Custom rear view mirror project for my HPF M3

[RaceMX-M3]

I have never been crazy about the mouse ear gauges that came with my HPF kit and have been thinking about alternate setup/locations and there's just not a plug and play setup I've seen that I like. Here's my plan - I want to integrate my a/f and boost displays into my rear view mirror. I've seen it done with radar detectors, I'm just not sure if this will work with my oem mirror. Please let me know if anyone is familiar with this mod. Here's a vid ...

qJa1g3bBSXw

[RaceMX-M3]

here's another cool mirror

tyluADQ1rac

[RaceMX-M3]

2iIx11F-cco

[RaceMX-M3]

U7AGq5ymojI

[snowball]

Scott, I have seen this done with the V1 radar detector - it mainly depends on the room you need in the back of the mirror to mount the display electronics. Making it view through the mirror is quite simple. A mirror is glass with silver on one side of it. You need only to remove the silver where you want the display to show through.

When I saw it done with the V1 - only the display circuit board was mounted in the mirror housing and the wires to drive it were routed to the rest of the electronics. The back of the glass was etched with the design of the arrows. The person I saw do it removed the glass, covered the silver side with masking tape, cut the designs of the arrows where they needed to be, out with an x-acto knife, then used a small model car version sand blaster on the masked side just removing the silver where the masking tape was removed. He did it with a miniature sand blaster so that the glass was also slightly frosted and not perfectly clear. He said he tried removing the silver coating with an x-acto knife very carefully and it stayed clear, but he wanted the frosted effect. ;)

[jragan]

Or just time travel a couple years into the future :) : http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/20/transparent-oled-rearview-mirror-both-dazzles-and-distracts/

[RaceMX-M3]

Alright I made some progress on this today with some help from a few club members. I'm going to relocate the 7 segment display digits and integrate into the RVM. This is very tedious as the 7SDD's are tiny and each of the 3 has 10 pins that must be wired. There must be some kind of plug and play connector or board for this but I'm having a hard time finding it. I went to Alltex today and Radio Shack and neither has anything that will help me connect 30 tiny wires to the digits and run back to the gauge board. Please chime in if you know where I can find the parts.

[Qship5]

Finding the parts locally might be a challenge. You might try Fry's. If you can't get it locally you can try someone like www.mouser.com (http://www.mouser.com)

[snowball]

Alright I made some progress on this today with some help from a few club members. I'm going to relocate the 7 segment display digits and integrate into the RVM. This is very tedious as the 7SDD's are tiny and each of the 3 has 10 pins that must be wired. There must be some kind of plug and play connector or board for this but I'm having a hard time finding it. I went to Alltex today and Radio Shack and neither has anything that will help me connect 30 tiny wires to the digits and run back to the gauge board. Please chime in if you know where I can find the parts.

Is there a part number and manufacturer on the 7 segment display modules :questionmark:

[RaceMX-M3]

I spent the day removing the 7 segment displays and individually soldering extension wires between all of the pins. A lot of soldering. It won't work this way.. probably because the power driving the displays isn't setup to make the 6 inch commute across the wires I added. It would power on initially and then just shut off. I suppose I can contact AEM and see if they are willing to help me. :confused:

[Fubar]

replace them white LEDs and run a fiber optic cable instead.

[RaceMX-M3]

replace them white LEDs and run a fiber optic cable instead.

you got a DIY for that? :)

[RaceMX-M3]

I think I'm going to just insert the gauges into my mirror as is and not worry about relocating the 7SD's. I was able to build a harness to bridge the gap between the two circuit boards that works. :) Now I just need to figure out how to take the mirror apart. :confused:

[RaceMX-M3]

I took my mirror apart tonight.. it's going to be a very tight fit to get both gauges inside the mirror but I think they will barely fit. I'm going to have desolder the plugs on the circuit boards and resolder in wires to make it fit.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/M3bmwdrvr/photo4.jpg

[RaceMX-M3]

Also thanks to darren_does_dallas for telling me why one of my gauges was shorted and not working properly. fixed. :)

[Airbag79]

I spent the day removing the 7 segment displays and individually soldering extension wires between all of the pins. A lot of soldering. It won't work this way.. probably because the power driving the displays isn't setup to make the 6 inch commute across the wires I added. It would power on initially and then just shut off. I suppose I can contact AEM and see if they are willing to help me. :confused:

Scott, the additional 6" of wire won't effect the drivers fan-out capability. Grab a handheld DMM, and make sure there are no intermittent discontinuities in your wires.

