Sunday 30 January 2005

Head Unit swap and IceLinkPlus fitted

My wife bought me an Ipod Mini for my Xmas , and I'm sad to say I havent used it yet!
My excuse was I couldnt use it in the car. So I considered my options for fitting it into the MINI.
My chosen path was to replace my BoostCassette HU with a BoostCDHU and remove the boot mounted CD changer.
(I really wanted to fit an aftermarket HU but decided against it for security and looks issues)
Ideally I would have liked an 05 BoostCD HU as they play CDR's with mp3's , but because the folk with navigation want the later units too they tend to be rare and expensive.
So I have bought a 2nd hand unit off ebay. (incidentally this is my 3rd auction for a cd unit, I lost out on 2!). It cost me 130 UKP , which I think is alot , but the previous owner was fab and its in great condition and comes with the key code and manual.
I also bought a Dension IceLinkPlus off mikeythemini from www.newministuff.co.uk.
His repututation for MINI related ICE issues is legendary. Whilst the Plus has had some issues (and lots of MIN2.com discussions!) the early bugs seem to have been ironed out.
Anyway Sat (yesterday) I replaced the cassette with the CD headunit and removed the cd changer. I also plugged in the icelink between the cd and car loom.
The mini ipod mount is fitted with a metal mount that is really neat and uses the radio fixings.

The CD works fine , I just need to setup my ipod now and check out the icelink.
I hope it works, otherwise I need to have the dash apart again.....
Of note , I didnt need a radio code for the changeover and my H/K functions are all still working :-)
I will provide a fuller report later with pics...

Also washed the car and managed to remove some of the accumulated tar deposits over the boot area.

I also have fitted silver indicators (flash orange!), so you can't see orange in daylight thru the indicators and better high beam bulbs (both from newministuff again) , I have xenons so I can only change the high beam element.

next step is to confirm the icelink works .........






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