full function menu to adjust gain setting, look up any playlist (called whatever you want), charging options etc...but most importantly (for me anyway) is that the Dension includes full mp3 ID3 Tag info of song titles and artists on your Standard BMW headunit screen (obviously the BMW ipod adaptor doesn't do this). This allows you to search much quicker and easier plus also allows searching by Album or Artist too. Unfortunately you need a BMW newer than 2002 or thereabouts for the ID3 functions but I think you would be ok if you have Bluetooth anyway plus the compacts only came out in late 2001. It even scrolls the text while playing. So effectively you can control most of your ipod easily from the steering wheel with a Dension kit and hold alot more music in alot more easily accessible playlists than with a 6CD mp3 stacker. Obviously I decided to go this way as I eventually found out over time that the BMW headunit wasn't as bad as I first thought. It actually had features like Repeat and FF/RW through tracks that were found by accident! Repeat is achieved by holding down the RND (Random) button. FF/RW is also by holding down the up/down track buttons incl on the steering wheel too. Plus it has speed dependant volume control too so I decided in the end to stick with it mainly due to the hassles with hooking up anything aftermarket to the steering wheel buttons not to mention the BMW headunit is not a DIN sized faceplate and the trouble of matching amber lighting up....

You didn't happen to get a nice metallic grey one did you as there was one going for a good price down that way just recently...?

Anyway, I think I've probably rambled on a bit too much now but I hope at least some of the above info will assist you somehow.

Sorta On Topic, My Cousin Picks up His New M5 today

Yep, that was me! Dark metallic grey with the sports package, with sunroof, with auto lights and wipers. Only 1 year old and for that price... it was a steal!

No problems yet, body was fine, interior in good nic and accident free. Not sure what he was thinking selling it at that price.

I was originally going to get a new VW GTi, but this one was too good to pass up.

Thanks for your take on the BMW audio insight. I have loooked into it and I am going to get the dension (now i wish i had not sold my ipod on ebay last month )

I still need a sub woofer in there however, and not sure how to fit a small one in the boot and still retain access to the tyre tools and batt.

Anyway.... good to see that there is another ti owner on here

Yeah I kinda thought you'd have that grey one. Nice car at an even nicer price. I thought it was cheap and that's considering I was unaware it had a sunroof, which with BMWs optional extra prices makes it a steal! I think the Ti's have dropped a bit due to the new 1 series coming on to the market.

If you get the Icelink from Dension you'll end up getting it from The Car Kit Company in Sydney as they are the only Australian stockist. Unfortunately I was only able to get them to throw in free delivery and no further discount but $299 was still ok for what it does. I had some frustrating issues when installing mine mainly concerning the firmware update (as is it only comes with firmware version 2.07 but you need to update it to 2B.1 beta version for text) to allow the ID3 text to work so if you have any problems with the install I'll help you out.

You should be able to fit a sub box in the boot ok. The way the floor lid lifts with the fold in it makes it ideal to have the box right up against the back seats yet still be able to lift the front section to get to the battery and lever to access the drop down spare tyre. Unless you want a really big box you shouldn't have any issues.

Where did you put the Amp?

Amp, what amp? I only have the factory stereo in mine. I was only suggesting what could be done. Anyway, an amp could be placed in a few possible spots: Attached to one side of the fold down back seats, attached directly to a sub box or mounted behind the carpet trim on either (vertical) side of the boot like where the factory CD stacker resides.