e39 rearview retrofit

[thereisnoyun]

This mod should be done on all cabrios, esp since we already have the extremely bright dome light and trying to retrofit a lighted rearview may look okay, its effectiveness is relatively low.

I took the e39 540i/6 rearview mirror with build in LED light and autodimming technology and incorporated into the e30 cabrio. Let me tell you the electrochromatic mirror is ungodly for the cabrio... UN GODLY - when you have the top down and driving at night, you wont be blinded by any light around... BEST MOD for me to date.

Benefits -

OEM look
Electrochromatic auto dimming mirror
LED alarm blinker at night

I also wired the LED in to the module so at night the LED for my alarm will pulse and glow right on the rearviewmirror and everyone can see it, and it looks mad OEM.

Check the photo. I cant get the night shot for the led to come out right... you'll have to see it in person to appreciate it. Its just so sweet.



Parts:

- e39 power mirror with integrated LED (I would not go the route of homelink and all that mumble jumbo... it will start looking tacky with all the buttons)

- lots of speaker wires, or 18 and 22 gauge
- volt meter
- a decent amount of wiring and sodering and electrical skill
- New clips from bMW for the e39 mirror, cause the caps for the wires on the mirrors break when you take htem off. They cost 1.49 at the dealership - 20% CCA so around 1 buck for them.

Estimated time = 3 hours

[87Blue325iC]

Cool - tell us more: wiring, step by step, etc.

[thereisnoyun]

wiring

Step 1

I didn't take any photo of the wiring, but there are 9 wires coming out of the unit, you will only use 4 of them. The rest are proprietory for e39

Step 2 LED wire-up

the two thinest wire are for LED. Use a voltmeter to test them by touching them with your LED wire from your alarm

Step 3 Power wire-up

there is 3 ground and 3 sets of power and a mystery wire. Hold up a spot light to the lens, and test each combination to figure out which one is the interior sensor. If you want to be super ambitious, you can test the other sets to see which one is the exterior sensor. But for the cabrio its kind of redundunt considering with the top down, you arent exactly worrying about the exterior light comparison with the interior.

Got it all tested? - drill a hole behind the check panel and wire the unit through the top, run it along the pillar and down on teh side and keep the wire where the light stalk is. Then soder the power for the auto diming into the light stalk, so that it will only auto dim when you have your lights turn on.

Sorry dont have any installation photos as my hands were full taking down the pillar and the cover for the sunvisor.

[M42Technik]

Really interesting mod you did, I hate my mirror in my coupe, it shakes so damn much. I prefer the clean look of a window mounted mirror...

Are cabrio and coupe sunvisor holders the same size? I would think no. Let me know people.

[freeforme]

- New clips from bMW for the e39 mirror, cause the caps for the wires on the mirrors break when you take htem off. They cost 1.49 at the dealership - 20% CCA so around 1 buck for them.

Does this mirror fit on the part that is glued to the cabrio windshield or do you need to purchase one specific for this mirror? And, what clips are you talking about?

thanks, Walter

[thereisnoyun]

Does this mirror fit on the part that is glued to the cabrio windshield or do you need to purchase one specific for this mirror? And, what clips are you talking about?

thanks, Walter

clip is the clip the hides the wire for the Mirror, you ahve to take it off to access the wire to mod it.

all bmw mirror mount is the same piece. it just twist on, I thought that maybe after 20 years the technology would change, so I bought a e39 mount... and it turns out... it was the exact same thing that is already on my windshield.

Sunvisors are all interchangable.

[M42Technik]

Sunvisors yes, but the piece that they clip into, no.

I was hoping for an OEM replacement that fills the hole where a regular rearview mirror would go on coupes and sedans. Did a part number search, two different pieces as I expected.

To make what I really wanted (the look of a floating mirror) would take too much money.

[freeforme]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E46-M3-oval-rear-view-mirror-will-fit-e36-e39-e34_W0QQitemZ170146751520QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170146751520

will this mirror fit an e30 89 cabrio?? I like the look of this one the best.

[thereisnoyun]

yea

thats just the m3/m5 mirror found in e39 or e46

its the same as mine just that its round... it'll look mad goofy but go ahead, it'll fit.

[///M42 sport]

can you post a pic of the outside or different views? Thanks.