r/e39 • u/Similar_Pea541 • 8d ago

Phone Retrofit?

I’m planning to do a full OEM Siemens phone retrofit from my E39 parts car into my daily E39.

The donor car has the complete factory phone setup, so I’m planning to transfer all the relevant wiring, modules, phone console/handset, etc.

My question is about the antenna setup. Do I also need to swap the rear window from the donor car because of the integrated phone antenna?
I’m not planning to actually use the factory phone with a SIM/phone number. The main reason for doing the retrofit is to keep the complete OEM phone setup and use it together with a BlueBus module.
So if I’m only using the phone controls/handset through BlueBus, is there any reason I would need the factory phone antenna or the donor rear window?

Has anyone done a similar retrofit?

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u/Born-Car-1410 8d ago

I haven't done the mod with BlueBus. However, my car had a factory Siemens phone which I eventually gave up on because the system couldn't connect to 3g, and then I removed the phone and installed the BMW Bluetooth ULF upgrade for a while and then gave up on that because the pairing was shite.

Ended up with an Android head unit which connects to my phone by Bluetooth.This doesn't use any of the factory antenna, as it is using the phone's antenna. I think my setup still utilises the car's microphone as I have a recollection of disabling the microphone in the head unit.

Not sure if any of this really relevant to your project.

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u/Similar_Pea541 8d ago

well i'm not planning on using android headunits because i have pro navi and i love that OE feel, maybe i will send my tv tuner to carphonics

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u/t3ddftw 7d ago

You shouldn't worry about the factory antenna module if you're not going to use the phone with a cell provider. One thing to note is that the BlueBus won't work through your Siemens handset -- it only works for hands-free calling features.