Deck upgrade

I decided to replace the stereo in my car. The head unit I had in there was great in 2004, and had nice (for the time) iPod integration. Fast forward a few years, though, and all the small protocol tweaks meant my stereo would not talk to my iPhone 5. Consequently, I have been listening to the radio and the new Vampire Weekend album for the last three months. 

This is the old unit. It's an Alpine, model number CDA-9833. She's been a workhorse, but it is time for retirement. 

This upgrade also gives me a chance to fix this broken control panel. This big crack on the left side of the HVAC controls prevented my stereo from staying securely in place. Lots of wiggle. 

Here's the mess of wires behind the head unit. The clock unit, dangling on the right, is easily removed and provides some access while working in this area. 

Here is Rory. His help was invaluable. It's just a coincidence that he has food in this picture. 

Trying to remove the frame that held the old unit. You can see some of the numerous forks that have a slight bend in them. Putting the frame in place means those forks will slide into the dash, then expand over the contours of the interior plastic and then lock into place. The head unit then slides into that for a secure fit. 

More wires. The entire HVAC control panel is removed now. Note the bare knobs and sliders on the bottom. 

Rory traded his food for a panel. 

Struggling to get things aligned again. 

Nice. Everything is back in place, except the clock...

Shoot. Installing the clock meant transferring a small plastic piece from the old control panel. We did not realize that until we had everything else sealed up. We ended up re-doing most of the above steps...

Powered up. 

Speaker Upgrade

While waiting for the new shift rod to get in, I decided to upgrade the speakers in my car. When I first got the car in 2005, I decided to install new speakers that didn't really fit the car. I'm finally redoing the installation now with speakers that are higher quality that also fit neatly in the car.

Voltage Regulator

My car is a 1986 BMW 325e that I got senior year of high school. It was in pretty bad shape, but my dad and I fixed it up together. We replaced a number of broken/missing exterior parts, took care of some ignition problems, replaced the differential for taller gearing, chipped the engine computer, and generally made it more awesome to drive. I also installed a huge sound system because I was 18 years old...

Anyway, recently the alternator had been failing to charge the battery, even thought the battery was only 13 weeks old. Even with the car running, the system voltage was only around 10 volts or so, as opposed to the 13.5 that was expected.  I pulled out the bible for this car, the Bentley manual (no relation to the car company). This is pretty much the greatest troubleshooting book I have ever read. Thumbing through the section on the charging system, there was a paragraph that addressed my problem perfectly. I was afraid I was going to have to replace the whole alternator, which would have been a huge pain. Instead, the book suggested I check the voltage regulator, which just screws into the back of the alternator. After disconnecting the battery to avoid channeling 80 amps through my fingers, I unscrewed the voltage regulator. The book said that the contacts should be at least 5mm long, but preferably more like 12.5mm long. Mine were approximately 2mm long. I was on to something.

I called a few auto parts stores in the area and none of them had it. I finally located the part at an O'Reilly's almost 15 miles away, on the far side of Phoenix. I asked my roommate to drive me over there, and he obliged. Unfortunately, they didn't actually have the part. If they did, they would have charged me $104.95 for it, which was much different from what I had heard on the phone. Frustrated, I returned home.

I decided the internet would be less frustrating, so I went straight to Pelican Parts, who have never done me wrong when it comes to parts for my old BMW. I found the part I wanted for 1/5 the cost of the local parts store. I ordered a few more small parts at the same time, since they didn't add to the shipping, and they all arrived two days later. Here's a comparison picture of the old regulator and the new regulator:

You can see that the two prongs sticking out of the new part (bottom) are much, much longer than the old one. I screwed the new one in, reconnected the battery, and started the car. (Luckily, I still had enough charge in the battery to get it to crank.) With trepidation, I took the multimeter to the battery. 13.5 volts! Everything was working again.

This success inspired a few other minor projects during the day, but I was mostly just glad to have my car back. I hadn't picked up groceries in a while because I was afraid my car wouldn't start if I drove it anywhere!

Anyway, if you have problems with your E30, the Bentley manual and Pelican Parts are two great resources. Pelican has a number of technical articles that are a great supplement to the Bentley book.