03-04 M45 - Replacing the screen with aftermarket - questions.

[oroZ]

I wish I would have gotten the M45 with Navigation, but I just could not pass up the '03 M that I bought due to its condition and mileage.

Not only would I like navigation, but a screen that fills up the space better, and to have more toys to play with (bluetooth phone dialing and talking, I-pod hookup).

There is a good priced touch-screen Alpine that is available.

http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-e...740BT

I would love to take on the project of fitting it into the dash and hooking up the audio. But my concern are the functions that we currently use on the screen (radio / ac / fuel economy / etc etc).

My question is, does anyone know the format of the video that is sent to the screen? My perfect solution would be to take the signal that currently goes to the screen, and input that into the AUX input on the alpine to continue to be able to use all the factory functions. In regards to the audio, I think that can probably be worked out, but it's the video that is worrying me.

Is any of this a possibility? Thanks for the help!

[szh]

The amount of engineering work that may be involved may make the project somewhat daunting. Or costly. Or both.

It is highly unlikely that the factory buttons and connector will interface properly with any after-market unit that was not explicitly designed as a replacement (and that is unlikely for the 2003/4 M45) for the built-in unit. Most after-market units are general-purpose ... not targeted for a specific model car or year, etc. That limits the market.

You are probably better off getting one of those slide-out DIN versions (I did not look at the Alpine link you showed) and see if you can fit that where the cassette player is located ...

Z