Alpine BMW Business CD53 Radio Total Upgrade w/ Sirius MP3 Aux & iPod Pictorial DIY by delmarco

9 minute read

Alpine BMW Business CD53 Radio Total Upgrade w/ Sirius MP3 Aux & iPod Pictorial DIY 

Compliments of delmarco @ www.bimmerfest.com

12-9-2009

Alpine BMW Business CD53 Radio Total Upgrade w/ Sirius MP3 Aux & iPod Pictorial DIY

First of I would like to give tremendous thanks to SNA77 (Steve), Steve325i (Steve), SolidJake and others from various forums who helped me understand what I was doing and develop this Upgrade DIY. Until this thread there has been a random scattering of information concerning the OEM upgrade of the early years 98 - 9/2001 E46 BMW 3 Series Radio units. The main goal of this DIY thread is to centralize everything one needs to know about upgrading their head unit in any year E46 BMW to have full data capabilities (Sirius Satellite Radio, iPod Data, Aux, and MP3 Data Disc Playback).

This DIY shows you how to add the full OEM potential of in car entertainment to your 1998 to 2002 BMW 3 series. MP3 Data disc playback, Sirius Satellite Radio, iPod Data Connection, and Aux Input can easily be added to any year E46 BMW for a fairly low cost.

The main turn off for wanting to upgrade to an Alpine BMW Business CD53 Head Unit with BMW Integrated Sirius & iPod Data Link have been the potentially high costs, the copious amount of seemingly endless parts and cables you need to buy and tedious DIY time to not only install it but getting everything to work in unison. Getting an aftermarket unit for a fraction of the cost has worked out for some folks on a budget in getting all these capabilities in one head unit but it is not OEM and does not look and feel as good as OEM. 

With my DIY you will be surprised how cheap the OEM upgrade can be after all is said and done. Read on...

The cost of this upgrade to the newer OEM parts can vary BUT can be easily offset by selling your old parts you are replacing as they are still worth something to someone somewhere else. (IE. I sold my old 2001 Blaupunkt CD53 Radio on eBay for $180 and used that money to fund the purchase of a brand new condition Jan 2006 Alpine CD53 MP3 Radio which I got off eBay for $200 as that seller was also upgrading to an aftermarket Nav Unit and no longer wanted that Alpine CD53 Unit in his 2007 M3). 

You can also opt out of not having to buy the Antenna Adapter at the dealership as my local dealership wanted almost $60 for the part and even online it's still about $30. In the end I substituted in an $8.00 Metra Adapter to do same task that the OEM adapter does. 

Next, I swapped my old 1998-9/2001Antenna Amplifier and paid $40 to an awesome eBay BMW Parts seller (germanonly: Mike Zahra is the contact and a really great guy to get parts from) to get the new 2002 Antenna amplifier that would have cost me $100-$365 at the dealership or online. Total money spent for the upgrade was $68 ($180 - $200 + $8 + $40). 

The Parts List is not as endless as it may seem. You need:

1.Alpine BMW Business CD53 Radio (2004-2007 Production Date). If you want MP3 Data CD Playback then you will want to get one these three parts number 65.12-6 943 429 or 65.12-6 943 430 or 65.12-6 961 215. If your Radio doesn't come with a Radio Support Pin you may also want to pick one up from the dealership for about 95 cents.

2.Antenna Adapter for 1998 – 9/2001 BMW E46 Car to Alpine BMW Business CD53 Radios: Again the OEM Adapter ranges from $30 to $60 but the Metra Adapters will do the same thing for only $8.00 or less on eBay. The Metra 40-VW10 and the Metra 40-EU20 are what you need. You need both of them and then you connect the two to bridge the newer Alpine Radio to your pre-9/2001 E46 BMW.

3.315 Mhz or 433 Mhz Antenna Amplifier for 9/2001 – 2006 E46 BMW. You need BMW Part No. 65256906075 for 315 Mhz or 65256906074 for 433 Mhz. You must replace it based on what was already in your car. If your older Antenna Amplifier said 315 Mhz you have to replace it with a new one that says 315 Mhz. 

The DIY for this is at this link: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=396343 or you can follow my pictorial DIY for doing it down below.

4.If you want to add Sirius and iPod (as I suspect you may want to do) all you need are two more things.  