[RaceMX-M3]

I ordered this today.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q123/benbimmer/DSC00853.jpg

[Qship5]

Nice project there Scott! If you don't have a good DMM, let me know. I'll bring my Fluke on Saturday.

[RaceMX-M3]

Nice project there Scott! If you don't have a good DMM, let me know. I'll bring my Fluke on Saturday.

what's a DMM? :dontknow:

[Qship5]

Digital Multi Meter

[Fubar]

Are you going to add new reflective material? Go get some mirror tent for window glass.

[snowball]

Are you going to add new reflective material? Go get some mirror tent for window glass.

:questionmark: He should only be removing the part of the mirror reflector that he wants to remove (where the digits need to be seen) - not all of it. ;)

[RaceMX-M3]

yep only removing the silver where the leds are located. and Mike thanks I have a multi meter.

[Fubar]

Yes but if he adds a "see thru" reflective material then the mirror will look stock unless the LEDs are lit.

Just a thought.

[RaceMX-M3]

Yes but if he adds a "see thru" reflective material then the mirror will look stock unless the LEDs are lit.

Just a thought.

Is there a special coating made for doing mirrors this way? That would actually be very cool. I can add an on/off switch so the gauges only show when I need them, which is only when I run the car hard. :thumbsup2:

[RaceMX-M3]

There are window films designed for this, I may go this route. Just want to make sure the mirror still looks like a normal mirror. I officially removed the gauges tonight from the steering column and put my oem piece back on. I had to mod it slightly as I have to retain the key switch that turns race fuel mode on/off and there's an LED that illuminates when the switch is on to alert you that race fuel must be in the tank. HPF's ecu manages the engine and vanos so the SES light is permanently illuminated. The former gauge pods hid the SES light but now it sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm going to take the instrument cluster out and remove the light to the SES so I don't have to look at it.

[RaceMX-M3]

I pulled the instrument cluster out this morning and blocked the LED that lights the SES light. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. :) Glad to be rid of the Mickey Mouse ears. ftw.

[Fubar]

.... that turns race fuel mode on/off and there's an LED that illuminates when the switch is on to alert you that race fuel must be in the tank.

Silly little BMWs, needs 'special' gas to go fast... it'll be sucking on bottle the next time I see it.

[RaceMX-M3]

I'm getting close to finishing this. I'm going to try *just* removing the part of the mirror that exposes the led's and see how it looks. I'm afraid a mirror film coating will not fully replicate the mirror but we'll see. Unfortunately in the process of removing the backing/silvering I put a couple of minor scratches in the glass. :( B-rad works for Glass Doctor and said he may be able to get the scratches out. If not I may end up sand etching the glass like snowball's friend did to hide the scratches.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/M3bmwdrvr/IMG_0164.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/M3bmwdrvr/IMG_0165.jpg

[mbowdo20]

That is going to look so sick. Great work! *Bows to BMW sensei*

[Fubar]

Damn Scott, that is pretty clean for a first attempt. Congrats on some nice work.

[RaceMX-M3]

Damn Scott, that is pretty clean for a first attempt. Congrats on some nice work.

Thanks this has been a big project. If I can get rid of the scratches this is going look pretty decent.

[mpulse]

Don't worry I will help you out with that.... or at least attempt to!!

B-rad

[Qship5]

Scott,

That is very good for a first attempt at this kind of thing!:thumbsup2:

[Mr. Hollywood]

You'll be staring at your rearview mirror all the time....but Fubar will be noticably in front. :dontknow:

[RaceMX-M3]

You'll be staring at your rearview mirror all the time....but Fubar will be noticably in front. :dontknow:

You're probably right. ;)

[RaceMX-M3]

Scott, I have seen this done with the V1 radar detector - it mainly depends on the room you need in the back of the mirror to mount the display electronics. Making it view through the mirror is quite simple. A mirror is glass with silver on one side of it. You need only to remove the silver where you want the display to show through.

