[beermeister kink]

Just an update, I've pretty much completed the clock spring/slip ring hack. I took a ribbon cable from a $20 Acura slip ring and added it to an E93 slip ring that I bought on-line - since I didn't know anything about slip rings, I didn't want to start hacking away on the one in my car.... I placed connectors for the new ribbon cable in places that allow for proper fitting of the steering wheel - in the last pic you can see the slip ring fits tightly against the performance wheel im going to install (non-electric-screen version). The new connector will let me easily install a v1 mute button in the wheel. Said button will go very near where my right hand pinky sits when I grip the steering wheel. :-)))

Right now I'm waiting for some silicone dielectric lubricating grease, which was on the FFCs (flat flexible cables) and which in the course of my dremeling got covered in plastic shavings. I wiped the ribbons off but I want to regrease them before I try this thing in my car. You can see some shavings in pic 1, like where my thumb is on the left.

I've also made some progress on my valentine 1 stealth install. I bought a similar instrument cluster on ebay and took it apart. After figuring out where I could fit the v1's lights (there's actually only a few spots that I could figure out because it's very efficient and tight in there), I hit upon using the unused (I don't have it in my car) Active Cruise Control lights on the dash. See, I figure it doesn't matter how we communicate the v1's information to the driver as long as the driver understands the info. For example, the ACC indicator on the dash is made up of a trapazoidal shape with car at the top, and some lines under it (and one diagonal line to each side of the lines under the car): I'm in the process of placing 2 LEDs in the car place - when the v1 detects Ka, the car indicator will light up red. I'm using amber (I'm trying to match the BMW's 605nm amber color) for K band, and as I'm planning ont he headrest install, I won't need laser (X isnt used around here).

The 3 slots under the car will be direction, and the 4th and widest slot will house the v1 strength indicators. I will however be likely only to fit 7 lights inside that slot, so I'm thinking of ditching like, say, 2!, or 4!, or ....

My current plan is to put the 7-segment alphanumeric indicator over the passenger seatbelt indicator.

Here's some pics...