One of the four Sirius Receiver Unit that work with our E46 cars(these you can find on eBay, Craigslist or the forums classified sections-they are not for sale at the dealership anymore); 

• Parts No. 84110141981 1st generation requires Y antenna adapter (84110392102) for units without OEM Navigation
• Parts No. 84110153365 1st generation requires Y antenna adapter (84110392102) for units with OEM Navigation
• Parts No. 65120398140 2nd generation
• Parts No. 65120416377 3rd generation sold only with 1 year subscription

5.For Ipod Data Connection you will need either the DICE Silverline kit or the USA-SPEC PA-12. Both these kits are the top two leading kits in terms of performance (USA-Spec) and popularity (DICE) and both cost just under $150 (cheaper on eBay). The Dealership also sells their own spartan iPod retrofit kits priced at around $185 to $200 and performs more similarly to USA-Spec than the DICE. 

The cables for these kits around $29 and you have the choice of cable you will get based on what you want to do:

• The CD Changer Extension/Slave Cable BMW Parts No. 84110150526 that will allow your iPod Data Device to connect to the Radio via the Sirius Unit. So the iPod Data Unit will slave off the Sirius connection to the Radio. This can limit your iPod to being in the trunk as these Slave cables aren't long unless your iPod Data Unit comes with a long extension cable that will allow you to run it into the car and connect the iPod there. However this is good for those that want to use the 2nd Data Link Port for an Auxiliary input to the Radio via BMW Parts No. (don't know it for the aux kit).
  
  
  
• Or you can option for buying the Data Link CD Changer Cable BMW Parts No. 61128374683 that will allow your iPod Data Unit to connect directly on its own to the 2nd open Data Link port on the back of Alpine BMW Business CD53 Radio. This is a better option for those that want to keep the iPod Data Unit close by behind the glove box area or under the dash. The USA-Spec has Aux inputs on the Unit itself and I plan on keeping my Unit nearby in the dash area so that I can easily access it for the Aux port.
  
  
  
  Here are specific links for iPod Data Unit DIYs:
  
  USA-Spec kit
  
  http://www.thisismike.com/mini/mini_ipod.html
  
  BMW Retrofit kit
  
  http://m3.madrussian.net/diy_ipod.shtml
  
  DICE and DICE Silverline Pro kits
  
  http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=374775
  
  
  
  

And that is all!

Total DIY time:

Varies depending on how long it takes you to get the parts. 

• The CD53 Radio swap out/installation takes about 20 - 30 minutes.
• The Antenna Amplifier upgrade takes about 20 - 30 minutes.
• The Sirius Receiver kit and iPod Data Unit kit placement and connections takes about 30 minutes to an hour for each one.

Tools needed: 

• Basic Screw Driver and a dull clean Butter Knife for the CD53 Radio installation.
• Torx T20 screwdriver and a flat slim profile ratchet (if you have one) for replacing the Antenna Amplifier.
• A hefty Pliers for the Radio Support Pin
• Needle nose pliers for removing the anchor plugs holding down the trunk wall mat lining.
• Electrical tape

http://img163.imageshack.us/g/93291701.jpg/

PART ONE: Replacing the old Head Unit with the new one

PART TWO: Adding Radio Support Pin and completing Head Unit Installation

PART THREE: Calibrating your Radio. 

If you are like me and your unit came calibrated for another region or certain features like AM/FM, Scan, RDS, PTY don't exist or work as they should you will need to do this...

PART FOUR: Updating the Antenna Amplifier

In order to get AM and FM reception you will have to also replace the old 12v powered Antenna Amplifier on your 1998 to 9/2001 E46 with the newer self powered AntennaAmplifier. This MUST be done because the newer Alpine BMW Business CD53 units do not have the capacity to power the old Amplifier Antenna (only the previous Blaupunkt BMW Business CD53 units have the power lead output for the old style Antenna Amplifier). Without this upgrade you will not have very little, if any, AM/FM reception.

PART SIX: Adding the BMW Sirius Receiver to your car

12-10-2009

Thanks Steve,
Uhm, I have an idea that this is the short version of the longer CD Changer cable Most likely used in the Trunk for a trunk based Radio Receiver in a car with Navigation.

It may be the same cable shown here above his thumb. This is an E39 with Navigation.

Does the tail end of the cable you have looks like it would connect to a DICE or Sirius Receiver ?(IE. two prong tail with two small connectors like on the tail end of theslave cable)

I was actually looking for what would the first Part No in that picture shown as the longer cable going from front to back.


01CONNECTION CABLE CD-CHANGER4210MM109/2000 65128360754$43.63

There is the identical cable for the E46 which is almost an identical diagram



01CONNECTION CABLE CD-CHANGER4150MM161128374683$25.50