When I saw it done with the V1 - only the display circuit board was mounted in the mirror housing and the wires to drive it were routed to the rest of the electronics. The back of the glass was etched with the design of the arrows. The person I saw do it removed the glass, covered the silver side with masking tape, cut the designs of the arrows where they needed to be, out with an x-acto knife, then used a small model car version sand blaster on the masked side just removing the silver where the masking tape was removed. He did it with a miniature sand blaster so that the glass was also slightly frosted and not perfectly clear. He said he tried removing the silver coating with an x-acto knife very carefully and it stayed clear, but he wanted the frosted effect. ;)

Any pics of the frosted mirror?

[snowball]

Any pics of the frosted mirror?

Just before he turns on the V1 you can see the frosted glass, Video:
qJa1g3bBSXw

Here is a How to: How to frost/etch glass with a sandblaster (http://www.ehow.com/how_2240360_etch-glass-sandblasting.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art)

Here is a picture different design of course:
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu83/snowball_orig/rearviewfrosted.jpg

This technique was used both to frost the glass and remove the silver backing where it was needed for the backlit LEDs to shine through..

[Airbag79]

That looks sick! So it looks like there was sufficient real estate on the rearview after all.

Will it be completed by this Saturdays meet?

[RaceMX-M3]

That looks sick! So it looks like there was sufficient real estate on the rearview after all.

Will it be completed by this Saturdays meet?

It will likely be completed by Saturday although I'm not sure I will be satisfied with the final appearance. I scratched the glass taking the silvering off and if I can't fix it I'm going to have to buy another mirror and start over. At least now I know how to do it. :bandit:

[RaceMX-M3]

I picked up a new mirror from "BMW" today (for only $800 - and that was with a deep discount). I get the mirror home and take it apart only to discover BMW has changed the way they manufacture these. My M3 has an electrochromatic (auto dimming) rvm with integrated BMW Assist and Road side assistance. Yip Yip. An auto dim mirror uses two pieces of glass with some kind of solution in between. My mirror had the silvering applied to the back of the rear-most piece of glass. BMW now inserts the silvering in-between the front and rear glass.. making it impossible to carve out the mirror for my gauges. :confused:

I take my $800 mirror back to the dealer and they offer to grab a "similar" mirror that goes on an E46 330 to see if it will work. The "similar" mirror is priced at $400 - cool. :beer:

What do you know.. although the part numbers are different the 330 mirror is IDENTICAL to the M3 mirror - right down to the silver between the glass. huh? :hmmmm2:

I'm a pretty big BMW fan but this is total bollocks. Doubling the cost of a part just because it is for an M car. :thumpdown:

Brad (Mpulse) at Glass Doctor is going to do his majic and remove the scratches from my mirror, now that all of the silvering has been removed. I'm going to look into having the glass re-silvered so I can start over.

If anyone knows where I can get this done please let me know.

I'm also looking on ebay and checking salvage yards to find another mirror.

I've looked into applying mirror window film and it just doesn't look right. :(

[Qship5]

This DIY looks to be getting more expensive than planned.

[Qship5]

I'm going to look into having the glass re-silvered so I can start over.

If anyone knows where I can get this done please let me know.

I'm also looking on ebay and checking salvage yards to find another mirror.

I've looked into applying mirror window film and it just doesn't look right. :(

Scott, a quick web search turned up this place. http://www.mirrorresilvering.com/ The pricing seems reasonable.

[RaceMX-M3]

This DIY looks to be getting more expensive than planned.

Is this always the way it goes? :dontknow:

[Qship5]

Is this always the way it goes? :dontknow:

How true!

[RaceMX-M3]

Scott, a quick web search turned up this place. http://www.mirrorresilvering.com/ The pricing seems reasonable.

looks good. Only $40. Before I ship anyone know of a local silvering service?

[Qship5]

I looked for something local and couldn't find anything in Dallas. Amarillo?

