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Ok, plain sailing from where I left it last weekend thankfully.

1) Wireless antenna: ran from where you see it in the pic earlier down the inside of the center console. I DID undo the 3 fixing points to be able to left the center console itself, and removed the oddments tray. The antenna is routed under the central structural bar and pokes out directly UNDER where the oddments tray sits as there is a perfect gap.

2) Aux lead: again, from where I was in the picture earlier I follow the same route as the wireless antenna to the structural bar, then came OUT of the center console underneath and into the passenger side cabin. From there, easy to route up to the rear of the latch and tuck is as per Dave's video - then just hide the wire under the outer edge. Again, difficult without loosening the center console.

3) Microphone: as prevously concluded, had to pop the head unit out again, route the wire BACK to the rear of the head unit and over to where all the wiress run at the top of the steering column. There is plenty of space, you can easily feed the wires from the head unit cavity over to the steering column cavity in the same/opposite way as feeding wires between head unit and MMI box. I was dreading removing and refitting the steering column cowling as I remember it taking ages (and cutting me in several places) when I did the cruise control - but the thing popped off and back on within about a minute!

I did have trouble refitting the center console trim top/cover, which again I've struggled with in the past - just very tight and hard to pop back in.

Anyway, all working now and tested the mic/wireless connection etc etc so glad that's all over with. Not too bad a job really, just worth planning/knowing exactly where all your wires will eventually be running - and as I've found a number of times before, working on the car is just generally far easier in good weather with the top down. I'm just too damn tall, old and porky to work on this thing comfortably inside it

I do have some random thoughts, observations and questions but have only had the briefest of plays with it and one journey.

1) Night/day seems to default to 'day'. I've tried the setting on the MMI box which made no difference - last night I changed a setting on my phone (in the 'dev' only settings in the AA app) which supposedly lets the phone set the night/day mode based on sunrised and sunset times - haven't tried since changing this setting however. Dave's tip about the satellite view is noted, but I find that a but busy.

2) Not sure what my general day to day experience should be in using the MMI box - in a perfect world, I want to just get in my car and at some point long press the 'menu' button on the iDrive controller to then find a wirelessly connected, ready to go phone one click away from Android Auto. The 2 quick tests so far have forced be to re-pair the bluetooth connection before my phone pings into Android Auto mode and off we go. I have since configured my phone to automatically start AA once a bluetooth connection to the MMI box is established so will see if that makes a difference.

3) My display is different to Dave's - I have the audio controls to the right (or left, if I change the lhd/rhd option) rather than at the bottom which takes up too much screen area. Can't find a setting for this, could have missed it (have emailed MY seller to ask about firmware updates)

4) Using the iDrive wheel is quite fiddly navigating around the little icons in e.g. Google maps

5) Sounds quality is a bit dodgy. I did have bad distortion originally, then used settings as per Dave's video - it now all sounds 'ok', just on the cusp of distortion. Needs a bit more playing time (also tried the 'aux' socket volume setting in iDrive at around 75% then 100%, not sure if this introduces distortion into the sound somewhere). There is also a noticeable 'hiss' present when the volume is turned up - this is definitely not present when using iDrive e.g. music on the HDD.

Early days yet, will have a play around with a wired connection as I'm not overly fussed with wireless per se and may find some answers to some of the above.

Massive thanks to Dave once again, I would have been completely lost without that YouTube video to follow at many stages of the installation.

1) Day/Night - Yeah I've tried to sort this but my phone is set to DarkMode (which I prefer) and I can't find any other way to sort it, so gave up.

2) The Auto Start option should sort it

3) I've just installed the latest software to mine and now my screen is like yours. Although I prefer the older screen, it is nice to see the clock on the screen in a bigger font (when in Music mode, not Map mode)

4) Haven't really had the opertunity to use much of Google Maps, as I tend to leave it in Music view the majority of the time.

5) Yes I think it's a bit of play and try with the sound settings, you can use the graphic equalizer as well.

OK, so I've just finished off my full PDC retrofit today, and I'me very happy with the result...

Thanks Dave for the replies - your PDC retrofit looks great

(it is nice to see the MMI box switch between OEM PDC display and back to the MMI display seamlessly too, while I remember)

I've been playing with the start up flash screen on my MMI box, and came up with this. I might make it a little bigger now I know what it'll look like...
This is the info I received...

"Just need an 800x480 image named logo.bmp on the root of the usb, then go to the software update screen and select update logo."

Nice.

