Help identify OEM stereo (pics)

[MattB30]

Hello M42club,

Just bought myself a clean '91 318is, my first car. It has some Sony stereo in it now but I'd like to find out what the OEM stereo was.

Found this in the glovebox. Anybody know the part# or model name?


Thanks,

Matt

[Ryann]

try realoem.com

[BlueBMW]

That looks a bit different than the OEM radio mine had.  I had that funky little infrared fingertip adjustment thingy

[MattB30]

I tried realoem but couldn't find it. Maybe I wasn't looking under the right sections, but no luck there.

What year car did yours come from BlueBMW? Are there any part numbers or model numbers on your stereo?

Thanks for your help guys.

[dude8383]

http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E30/4-doors/Europe/320is-S14/LHD/M/1989/july/browse/audio_navigation_electronic_systems/

Should be one of those...had to search for a euro car. Sometimes they don't list the p/n's for US cars. Doesn't make any sense.

Welcome to the board, I see another mod has helped out already

[MattB30]

Nice, thanks dude. Believe it or not, with all the radios on that link, non of them are exactly the same. I'll have a look around the site - but I'm sure any of those in your link would work too if I could get my hands on one.

[BlueBMW]

Mine is a production date of 5/90 and I cant find any part number on the unit.  If you're interested in my stock radio let me know.  It worked fine, only problem with it is that the cassette door is loose on one side, but doesn't affect operation any.  I have all the stock plugs with it too. (I had to cut them to install an aftermarket unit)

Also, a question for someone else looking at this thread.. I just noticed that my stock radio has what looks like an I-bus connector on it (the little tiny metal circle with the tiny pin in the middle)  It was covered by a little rubber cap.  Did these old cars use this connection for anything?

[PumpItUp]

Is that the owners manual or just some promo? I really doubt it means that was definitely what your car came out of factory with

FYI
It's cool you want the original gear, but the stock stereos suck. They were junk back then too. BMW's always came with awful stereos unless you paid for the Harmon Kardon upgrade. That's how it is in all new cars now as well, cost cutting. You might pay 20 grand for a new Civic and find 10 watt speakers inside. Even if you get a luxury car without an upgrade it will still be pretty mediocre. But at least most new cars have decent decks. But with Bmws It's not just sound quality not being world class, but reliability as well.

And the connections are different from any modern/aftermarket gear. Though I guess its still possible if you really want to have a setup where you upgrade everything BUT your deck, so you buy an amp, speakers, and finally a converter for the amp to make the stock deck work. But whats the point exactly? It's all re-badged gear anyway, no point in bothering to get it back to 'spec'. JDM, DTM, Euro market, all that bullshit. It's better to do some aesthetic mod where you mess around with faceplates, or just get something that looks stock from the 80s (blaupunkt?), or 90s if you're planning on mtechII steering wheel, e36 m3 seats look. Don't take my word for it, go to the junkyard and find a clean one. See, I mean hear what you've been missing. All the e30 318is I've seen have had the stereo bluebmw mentioned. Take pride, our car was the test-bed for the finger slider bass/treble control thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRgKisbQ87U (about 4:00-4:10)

Coincidentally I just took my stock deck out tonight, that's why I'm in the mood to rant about nonsense. Not just the deck, but the factory cd changer in the trunk as well. Anybody want it, it's missing the cartridge. I remember someone before who had the cartridge but not the changer. :rolleyes: Dealer only sells it as a whole.

[MattB30]

Haha, thanks for the warning PumpItUp. As far as I know it was in a manual.

Maybe it's just because I've never had a car with a decent stereo, but as long as it's no worse than the one in my bottom-of-the-line '97 Subaru, I'll be fine. Since a stock one is so cheap, might as well try it out. Also, the one in there now is pretty ugly. That said, I'd love to get a sweet looking retro Blaupunkt one day...

Has anybody here installed a 80s/early 90s Blaupunkt or Harmon Kardon? Which ones?

[BlueBMW]

I have a JVC that looks pretty good in the car.  It lets you change the backlight color to a bazillion different colors so I was able to find a nice orange that matches nearly perfectly!  Also, it doesn't have a ton of chrome etc so its not super flashy.  Best of all.... front aux in and you can get an accessory ipod adapter if you wish.  Its a KD-R300 and they're about $100 US.  They don't have BMW on the knob, i just edited that in there to see what a sticker might look like.

[Ryann]

A lot of aftermarket headunits (including the good brands) are getting so flashy that they look outright stupid. I'm feeling the "stock look" sentiment. I've been eyeballing the Nakamichi units based on low profile factor alone. I think they even have orange illumination. I'd post a pic but the shit's on the fritz again.

Nakamichi cd-700

[Donkeyshins]

Hello M42club,

Just bought myself a clean '91 318is, my first car. It has some Sony stereo in it now but I'd like to find out what the OEM stereo was.

Found this in the glovebox. Anybody know the part# or model name?


Thanks,

Matt

A little thread necromancy.  That's a Canadian spec radio and the part number is 88 88 1 600 183.  As E30 radios go, it is one of the better ones (although the cassette just crapped out on mine and the whole unit is being replaced with a C43).

-D