[Fubar]

There is a mirror glass place down here by my office.

[snowball]

Scott, did you scratch the silver where you didn't want to? I thought you scratched the glass where you removed the silver :questionmark:

[mpulse]

Scott scratched the glass but in order for me to remove the scratch the silver backing needed to be removed. Once the scratch is gone we can resilver the mirror. The challange is the resilvering process is very toxic so not a lot of people do it.

B-rad

[snowball]

Scott scratched the glass but in order for me to remove the scratch the silver backing needed to be removed. Once the scratch is gone we can resilver the mirror. The challange is the resilvering process is very toxic so not a lot of people do it.

B-rad

But. I thought it was glass in an area where silver was already removed. :questionmark:

Or are you saying to fix any glass scratch you have to remove all the silver, put it back on and he has to take the silver in the areas of his LEDS off again? Redundant!:questionmark:

[mpulse]

But. I thought it was glass in an area where silver was already removed. :questionmark:

Or are you saying to fix any glass scratch you have to remove all the silver, put it back on and he has to take the silver in the areas of his LEDS off again? Redundant!:questionmark:

Scott scratched the back of the glass where he had removed the silver. My smallest polishing wheel is a 1" diameter wheel(Just think of an orbital buffer on steroids)..... and that’s a lot bigger than the area of sliver backing that Scott removed. Since the silver backing layer is on top of the glass we have to remove that in order to get level with the surface of the glass and polish the scratch out. Once I get the scratch out then the mirror will have to be re-silvered and Scott will have to use his pattern to remove the silver backing for the LED’s again. I am basically getting his mirror back to the point just before he messed up! :dontknow:

B-rad

[snowball]

I'm a pretty big BMW fan but this is total bollocks. Doubling the cost of a part just because it is for an M car. :thumpdown:

Scott,
Mirrors are the same except for: The BMW M3 mirror has a complete radio/cell phone for the BMW Assist in it, the BMW 330 mirror does not have BMW Assist stuff in it. ;)

Scott scratched the back of the glass where he had removed the silver. My smallest polishing wheel is a 1" diameter wheel(Just think of an orbital buffer on steroids)..... and that’s a lot bigger than the area of sliver backing that Scott removed. Since the silver backing layer is on top of the glass we have to remove that in order to get level with the surface of the glass and polish the scratch out. Once I get the scratch out then the mirror will have to be re-silvered and Scott will have to use his pattern to remove the silver backing for the LED’s again. I am basically getting his mirror back to the point just before he messed up! :dontknow:

B-rad


B-rad I understand completely.

[RaceMX-M3]

Scott,
Mirrors are the same except for: The BMW M3 mirror has a complete radio/cell phone for the BMW Assist in it, the BMW 330 mirror does not have BMW Assist stuff in it. ;)

B-rad I understand completely.

Gerald,

The two mirrors are identical down to the last detail and it does have BMW Assist, same as mine. I even took the 330 mirror apart and everything is the same inside and out. :dontknow: I found one on ebay this morning and bought it for $100. Unfortunately the ****head that posted it for sale is out of town until June and can't ship it until then. June! wtf.

I found a place to resilver my mirror, same place I got the Mirror Silvering Remover from - they're in Illinois and I talked to the guy today. I'll ship it there after B-rad does his majic.

[snowball]

Gerald,

The two mirrors are identical down to the last detail and it does have BMW Assist, same as mine. I even took the 330 mirror apart and everything is the same inside and out. :dontknow: I found one on ebay this morning and bought it for $100. Unfortunately the ****head that posted it for sale is out of town until June and can't ship it until then. June! wtf.

I found a place to resilver my mirror, same place I got the Mirror Silvering Remover from - they're in Illinois and I talked to the guy today. I'll ship it there after B-rad does his majic.

I looked both up on ETK (BMW's electronics part catalog) and the 330 mirror is not suppose to have BMW assist. Maybe you were given the wrong mirror when you got the 330 mirror or wrong part was packed in box :questionmark:

[RaceMX-M3]

I looked both up on ETK (BMW's electronics part catalog) and the 330 mirror is not suppose to have BMW assist. Maybe you were given the wrong mirror when you got the 330 mirror or wrong part was packed in box :questionmark:

Even if there is a difference (which I don't think there is) BMW Assist doubles the price of the mirror?

