[djcwardog]

Thanks so much for putting together a DIY with photos that gets to great details. I followed the work of others and posted a bit on the "what it really takes..." thread you linked us to.

My retrofit has been in for a year.

To do: source the console or recover mine to make the new iDrive controller look more OEM.

I also just had my CIC panel button lights go out...have to troubleshoot that, saw only 5v at pin 14 from my tapped wire...should be 12, but I soldered a splice at the hazard harness. I may have a cold solder joint? I will eliminate that and use another trunk splice up there like you did - and reconfirm 12v, fingers crossed. I think pre-LCI cars like mine also need the pin 14 process, but perhaps it is whether or not you have to plug the hazard harness back in that switch when testing to be sure it worked out?

Some of us wanted the cradle functionality so we rigged a "pseudo-cradle" using BMW parts. We basically flush mounted the necessary "switchable usb/aux" jack, the sole usb jack, and, for video, the box with 3 RCA jacks into the floor of the storage area. We did this to avoid using up the precious little space under the armrest for the snap-in OEM cradle. You have to buy an Apple harness that has a bunch of plugs on one side and the 30-pin connector on the other. Connect a 30-pin to Lightning adapter like I did for newer models, which may not support full function like those up to the iPhone 4s. Your linked threads give more details.

What if your CCC car also came with the optional HD Radio (IBOC tuner) and you want to retain HD Radio? If your kit does not include parts and instructions, then read on for what I did.

First off - orient yourself to where all of the hardware is located. You will find the external IBOC tuner module mounted in the trunk near your Sirius Tuner and your logic 7 amp. Find all of these boxes mounted in BMW brackets that are secured to the car - all of this in the back left behind the trunk trim panel.

Problem - the CIC cannot/will not accept coding to recognize your perfectly-good external IBOC tuner. Interestingly, the CIC WILL accept coding to recognize an external Sirius tuner. There is a line of code in the CIC.trc file that is coded for either Sirius internally or from an external box - but in German, of course.

Solution - be sure to buy a CIC with HD Radio built in (US spec models...some of which also have the Sat tuner built in) and run a FAKRA extension cable from the antenna splitter. Run a "what" from the "what"? Let me explain.

You will need to add some steps to the retrofit. These steps are to do BEFORE you remove your CCC from the car for good.

Our 6's have no shark fin. Instead they mount antenna boxes on the underside of the composite rear decklid. You will need to find the signal splitter.

To find the splitter you must pull down a piece from your left rear sail panel headliner. The piece is just overhead from the left rear passenger's head and it is secured by clips to the metal rear window surround. Pull down and forward gently and you will see how it wants to come out. Now, you just uncovered the splitter, a small rectangular box. The splitter will have cables coming in from those boxes and also a cable that sends the signal up to your CCC - ends up through MOST I guess as you will find no antenna cable jack behind your CCC. No worries, with your CCC radio on and volume enough to hear it, unplug each FAKRA jack at the splitter box, one at a time, and reconnect. When you lose your radio signal and just hear hissing through the speakers, you just found the FAKRA lead that was providing the signal to your CCC. Turn off the radio and leave that lead disconnected.

In its place, plug in an extension cable. You will need to source this cable from BMW parts or fabricate one. I fabricated mine. Be sure you make it long enough. I think mine was at least 10' if not 15'... To do this, I went online and bought all my FAKRA parts and raw sheathed cable wiring from Pasternack. The extension cable needs a black jack to connect at the CIC.

Yes, the FAKRA system uses colored ports and jacks having alignment tabs that correlate to the different colors. You have seen blue, black, etc. You are shaving tabs as you describe when trying to get one color to snap into another... One of the jacks (cream maybe?) has no alignment tabs at all, so this would be a universal jack I guess.

Anyway, I found it easier to make up my own cable than to try and figure out the RealOEM diagrams. Plus, Pasternack gave me great customer service with fast shipping - and now I get their free calendar in the mail each year!

Route your extension cable down from the splitter to the center rear seat area where your Combox and other cables reside. From there, run it up to the dash alongside all the Combox cables that you are routing there. Your extension cable plugs into that black port on the left corner of the CIC back panel you show in your photos.

Now, this was not my reality, so I did not have to solve, but... I am wondering if you can adapt these steps to obtain HD Radio through your CIC in a car that did not come with it as an option with the CCC, etc. from factory. Maybe you can - the CIC needs an antenna signal going in that black jack on the back, doesn't it? Find your existing antenna module and route the extension cable from there up to the CIC? Maybe someone who had to do this will chime in.

Thanks again for your great work in this DIY.