Has anyone ever tried fitting a kompass mirror from an new model BMW into the E36?
Specifically in a car with ab-werk DWA (option 302).

The mirror is a straight fit and everything works, it's just the remote control (FB) that is the question.

Maybe the mirrors use infrared instead of radio signal, maybe the frequency if different?

Someone must have tried this?

Zitat von Free-Rider

folkert, u are one of the craziest freaks ever.
(btw, it´s me... MartinSHL from the bmw-syndikat )

And no, i´ve never heard of anyone who tried this. so good luck for u!

Hey Martin,

How are you? How this it feel without the E36 cabbie? Did you get another BMW?

Be sure you check out my other topic, if you haven't seen it. I can now also fully control my carphone with the MFL.

Zitat von SuMo Master

zeig ma nen link zu seiner story ich bin dort net angemeldet^^

Just click on the picture in my signature.

(Klicke Sie auf meinem foto im signature) Is that understandable?

Yes the compass is 90% useless, but that is not the point. I just love BWM amber/dot matrix displays and it just looks cool.

Not everything needs to have a function

Now lets see if can retrofit SES

Zitat von Banane

ey dieser typ ist ja nicht mehr normal.. der hat das verwirklicht wovon ich träume einfach nur geil... ich red jetzt von seiner fotostory im syndikat, was der da alles nachgerüstet hat in dem cabrio....

einfach nur hammer!!

i dont know too, what do you want with a compass in a CAR ? do you want fly?

Haha, yes I am crazy for sure.

And thank you for the compliments.

Zitat von compact323ti

i really like ur cab!

the only thing i´d change, is that i´d lower it a bit.
not talkin bout slammin it, but a bit lower would give the wonderfull rims a whole better effect! with so much wheel gap they look kind of wasted even though they are so pretty.
just my two cents, the rest of the car is as perfect as it can be!!!

Don't worry, you are very right.

The pics of the BBS RS are old, with stock M suspension. That was in 2009. In 2009 I bought a set of Bilstein PSS9 coilovers.

Mainly because when I drove the Nordschleife, by suspension bottomed out in every corner. (I'll be back at the Nordschleife again from August 30 to September 16 this summer).

It drove so much better with the Bilsteins and looked much better.

At first it was really slammed, about 70mm in the front. Which was nice on the track, but not in the street. It is my daily driver in the end.

This was my "Nordschleife setup".

Right now it's lowered a bit less. But perfect compromise between looks and drivablity on the street.

Here's how it looks now:

(It may look too low in the back, but that because the rear wheel arch is so much lower on the E36 than the front, and the angle of the picture But if you look carefully you can see that it does stand nose-down).

It's more clear here:

I haven't fit my RS's yet (never been on with the PSS9's) as they have a leak again. I really hate 3-piece wheels. I think I have resealed all wheels like 2 times. Next time I'll just buy some Styling 5's. Much cheaper and never have to seal all the pieces.
Oh well...

Just got back from 12 days of German Eifel Ferien and had a great time. Went to the Nordschleife almost everyday and upped my number of laps done.

Anyways, before I went over there, I finished the Kompass innen spiegel project I had been working on. It's mostly plug&play, but if you like me, have the factory alarm option (#302) you have a problem because the remote receiver is inside the factory mirror and the kompass mirror doesn't have one inside as far as I know or it simply doesn't work in the E36.

So I had to open up the old mirror, take out the remote module and fitted it somewhere under the dash.

Open up the factory mirror. This is hard. The bezel hardly pulls off. I somehow managed to get it off and don't break any of the tabs.

Things is, I didn't dare trying it on the expensive and much harder to find compass mirror. The best solution would be to open up the compass mirror, switch out the new for the old remote module (if they are the same size, which I don't know either), close it up and hook everything up. Maybe I'll try that in the future. Saves lots of work.

Mirror opened, glass removed. This what you see is the remote control unit. The blue wire is the antenna.

Back of auto-dimm glass. Lots of electronics on this!

remote control unit removed.

To remove the wiring you have to take out all the pins on the black connector to pull the wires through. Make sure you write down which color pin is in what number position (or as I like to do, make digital pics of it).

The remote module fitted in a spare comb-connectors holder, switched upside down. A couple of small screws + bolts to raise it a little but, to protect all the electronics on the other side of the PCB.

And then fitted in the bowels of the dash. As I have lots of modules on mine, since I have nearly every factory option (and then some) I only had some space left under and right of the right glovebox vent tube.

And as the new style mirrors have different plastic covers, they also use a different style of grommet. So again, out with all the pins, feed them through the new grommet and put them back in the connector.

Now if you don't have a factory alarm (dealer installed/dealer approved) you already have the remote control in another location and you can just plug & play the mirror in. Oh well!

- I also ran 2 extra wires from the factory alarm led to the mirror for that über cool alarm led at the bottom of the mirror. That way you can see from far away that the car is armed (and so do others) so you don't have to get next to the car and look inside.
Gives me an extra space for a switch in front of the gearstick, although I don't have any options left to fit that would use a switch in that location.
Maybe I'll hook up both leds.

And last but not least. After fitting the remote control unit so low, I noticed the RC reception was much less than before. So I took a long strand of wire and lengthened the original antenna and routed it back up alongside the A-pillar back the the other mirror (not hooked up of course). Reception is now back as it was, maybe even better.

Couple of pics of the finished look (taken at the Lidl parking place in Kelberg).

Besides the mirror itself, this base is covered by two big plastic trimpieces, unlike the factory mirror.
I like the thick look that is creates, but what is best, is that, as you can see, the covers go all the way against the windshield, completely hiding the (hexagonal) mounting point. The stock metal base that has 2 small covers on the base itself, doesn't hide it.

The thicker rubber grommet, almost completely compressed. I was a little worried this might not fitted correctly as the position is slightly offset, but it all went in pretty well, although incredibly fiddly to do.

Side view of the base's trimpiece

On the factory (auto dimm) mirror, the light sensitive sensor was exposed behind a simple hole in the back of the mirror. On this later style mirror, there is a nice piece of transparent plastic that covers it.

All new look. Really liking this myself.

Why? Goes well with all the other switches, matrix displays and amber lights; I want them all.