[snowball]

Even if there is a difference (which I don't think there is) BMW Assist doubles the price of the mirror?

Yep, it was not so simple to directly link the communication system and GPS in 2000. They may be fully integrated today, but it wasn't then. ;)

[Airbag79]

Tischer has it listed for $4 something

[snowball]

Tischer has it listed for $4 something

OK, what is the link:questionmark:

I hope you know Classic will normally meet Tischer's prices. ;)

Or you can get a discount for being a BMW CCA member.

[RaceMX-M3]

There's a ton of BMW auto dimming mirrors on ebay for under $100 so I'm def not buying a new one. There's a guy in Richardson that has one and I'm planning to go pick it up tonight. All of the electrochromatic mirrors are basically the same, except some have a compass and the optical sensor is embedded in the mirror instead the casing. All I need is the actual mirror (glass) - I can stick it in my case and I should be fine. Here's a couple of pics of my custom wiring harness that will route into the headliner.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/M3bmwdrvr/IMG_0170.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/M3bmwdrvr/IMG_0171.jpg

[snowball]

Scott, that is beautiful work! :thumbsup2:

[Fubar]

Sweet, you are one step closer to becoming McGuiver.

[RaceMX-M3]

Sweet, you are one step closer to becoming McGuiver.

Yes and I've learned how to disable competing cars. :)

[TiptronicSoldier]

Sweet, you are one step closer to becoming McGuiver.


+1 knowing that Scott has done all of this using only a coke can, a piece of gum off of his shoe, and a plunger.

Very nice work, I think it is going to look very good once it is done. You should just start pumping these out of your garage and selling them to other M3 fanatics.:beer:

[snowball]

+1 knowing that Scott has done all of this using only a coke can, a piece of gum off of his shoe, and a plunger.

Very nice work, I think it is going to look very good once it is done. You should just start pumping these out of your garage and selling them to other M3 fanatics.:beer:

Even though this is really cool :cool: , I think doing it once will keep him from wanting to ever do it again! Not an easy thing to mass produce in a garage. :(

[Jetmech]

Great work Scott. I remember seeing this done a while back by some e60.net guys. Here is what they did. I think the guy was going to sell the mod. Again, nice work dude :thumbsup2:

[mrfva]

Scott, great work! I can't wait to see the finished product.

[RaceMX-M3]

I picked up a mirror in Richardson this morning and was hoping to have this finished tonight. The mirror came out of a 3 series and unfortunately the glass is about 4 mm too big to fit into my casing. :(

[Airbag79]

I picked up a mirror in Richardson this morning and was hoping to have this finished tonight. The mirror came out of a 3 series and unfortunately the glass is about 4 mm too big to fit into my casing. :(

That sucks, sorry to hear...Maybe a custom spacer ?

[snowball]

That sucks, sorry to hear...Maybe a custom spacer ?

Custom spacer? Maybe if the glass was too small. Or do you have a different point, cause I confuse easily. :D

[Qship5]

Can B-rad trim it to size?

[Fubar]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E46-M3-OVAL-CENTER-REAR-VIEW-MIRROR-OEM_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33699QQihZ019QQitem Z290317674204QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW#ht_500wt_1375

?

[Airbag79]

Custom spacer? Maybe if the glass was too small. Or do you have a different point, cause I confuse easily. :D

My bad I read it wrong, I thought it was 4mm too deep...I work nights.

[snowball]

Can B-rad trim it to size?

It is multi-layer glass, auto-dimming mirror sealed at glass edge. :burnout:

[mpulse]

Scott came by my shop today and I think we found the solution. Scott likes to keep his car unique so we used some Viracon (VS 1-08) Solarscreen Stainless Steel Reflective Monolithic Glass for his reaview mirror. Say that 10 times fast!! Anyways, it should be good for 3-4HP. :D

It's safe to say that Scott will be the only one in the world with a rearview mirror that is made out of the same glass they used on the MGM Grand in Vegas.