I wonder, if I dropped £25k on the nicest 35is money could buy, but then loaded a nice picture of my wife on the MMI startup screen, I'd get away with it?

Timmyboybunter wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 10:36 pm Nice.

I wonder, if I dropped £25k on the nicest 35is money could buy, but then loaded a nice picture of my wife on the MMI startup screen, I'd get away with it?

Definitely worth a try, tip could even use one from when she was younger and tell her it’s a mirror

AnubisZed wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 5:58 pm 2) The Auto Start option should sort it

Yup, tried today and all connected up/fired up Android Auto without me getting involved. Nice

Feeling more motivated so I thought I'd finally make a start.
Step one for me is the camera, went with the Auto vox unit mentioned before. Small hole drilled in the bumper for the cable, fed said cable through a grommet on the left/passenger side. The grommet holds a rubber tube going to the exhaust. No idea what the tube does but best not to cut it I reckon
As a quick test I set up a small monitor. The distance between the camera and the object I want to avoid is 50cm. As mentioned before, not the best position for a camera but better than nothing. Won't be necessary most of the time anyway as carparks around me ALL use parking blocks to stop people backing into other cars.

All done without removing bumper or rear light. Next step, run some cables from the back to the glovebox down the passenger side. Need some more motivation for next week

Quick question... again to AnubisZed.
Got my set up ready to go, just finding time..... The people at Andream suggest the following A# to B#, but I know your setting is with L# to B#, which works. What's the difference?
I've seen several versions of their manual, all different and none of them suggest L# to B#. Not doubting your video info at all, just curious.
Closer inspection shows A# labelled "Low Can", B# is high Can ?

Choices choices.......

Roddy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:48 am Quick question... again to AnubisZed.
Got my set up ready to go, just finding time..... The people at Andream suggest the following A# to B#, but I know your setting is with L# to B#, which works. What's the difference?
I've seen several versions of their manual, all different and none of them suggest L# to B#. Not doubting your video info at all, just curious.
Closer inspection shows A# labelled "Low Can", B# is high Can ?


Connector A B.jpg

Choices choices.......

3 methods.jpg

Attempt 6 at typing this, now resorting to my phone as the forum keeps kicking me off the page after typing the answer!!!!
In short, as I cant be bothered to write that all again, I simply don't know. I do know that L to B works, and I've found this out by trial and error.
Wish these manufacturers put a bit more effort into explaining stuff.

Bit more info after fiddling today.

Car aux setting should be about 80%.

Crucial setting seems to be the 'alter volume' one on the MMI box - this is the SPEECH within Android (e.g when reading directions or responding to voice comnands) and if not set low, the voice distorts. This then means you can have the main 'volume' setting cranked right up, without distortion, and far less hiss.

Tada!

(bit more fiddling possibly required to achieve the 'perfect' combination of settings regarding hiss, distortion, and relative volume between Android speech and general output such as music)

Timmyboybunter wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:43 pm Bit more info after fiddling today.

Car aux setting should be about 80%.

Crucial setting seems to be the 'alter volume' one on the MMI box - this is the SPEECH within Android (e.g when reading directions or responding to voice comnands) and if not set low, the voice distorts. This then means you can have the main 'volume' setting cranked right up, without distortion, and far less hiss.

Tada!

(bit more fiddling possibly required to achieve the 'perfect' combination of settings regarding hiss, distortion, and relative volume between Android speech and general output such as music)

I've got my main volume set to about 75% of the max setting and the alter volume at around 8 seems to work well with Apple CarPlay. When I first fired up the MMI box the alter volume was set at the same level as the main volume from the factory and whenever turn directions etc were read out they were crazy loud, giving me an ear ache every time! I have the main volume set to a level so that when you switch from the MMI box over to the normal radio it matches it's volume, so you don't have to turn the volume up or down whenever you switch.

You're one stage further along than me then - what you describe is what I mean by the 'perfect' settings but matching tha car's native volume is another factor - good shout

Finally got it installed today, back ache now, I'm not made of elastic as I was 30 years ago!
Refitting the head unit is fun...... not. And after fitting, testing and refitting the glove box, I found the antenna on the floor Glovebox off and on again!

So I am here, studying the phone set up procedure now. Rear camera works, but as AnubisZed mentioned, it isn't perfect.
By the way, A# connected with B# works ok, strange they have 2 CAN connections which do the same thing.

So I tried to set up my phone and it seemed to pair OK. Didn't seem to work so I came inside for a rest. Back to the car, tried again and bingo.
Seems too slow for me using bluetooth, so I may just go wired, after I figure out how to use it. It's working though