DIY: NBT retrofit on E53 X5

[jopecasa]

It’s been a year now, since I’ve been reading NBT retrofits on legacy BMW’s.

I’ve told myself, I want this system to work on my E53 X5.

How hard could it be?

This has been done before on an E53 by someone in Russia/Romania (???)…..but couldn’t find any info.

I’m not sure if he’s a member here.

You can also read/search about E46/E39 owners doing this retrofit.



So finally, I’ve purchased an NBT Headunit, CID and i-Drive controller.

These are the three basic parts to get me started.

Since these newer BMW parts never existed to work on E53…...we need to purchase an emulator to convert CAN to I-bus
protocol....more on this later on.


Now, if anyone out there is considering this NBT retrofit on an E53 X5…..please kindly share and assist with your knowledge and experience……..especially with E-sys coding.

E-sys is a newer BMW software… for vehicles using CAN protocol……which I have NO idea and how it works.

Due to the fact, I don’t have a newish BMW.

Okay….let the fun begins…..teaser pics.