Hopefully scott gets it to fit right and he should be set to go!!

B-rad

[RaceMX-M3]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E46-M3-OVAL-CENTER-REAR-VIEW-MIRROR-OEM_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33699QQihZ019QQitem Z290317674204QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW#ht_500wt_1375

?

Thanks Mark, but my mirror is not the oval version and I'm afraid there's not enough room for gauges.

It is multi-layer glass, auto-dimming mirror sealed at glass edge. :burnout:

I shaved about 1mm off of each side of the mirror without ruining it, and shaved a bit out of the inside of the case - enough to shoe horn the mirror in. I started scraping the silver off with an exacto knife and it just isn't 100%. I went to Glass Doctor today and one of Brad's techs cut a piece of special one way glass for me that just may work. I'm going to lose auto dimming but the gauges will only be visible when turned on - similar to what Mark recommended a couple of pages back. I'll post some new pics after I get this put together.

[snowball]

Thanks Mark, but my mirror is not the oval version and I'm afraid there's not enough room for gauges.

I shaved about 1mm off of each side of the mirror without ruining it, and shaved a bit out of the inside of the case - enough to shoe horn the mirror in. I started scraping the silver off with an exacto knife and it just isn't 100%. I went to Glass Doctor today and one of Brad's techs cut a piece of special one way glass for me that just may work. I'm going to lose auto dimming but the gauges will only be visible when turned on - similar to what Mark recommended a couple of pages back. I'll post some new pics after I get this put together.

Sounds good - ! :thumbsup2: Are you tweaking the CFFG and the Turbonator mods, also?

[RaceMX-M3]

Sounds good - ! :thumbsup2: Are you tweaking the CFFG and the Turbonator mods, also?

Nah they're fine as is. :) I am *almost* finished with this project. It is looking like the mirror B-rad made for me is going to work out and will look awesome. :beer: I ran all of the wiring up the A pillar and across the headliner tonight (a colossal pita). All that remains is bonding the gauges to the back of the mirror, snapping the cover back on and reinstalling the mirror in my car.

[Qship5]

Scott, after this mod, you should be a shoe in for the fabricator of the year award within the club!

[RaceMX-M3]

Well I finished my mirror today, sort of. The gauges have optical resistors that adjust the brightness of the leds depending on whether it's day or night. The optical sensors are now buried behind the mirror so the gauges think it's dark outside all the time - the leds get turned down to the lowest setting, which is fine at night but during daylight it's really hard to see the display. My mirror has two holes already for the optical sensors attached to the auto dimming function (which I no longer have). I can try to relocate the sensors on the gauges or try to disable them so that I have the leds lit up bright all the time. Just have to see how bright that will be at night.

[Jetmech]

Scott, if you are going to disable the optic sensor, you could add an inline resistor to set the brightness at an acceptable brightness. Use a variable resistor to determine the proper OHM resistance needed and hard wire one in.
Wonder if the instrument dimming circuit could some how be used?
A typical 4 LED - 12volt DC - setup would use a nominal 270 ohm resistor for full bright effect.
Good luck!

[RaceMX-M3]

Scott, if you are going to disable the optic sensor, you could add an inline resistor to set the brightness at an acceptable brightness. Use a variable resistor to determine the proper OHM resistance needed and hard wire one in.
Wonder if the instrument dimming circuit could some how be used?
A typical 4 LED - 12volt DC - setup would use a nominal 270 ohm resistor for full bright effect.
Good luck!

I'm going to attempt to point the sensors to the existing peep holes and hope this works. If not I will have to manually set the brightness to a compromise level that works night/day. You sound like you know a lot more about this than I do. :hmmmm2:

[RaceMX-M3]

WLtDYLJyyRM

[snowball]

Congrats! Awesome!

:thumbsup2:

[mbowdo20]

That turned out sooo sick, can't wait to see it in person.

[mpulse]

Awesome!!! That looks great!!!

