Custom holder for 7inch display

[jpapg]

Being one of the customers who didnt order the iDrive option (and deeply regret
it afterwards), I decided to make a mod by myself for a display solution in the
car.
I ended up by removing the top storage compartment and mounting the 7inch
Galaxy Tab. No goose necks and suction cups in the windshield. I think it looks
pretty nice ... Please reply if you want more info on the mod.

[6MT4me]

Very nice job, maybe more info on supporting the unit, connections and apps for readouts would be very helpful for the rest of us and good choice for tranmission!!!

[ZheHbKa]

nicely done, looks clean.

+1 on the apps. are you connecting to the car's ecu at all?

[x97Melbourne]

very interesting. what does this unit do? (hope thats not a dumb question?)

[jpapg]

You will need the following parts in order to do the mod:

1. BMW's portable navigation kit (part no:65902151578). This part is supposed to support the Garmin 4.2 inch unit, which is sold by BMW as a portable navigation solution, but it will fit a number of other 7 inch tablets and of course the Galaxy Tab, which is the unit I ve used. It's quite cheap and it comes along with a harness that fits the Garmin unit, which of course will be useless for our case.

2. Brodit's holder for the Galaxy tab. You can find it here and I think it will fit other 7 inch tablets as well. Be sure to check that out before ordering. The width of the BMW's support trim is approx: 19,22 cm.

Then youll have to drill 2 small holes in the back of the BMW's part. Use Brodit's holder as a guide and use a drill with the same diameter of the holes of the attaching plate of the holder. (Look at the installation instructions of the product in the link I gave above). Use two screws and fasten the attaching plate in BMW's support part. Then screw the holder in the attaching plate using the 4 provided screws. And youre ready.

Now the difficult part: You must remove the storage compartment from the dash and replace it with the navigation support part. In order to do this you must remove the following parts in this order:

• key fob insertion trim cover

• trim cover below radio unit

• radio unit

• center trim (the one that contains the ac/heater unit). That's the most difficult part to remove, cause it's large and has lots of attaching clips behind.

• vents

• upper storage compartment

Consider to buy a subscription to bmwtechinfo and download from TIS all the instructions youll need for the trim work. It's cheap, it's worth and you will be sure for what's behind the parts, the location of the clips and the screws and where to apply force when pulling in order not to damage anything. And be sure to use some kind of plastic trim removal tool. I can provide the instructions for the trim removal, in case you dont want to buy a subscription to bmwtechinfo. Feel free to ask if you ll need anything.

In order to provide power to the tab, you must use the OEM extended cable and the OEM car charger. Connect the charger to the 12V power supply right under the armrest. In order to route the cable to the dashboard you must remove

• the center console (it's easy - there no screws - be careful to pull gently)

• the storage tray along with the phone tray under the armrest

Now route the cable to the dashboard, secure it with tie-ups in the same spots where BMW harnesses are secured. Now follow the reverse order to reassemble the parts back. And that's pretty much it.

Originally Posted by ZheHbKa

nicely done, looks clean.

+1 on the apps. are you connecting to the car's ecu at all?

The tab runs Android 2.2. There's an app for Android devices called 'Torque', which connects to your ODBII port, collects all available data from the car bus and displays them using dials, numeric displays, gauges etc.. It's really high customizable, even supports skins and you can create your own screens. More info on Torque here, or search the android market. The connection to the ODB port is wireless using an OBD to bluetooth dongle. There many of them and consider reading this page to choose the right one for your budget (they're not expensive). There's lot of additional info here too. If you have an iPhone then there are other data acquisition apps that work with the same adapters. Search the app store.

Originally Posted by x97Melbourne

very interesting. what does this unit do? (hope thats not a dumb question?)

This unit is a tablet, some kind of small mobile computer with touch screen, without a keyboard. It has a 3G cell phone (so you have internet connection as long as there's phone signal), GPS receiver, WiFi, bluetooth and lots of other goodies and applications like an iPhone.

[ZheHbKa]

great write up! thanks a lot, learned a lot.
even though i did get navi screen, this looks very promising, i might get a similar but flexible setup with my Xoom

[lux good]

You don't seem to have dual climate control!! Is this a European thing???

[juhap]

Originally Posted by lux good

You don't seem to have dual climate control!! Is this a European thing???

I think it comes with automatic air con, and not all countries have automatic air con as a standard equipment.

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Locks sharp nice mod ...

what do the 4 gauges tell you? any feedback from the engine?

[Z4Andy]

Great mod.

Can the tabs camera see the road from that position?

Would be great using daily roads or some other road/driving cam software.

[jpapg]

Originally Posted by Rolf-Dieter

Locks sharp nice mod ...

what do the 4 gauges tell you? any feedback from the engine?

You can customize the display and select the info you want to show.
The software can display whatever data the car bus is providing. These include: throttle position, voltage, ignition timing, mass air flow, temperatures, calculated load, oxygen sensor voltages, turbo pressure and many more.

[jpapg]

Originally Posted by Z4Andy

Great mod.

Can the tabs camera see the road from that position?

Would be great using daily roads or some other road/driving cam software.

Sure it can ... Ive already tried it.

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by jpapg

You can customize the display and select the info you want to show.
The software can display whatever data the car bus is providing. These include: throttle position, voltage, ignition timing, mass air flow, temperatures, calculated load, oxygen sensor voltages, turbo pressure and many more.

Interesting Thanks

[Z4Andy]

Originally Posted by jpapg

Sure it can ... Ive already tried it.

I don't suppose you have any video clips?

I am really thinking about doing this mod of yours. It's rather cool