Installing a new reciever

[jon12545]

If you are planing on installing a new reciever in a 95 318ti what extra parts would you have to buy along with the reciever.

[DougZ]

Jon: You will have to buy an antenna adapter for german/european cars ( about $9.00 at Circut city), and a factory to aftermarket wiring harness( I went to an install place for this). The radio should come with the rest of what you need as far as installing and mounting.

If circut city tells you that they don't have an antenna adapter for BMW's, tell them to give you the one for VW's..that they should always have in stock.

I redid my whole system. You can see my car at the following site: http://members.cardomain.com/dougz

Hope this helps you out.

[jon12545]

Do you know of any stores or online sites where you can purchase the harness?

[DougZ]

Jon: Crutchfield.com will have it
http://www.crutchfield.com

[myred318i]

I bought my harness and antenna adapter at Best Buy ( maybe $35 for both)

[jon12545]

Does anyone know if it would be hard to fit a Alpine CDA-7893 reciever in a 95 318ti? THanks.

[jon12545]

What parts are needed to intstall speakers in the kickpanel and on the deck in the back?

[jon12545]

Also what size receiver can fit in the factory opening (WxDxH)? Thanks

[myred318i]

Jon,
Replacing speakers in the kick panel just takes a 5.25" speaker. Pretty easy to switch. The receiver is a standard 1 DIN, ask your friendly sales rep at the electronics store. Any 1 DIN will work and the whole unit slides right out/in very easily. Somewhere in these posts I answered somebody on how to take out the factory unit and replace with an aftermarket unit. After you unscrew the 2 hex bolts on (1 on each side of radio - don't know what size, just real small), slide out the unit and disconnect the harness and unplug the antenna. Wire your new adapter to the new unit. Mine was literally matching the same color wires together. Also, there was a wire the was labelled "power antenna" on the harness. I didn't use it because I don't have one....well thats the wire that goes to the factory amp, so use it, otherwise you'll have power but no sound. Anyway after you have the harness connected, attach to the factory harness, attach your new antenna adapter, and slide it in. It actually takes me longer to type this, than do it. I can switch my radio in about 3-5 minutes.

Now for rear speakers. I "think" they're 4" speakers. I have a 318i sedan, so I'm not sure if it's the same as yours. Also, I have the premium pkg., so I have the speaker box with a woofer and tweeter. I opted not to replace them.

[DougZ]

I was able to fit 5.25" speakers in the back as well. You have to competely remove the bracket that holds the 4" speaker and the wire clips for the 4" and the little one that is in the triangular location. I then just mounted the speaker using two of the four mounting points on the speaker. In my car, one of the four had to be bent down out of the way for the flush mounting. the carpet interior pieces covers everything anyway. Also, very inportant..I used bottom mount speakers. No cutting required.

[jon12545]

If I install the new reciever in the car will the security system be taken out too or are they seperate?

[DougZ]

They are seperate. The light that blinks on the factory head unit is not tied into the security system at all.