Retrofit Multifunction steering wheel - possible?

[tobes]

Hi,

I've got a Blaupunkt DAB Radio in my 1990 320i touring. As this has adapters available for the remote control in later cars, and there seem to be a fair few Multifunction wheels floating round ebay, I'm wondering how practical it is to fit one.

Somehow, I doubt it's as easy as 1) bolt on wheel, 2) buy bit of harness 3) connect wires to wheel and radio. So has anyone looked into this in detail? If it's reasonably easy it strikes me as quite a nice upgrade.

[Chris-W]

You'll find that step 1 is the first stumbling block, sadly!

[tobes]

Howso? Are the splines on the steering column different?

[Chris-W]

Yes. Certainly from E30 to E36, not sure about later.

[tobes]

Fair enough. Thanks for the info.

Unless anyone chips in to tell me that something else does fit, it looks like a non-starter, then .

[Chris-W]

Excuse me if I sound negative! I hope someone can let you know otherwise.

[tobes]

Sorry mate, I wasn't having a go. I'd far rather people tell me these things won't fit at the "I wonder if.." stage.

[CraigG]

e34 wheels fit E30's dont they, did they not have multifunction wheels on the spec'd up models?

[tobes]

That looks possible, a quick google shows a common aftermarket steering wheel boss listed for all the following...

E24, E28, E30, E32, E34, Z1

So, that looks worth investigating. However that leaves steps two and three. Has anyone got any experience of how this is all connected? I'm curious to know the work involved in getting the wiring through the column shroud.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a remote control adapter listed on Bluespot for an E34, so I will have to see if that makes things "less straightforward" or "too much to be worth it"