I have listed the posts I used along the way, as I found them very useful.
First, go to m3.madrussian.net/diy_valentine_v1.shtml to hardwire your valentine 1.
Here how I set up mine. Left of the rear view mirror.
Now for the instrument cluster. My plan was to put the concealed display to the right of the computer display (unfortunately, if you have an SMG, that space is taken by the SMG display). For that, I had to do surgery on both the concealed display and the instrument cluster frame. But first, go to forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=443640 to find out how to remove your instrument cluster. It is actually easy. Follow all the steps, including removing the needles. I did not, however, use a fork to remove the needles. Instead I used a plastic trim remover.
I also lifted the needles by inserting the trim remover under the cluster facing, that way, there is no way you can scratch the cluster (see picture).
Once the cluster is apart, get your dremmel tool and get to work. The piece you want to remove is this one.
Once you are done, it should look like this:
Each side of the gap was trimmed back half way down (that's where the circuit board will rest). If you look carefully at the left side, you may notice that I created a space for the board to slide into.
Now for the concealed display. I got inspired by this post forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=452922, but decided to execute it differently. Here is the front view of the circuit board after surgery.
The back looks like what the guy has on his post. The key difference is that I trimmed the circuit board to make it fit inside the cluster frame. Do be careful to not grind away too much. I ground away the black circuit (to mute and un-mute).
Watch out on the back side to not touch the power supply lines (refer to the red line for where I trimmed)
Next I trimmed the front panel of the display (I did not trimmed the sides as I used the two hooks to secure the board to the display panel).
I snaked the wired through the slot in the board, drilled a small hole in the back plate, before attaching a phone plug.
Once done, I put everything back together, being careful to align the needles correctly. I also cut away the facing that was covering the space where the concealed display now is. Screws in the back and voila:
After that, I spent a fair amount of time snaking the cable from the Center Light Fixture, under the roof panel, down the left pillar. For that, I used the trim remover (see picture).
I snaked the cable through the existing cable holders along the pillar (I did use a zip tie at the very bottom to keep the cable secure and tight).
I used a coat hanger (from the cavity where the cluster will be) to snake the cable from the left pillar to the instrument cluster. There I taped the cable against the upper part of the cavity.
At that point, I had decided to use the Remote Audio Adapter. Location: storage box in the center console. That means running the cable to the storage box, then back to the instrument cluster.
To get plenty of room, it is best to remove the center console (see webpages.charter.net/strysnie/M3/V1Install.html). Here a couple of pictures to illustrate:
I also removed the trims that run by the CD player (you can google that) to pull the CD player out of the way, and use the coat-hanger to get the cable from the instrument cluster to the radio.
From there, I dropped it behind the radio and grabbed it from behind where the storage box seats. Here is a picture with the two wires sticking out (Since I use the Remote Audio Adapter, I had to run the power cable from the Center Light fixture, to the remote audio adapter in the storage box, then back to the concealed display in the cluster. That means snaking a second cable from the storage box back to the instrument cluster. Snaking the second cable is easy, once you snaked the first one. If you used a long enough cable, simply attach the second cable to the first one, and pull the first cable back until you can grab the second cable at the instrument cluster. After that, pull the first cable back from the storage box).
Onto the Remote Audio Adapter. I located the adapter in the storage box. Marked the locations of the holes for the two screws. Drilled two small holes in the floor of the storage box, then used two slightly longer screws to screw the Adapter directly onto the storage box. I plugged the two cables in the back, and put the center console back together. Here is the result (with the iPod also hardwired)
And the final result:
During start-up
After start-up
Drop me an email if you have any questions.
