E46 Business CD headunit?

[Jand3rson]

Will the Business CD headunit from a 2000 328ci work in an E30? I can get one super cheap.

[StereoInstaller1]

Work? Yes.

Fit? no.

[Dirtboy]

^what he said.

won't fit:


will fit:

[Jean]

Will read again

[theox69]

Damn, that's too bad.
These are somehow more readily available than the cd43.

[StereoInstaller1]

[theox69]

I'm pretty sure you can make it fit though, if you have the euro 316i hvac panel with no clock.

[harv]

I'm pretty sure you can make it fit though, if you have the euro 316i hvac panel with no clock.

I would love to see that done. I have been on the fence about that stupid "Ghost in the Machine" 6 button computer thingey anyway.

John

[StereoInstaller1]

You would not wanna use the Euro panel: the standard US panel, a ton of scrap ABS, a pint if glue, bondo, texture, prime and paint.

The bitch is the "style line" across the face. You would have to match it, and that cuts directly across the trim panel below the IP bezel: you would have to make it flat.

Also, attempting to match the BMW texture is damn near impossible, so you would have to sand, texture, prime and paint ALL of the dash panels, so that would add a few hours and some more materials.

If you are gonna go through all that hell, seems like just a CD player isn't enough of a bonus.


If you got maybe speed sensitive volume, steering wheel controls, AUX/USB/iPod and a cool look for under $300 it might be worth the 10 hours it would take me to make it pretty.

[Jean]

^ exactly...for all that work just spend the 200-300 for the older cd43 that fits.

[E30FTW]

Something worth mentioning.

Early E46 Business CD's (Blaupunkt made) are actually CD43's inside. You can remove the E46 faceplate and mount a e36/Z3 style CD43 face right on it. Only thing holding it on is a couple screws and a few plastic tension legs. Ribbon cable and button count is the same. So... if one were so lucky you could get a dead CD43 in good cosmetic shape, and a dirt cheap E46 Business CD.. and make a working CD43 for pennies on the dollar.

This however is not true of the later E46 Business CD's, which were Alpine made, and some of which had OE MP3 support. That's a shame.

[Jean]

Damn, would be nice to have a CD43 with mp3 support! Good info!