Andrew's Sterlingsilber 90 325iS -> 318iS

[Andrew325is]

Today I installed the new headlights. I tied the city lights in with the side markers. For the wiring I used the wire stripper to pull back some of the insulation and soldered the new wires wrapped around them. I did the same for the low and high beams. The low beams don't stay on when the high beams are turned on, but because the city lights stay on it doesn't trip the low beam warning lamp on the check control panel. So I don't think I'll bother jumping the relays to keep the low beams on. I installed Euro grills too. :)

This is with just the city lights on:

[Andrew325is]

Here's the adapter for the radio. BMW calls it a retrofit kit. It comes with new radio speaker wire connectors too. I'll have to use a couple of them to replace the two-in-one connector on the rear speakers adapter lead since that square one won't fit into the single round connectors on the adapter. The adapter comes with grounds connected to the speaker wire connectors, but of course I'll just be connecting the positive wires unless I were to separate the grounds at the amp connector too, but I'm leaving that alone. Now I can connect all kinds of different radios in the car if I wanted. For the new aftermarket HU I'm going to run RCA cables to a new amp and then just tap into the original amp connector with jumper wires for power, remote turn on, etc.

[Andrew325is]

Because I know some of you are interested, here's the sealing cap for the low beams with wiring. I wasn't totally sure if the low beam wire is yellow or gray (I couldn't find a diagram), but I think it's the yellow wire and gray for the city light. The Hella 3893 / T4W city light bulb is 19 cents at 4WP. I ordered 10 to pick up at my local store and it came in a pack of 10. https://www.4wheelparts.com//p/hella.../_/R-BFDP-3893

Here's the pinout:
Pin 1 -> brown wire -> ground
Pin 2 -> yellow wire -> low beam
Pin 3 -> gray wire -> city light

[Andrew325is]

Today is my car's birthday. It's 29. :)

[Andrew325is]

Okay, thanks. That's a good idea.

[nando]

Coat the mast with some graphite - keep polishing and working it up and down until it works smoothly.

My mast used to get stuck, but it's good as new now (or at least it was when I still had a stereo).

[Andrew325is]

It looks like my spare SI board isn't good. The service indicator lights don't turn on and the tach and mpg gauge twitch when the key isn't in the ignition. So that's a bummer. I have one extra board I can try. I guess I'll move the new batteries over to that one.

Also, I restored the sound system wiring. The PO attempted to wire in an aftermarket radio, bless his heart, but it was just left a mess. The original radio harness was pretty well hacked up, but luckily I found a spare which was complete. I also re-attached the amp connector in the trunk. The amp bypass mod had been attempted with some butt connectors but some of the wires had already come out and I pulled the rest out with my fingers. I made sure I soldered all the restored connections. One thing I need to get is the mounting bracket for the amp because it's missing.

More sad news is that it appears the original radio isn't good. It worked when I first turned it on, but then it just began to produce hissing and crackling sounds. I happen to have a spare amp and I plugged that one in and it behaves the same. I then unplugged the speaker wires from the radio and plugged each one in to test them. Just hissing and crackling from each speaker I tested. Perhaps I can connect a different speaker to the radio without the amp to make a definitive conclusion. One good thing is that the PO said the power antenna doesn't work, but it does. It gets stuck though about half way up, so maybe it could just use a new mast.

I have to admit the original radio looks nice in the dash. :)

[Andrew325is]

The fuel gauge and tach weren't working correctly (PO said he already replaced the fuel level senders). I took the SI board out of the cluster and the batteries are dead and it looks like they've been replaced before with incorrect batteries (3.6V instead of 3V) and the install job is quite a mess. So I took one from a spare cluster (also Motometer, but not sure if that makes a difference) to Batteries Plus to have new batteries installed. Hopefully this fixes it up.

Old board:


New batteries installed on spare board:

[Stanley Rockafella]

No, I’m going with the normal bulbs.

lol
thanks for pooping on my idea

[Andrew325is]

No, I’m going with the normal bulbs.

[Stanley Rockafella]

Ah gotcha.
You going with colored bulbs?
I currently have some "ice white"/(sorta blueish) bulbs in my citilights of my euro ellips.
If I go this route, I'm considering green citilights to match the greenish hue of the Delphin paint.

[Andrew325is]

Yeah, except the hole in the lens for the bulb is sized for that specific bulb. I tried sticking an LED bulb I have with that base in there and it doesn't fit (too wide).

[Stanley Rockafella]

Ah, gotcha!
Thanks! Looking forward to more pics on the headlight progress ;)


Also found that it'll take almost any bulb with a BA 9S base

https://www.bulbtown.com/Miniature_Bayonet_Base_BA9S_s/322.htm

[Andrew325is]

So which bulbs fit into the 9FF 085 642-001/BMW pn 62148680130 sockets?

The city light bulb is a T4W (Hella 8GP 002 067-121). It appears to be the same as a 3893 (e.g. Hella H83050041). The BMW part number is 07509063576.

[Stanley Rockafella]

So which bulbs fit into the 9FF 085 642-001/BMW pn 62148680130 sockets?