B-rad

[RaceMX-M3]

LED - optical resistor issue FIXED!!! :bandit:

I pulled the OR's off the gauges and routed them to the hole in the back of the mirror and soldered wires from the OR back to each gauge's circuit board. Works perfect. I scratched the mirror B-rad made for me so (hopefully) the ONLY thing left is picking up a new mirror from Glass Doctor, not scratching it while I put it back together and I think I'm done. :)

[RaceMX-M3]

Finally finished this stupid ****ing mirror. Electronic gremlins kept me up all night just now going to bed. 4:24 am. Somebody call and wake me up at 10 am.

[RaceMX-M3]

I noticed the main circuit boards get fairly hot while running, I assume this is normal? I have both boards stuffed inside my headliner (barely fit) - no air flow - is this ok?

btw, thanks to B-rad and Glass Doctor for hooking me up with another new mirror. :)

[mpulse]

Thanks Scott! I was happy to help!! I think your mirror turned out great!!

B-rad

[RaceMX-M3]

I have discovered that the wiring harness that connects the main circuit board to the display board can actually make the trip from the rear view mirror - across the headliner, down the A pillar and under my dash with no problem. I spent the last couple of hours fabricating the new wiring harnesses. I'm going to pull the circuit boards out of the headliner and put them on the underside of my dash where's there's plenty of room and no concerns for overheating. Also the likelyhood of shorts or wires getting accidentally disconnected will be virtually eliminated.

Now that most of the R&D is finished I think I will offer this up as a kit. :)

[RaceMX-M3]

How much do ya'll think I can charge for this mod?

[TiptronicSoldier]

Your car is going to turn into Knight Rider at this rate, pretty freaking cool. As far as charging for a kit, I don't think many people could even install it!

[RaceMX-M3]

Your car is going to turn into Knight Rider at this rate, pretty freaking cool. As far as charging for a kit, I don't think many people could even install it!

Yeah it will be cake to install. The hard part is the R&D, which is pretty much completed. :thumbsup2:

I posted this in some BMW forced induction forums and already have an order for one for $500. I think that's a fair price.. same as what the people charge for the V1 integration. :)

[Qship5]

Yeah it will be cake to install. The hard part is the R&D, which is pretty much completed. :thumbsup2:

I posted this in some BMW forced induction forums and already have an order for one for $500. I think that's a fair price.. same as what the people charge for the V1 integration. :)

Scott's side business for mod money!!! I like it.:thumbsup2:

[RaceMX-M3]

Scott's side business for mod money!!! I like it.:thumbsup2:

HPF is going to consider replacing their current pod setup in favor of this. We'll see.. I'm going to make a mirror and send it to them to check out.

[snowball]

HPF is going to consider replacing their current pod setup in favor of this. We'll see.. I'm going to make a mirror and send it to them to check out.

Don't send it to them for free! Make'm at least sign a Non-Compete, Non-Circumvent NDA first! :deal:

[RaceMX-M3]

Don't send it to them for free! Make'm at least sign a Non-Compete, Non-Circumvent NDA first! :deal:

They aren't going to steal my innovation. I already talked Chris (HPF owner) today and they will compensate me if they want to use this. :)

[snowball]

They aren't going to steal my innovation. I already talked Chris (HPF owner) today and they will compensate me if they want to use this. :)

Famous last words.....;)

[RaceMX-M3]

Famous last words.....;)

I'm in the process getting this setup with HPF. They are going to offer the mirror as an optional upgrade to their kits or for sale to current HPF owners. I'm going to install the gauges in the mirrors and I'm going to have them build the wiring harness that runs from the mirror to the underside of the dash. They are also going to take care of relocating the the knock siren, race fuel switch and light - and market the mirror. I should sell a lot more of these doing it this way plus I don't want the liability associated with rearranging/rewiring the knock siren, etc..

[RaceMX-M3]

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg86/M3bmwdrvr/BMW/IMG_0176.jpg

[mbowdo20]

$4.5k sitting on your counter?

[RaceMX-M3]

$4.5k sitting on your counter?

Yep if I can sell them. I have 5 more that aren't in the picture. :)

[mbowdo20]

I would love one, but I have a passport... qq