New guy w/ upgrades to share including Nexus 7 tablet Install!

[StrayS2K]

A big hello to my new home!

I picked up my X5 a few months ago and didn't feel it was mine until I sold my daily driven S2000. (Emotional subject so I will just skip right on after pic...)




New X5 is a 2004 with 3.0i, manual transmission and only 44K miles! No good pics yet, sorry!...




It was not long after I sold my S2k, I needed to perform some upgrades to the X5. I started with installing AFE intake kit hoping to add growl (not so much) as well as angel eye LEDs and for a slight face-lift. Here is a shot depicting AFE intake as well as before/after LED angel eye install. I used 6W 7L color temperature LEDs from Amazon....




Being the mod happy geek I am, I quickly moved on to my interior. I was not a fan of the wood trim. The dash was alittle outdated and needed a new headunit. I started my search and could not find a quality navigation unit for less than $600. The Dynavins are outdated out of the box and the newer "dynavin clones" are just as expensive and very buggy. Something had to be done.

After about 5 hours of research and testing with my Android cellphone, it was time to pull the trigger on Nexus 7. Five more hours playing with the Nexus, it was time to install. Yet another 30 hours but only $300 later, I had my Nexus 7 fully integrated, OEM radio relocated w/ hacked media buttons and trim wrapped....




I am going to embed my youtube video below (and link for failsafe.) It offers a concise outline of what was involved and what the system is capable of. While I will be tentative to youtube questions, I am most attentive to my new family. You! So if there are any questions or comments, we can use this thread to build our knowledge base. So, check out my install and drop any feedback here or at video....



Link: Nexus 7 car install 2004 E53 BMW X5 - YouTube

I look forward to "plugging in" to the wealth of knowledge on here. I actually hope to share, in a few weeks, some REALLY big news for anyone with an E53 X5 3.0 6 Speed SO, if you have one- chime in!

Happy viewing and talk to you all soon


BTW- May I cross-thread part of this to our audio/video forum for search-ability?