A bit of shameless self promotion

Well it's finally in and working. I love it and is a decent addition to my mish mash of an e31.

Thoroughly entertaining to use, brilliant modern feel to the wheel, and looks awesome.

cheers guys for the largely positive feedback. Can't please everyone all the time, but I do a good job of pleasing myself when the mood takes me I'm not one to be told by BMW that they did the best job possible with every decision they ever made, and so where I see room for improvement, I will just get on an change it. They make cars for the masses, I have made a car for me.....

I will do a more comprehensive writeup of what is involved, although most of it is covered in a thread I started nestled away in the modifications section of the site, along with the carPC thingy.

The paddles work perfectly, as does the horn, and the multifunction buttons have power (they light up) to them and are wired upto the PC as of Friday last week, although I havent configured them into the OS yet. I do have the software for this, and it just needs a bit of time to concentrate on. TBH I was just happy to get it in a working nicely on Friday. Being able to adjust volume using buttons instead of the touchscreen will make life a little easier. Fatandre... you need buttons

Noggie, your car isnt compatible with the paddle shifters as I'm sure you know since it only the stepboxes that can be controlled this way, but I see no reason why you couldn'y modify a slip ring the way I did to get a similar non smg wheel to fit your car.

Timm, the pc covers all media applications, as well as any other function that a 2GHz WinXP pc can do. It's pretty powerful. I run a BMW iDrive simulation Front End to keep things looking Stock, although there are 1001 different skins I could use. the only thing I didnt like was the tempermental nature of PC bluetooth, so I use a motorola one for that. Sat Nav is an iDrive clone again. The thread over in the Mod section pretty much covers how it was done, and much more...

SteveP, I am most definitely not a 'very clever dude'..... more like a pathological tinkerer who uses the web for ideas and advice and puts them into practice in my own things. I do continue to surprise myself with what is possible with a little imagination/determination ! Anyone who thinks my car has deviated away from stock should see what I'm in the process of doing to my motorbike.....

The nay sayers will point out that I dont have 100% full functionality of the airbag, but still did my 12 year old airbag still provide protection ?

That is a decision that will put many off, and I respect their views.

So, the e31.1 beta project is nearing completion now, with only one major addition to follow. I said I'd do it, and I will...... Infra Red Nightvision .......

Noggie, assuming you cant find the answer online, you could find out easily if you....

disconnect the batteries of both your cars. Remove both steering wheels, and then see if the e46 one fits the centre spline of your e31 (without slip ring). If it does then you can modify an e46 slip ring like mine, shave some of the plastic off from around the indicator stalk housing, and fit in the way I did. You will need to also make a small wiring connecter to fit into the 9 pin plug on the column side of the modded slip ring, and then connect the necessary e31 wires to that. I used a 10 pin (5 by 5) usb motherboard plug for £0.99.

If I can do this I'm anyone else can. Whilst I used a milling machine to modify the slip ring, I'm it could be done with just a 'dremel' tool.

best of luck

sadly I wont be employing MOD hardware in my system !

Mine will be similar to the mercedes version of visible IR as opposed to Thermal IR (deep deep pockets required for this).

Anyone see the Top Gear review of the 760 iL on Sunday ? This uses Thermal Imaging

BTW : Hooked up my MF wheel today. The PC is reading the ibus commands now, and have to configure it into RoadRunner FE now. I have the files......

I had the files.......

...they are installed... and as a result we have FULLY functioning MF controls in my car

This is major step forward for the install as it removes total reliance on the touchscreen at a stroke. It could not be easier in the car now with these controls on the wheel :

Vol UP/DOWN, Track Scroll/Select, Mute, and also Screen Switching (Music/NAV/Home) ! Perfect.

Also added custom e31 silhouette boot screen (Inc matching Orange scrolling progress bar underneath), BMW iDrive splash screen, removal of blue welcome screen and automatic bootup of BMW iDrive clone software immediately at Startup. All this from complete cold start of PC in under 25secs (which is GOOD for winXP).

Feels very very 'Factory' now. I am a happy chap tonight

(text copied into Work Log thread for completeness)

thankyou very much. Many cold sweats have been induced in doing it, but it's a hobby, so I enjoy it too.

here is short and totally unprofessional video of the cold boot sequence and a bit of playing around with both MF controls and touchscreen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRDY0S9QW6Q

Music : Aphex Twin & Boards of Canada, FYI