[roxxor]

So I decided to give my car a nice Christmas present this year of the NBT retrofit. It was one of the few retrofits I hadn't been super interested in over the last 3 years I've had the car, as I wasn't that disappointed with the CIC, but after finding some really good deals on the individual parts, I decided to pull the trigger. I ended up not needing an emulator since I got a steal on some FSC codes, I got the headunit itself for $125, and I got lucky and got the F15 10.25" screen for an outrageous deal. In all, the entire retrofit cost around $500 USD. I must also have been lucky and gotten an NBT with a preloaded FSC Map update code, as I was expecting to have to generate one, but I didn't get prompted for one when updating from 2013-2 to 2017-1.

After doing it, all I can say to anyone who is thinking about it is: GO FOR IT!!!! It truly feels like a new car after making the swap. The system is so much more responsive. the graphics and animations are better (even before adding the 10.25" screen), and overall it feels much smoother.

Speaking of the 10.25" screen... that thing is a beast! I'm still getting used to how much bigger the display is, but it is definitely gorgeous. Only thing I need to finish doing is to get the back custom remade to cover the gap left from where it mounts in place of the old monitor.

On a side note, I'm not sure why everyone mentions having to replace the 8.8" screen. Coming from CIC, I was able to use the new video cable and run it from the Headunit to my 8.8" CIC screen and it worked just fine for a week or so while I was working on and off on getting the 10.25" screen fitted. No noticeable problems with the graphics or anything.

Install wasn't really that difficult either. I basically pieced everything together from the threads that are already out there, but essentially all it required was:

- Remove old CIC Headunit
- Take USB cable from Combox in trunk and run it to the headunit. Remove black connector and then plug in to NBT.
- Move Bluetooth Aerial from behind Driver Side Rear Seat Bolster. I placed mine in the area below the iDrive controller, which gave it enough cable length to run to the back of the NBT after removing the old connector cap.
- Disconnect white connector from Combox and attach MOST loop.
- Splice the K-Can2 wires from the Headunit connector and run to the iDrive controller, then add connector for the Touch ECU.
- Splice Pin 13 to Pin 15 (since I have HiFi)
- Run connections for microphones to headunit connector. I wanted to retain functionality of the microphones, for calling/voice commands, so I got 2 3-pin connectors and made a wiring harness to run up to the microphones, that way if I need to swap back, it is easily done.
- Attach all connections to NBT headunit and resecure.
- Code

The only thing I may attempt further on the NBT is to retrofit the snap in connector, but after playing around with the BMW Apps, I'm not sure I would use it enough to warrant that extra effort, since I can just plug it in to the existing armrest USB.

Day late, but my car wanted me to share it's holiday wishes

[bateau]

What happens with connected drive and BMW apps during NBT retrofit?

[beanbaguk]

How did you get the enhanced black dash too?!

That retrofit would finish my car off perfectly!

[MrMarvin]

Originally Posted by beanbaguk

How did you get the enhanced black dash too?!

That retrofit would finish my car off perfectly!

Yeah, i'm also interested. It looks freaking awesome!

[roxxor]

Originally Posted by bateau

What happens with connected drive and BMW apps during NBT retrofit?

I actually did not have Apps on my CIC, so it was new to me. If you have it currently, you would need to get NBT FSC codes for your vin, or when you do the retrofit, use an emulator and find a head unit that initially had Apps.

Originally Posted by beanbaguk

How did you get the enhanced black dash too?!

That retrofit would finish my car off perfectly!

That is the 6WB instrument cluster which I retrofitted, detailed in the thread below. It definitely is nice!

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1256383