My 1M from Canada

[markslc1]

Thanks to other forum members for encouraging me to expand my search into Canada. I now am the happy owner of a Canadian spec VO car and successfully imported and registered it in the US.

The downside of the Canadian car is the fact that the cluster only reads in mph. I'm curious what others have done to correct for this. I have a vendor that will make me some mph gauge overlays. But I'm not convinced this will solve the issue. What have others done short of buying a US cluster and coding it?

[iDontRemember]

Use the digital readout between the gauges to read in MPH.

[markslc1]

Originally Posted by iDontRemember

Use the digital readout between the gauges to read in MPH.

I'm doing that already. Readout is too small

[nachob]

I kept my Canadian cluster in KMH. I didn't see it as bad thing. I thought I was cool just like the German version and as mentioned you can just switch the digital version to show V Speed in MPH and temperature in F. If you do decide to change the cluster, the part is about $1000 and should be done by the bmw dealer as it will require coding. However it's too bad you see it as a downside. It's pretty cool. Finally, depending on where you are changing the cluster can bring possible issues explaining it later. For example I recently sold my Canadian 1M in California and I had originally entered KM on the ca dmv registration because the Canadian title had KM as well. But since I had the digital odometer switched to miles we entered mikes. We were asked if we had changed the odometer or just converted KM to Mike's. We just re-did the form in KM but we're told that if we had changed the odometer there would be more paperwork to explain that. We had not. California is very tight on all their regulations so this might not matter many other states but once you change it it can open up questions about true mileage etc. So I recommend you try changing the digital part to Mikes. It takes a minute and evaluate from there.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by markslc1

I'm doing that already. Readout is too small

Sorry missed your reply. Then you will need a new Uncoded cluster and have the dealer do it. It should only be about a two hour job. So at $225 per hour cost about $450. Some dealers tried to quote me 5-6 hours but really should only be 2. Maybe 3 hours labor tops. And make sure you put the documentation somewhere safe.

[markslc1]

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping it would be as easy as adding new gauge face overlays but it seems the internals themselves are different. Hence the need for coding

[nachob]

Originally Posted by markslc1

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping it would be as easy as adding new gauge face overlays but it seems the internals themselves are different. Hence the need for coding

I believe you can change the face plate and I looked into it. found some lovely ones out of Poland and even have the 1M style but the seller couldn't guarantee that the needle movement was identical to the 135i unit so I decided to just keep the original KM cluster. Adding the faceplate is actually a good idea. You could return it to original for sale easily because you are not really tampering with the ODO. That is electronic and internal. You can definitely try that! I cannot find the emails between me and the polish faceplate person, but they were on ebay.

Here you go, here is a link to ebay, you can contact him and see if he has a MPH one for you.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by markslc1

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping it would be as easy as adding new gauge face overlays but it seems the internals themselves are different. Hence the need for coding

Just to be clear, to be done correctly, you need a new uncoded cluster from BMW and have it coded by BMW dealer, if you were to pursue that route. Anything else, like getting a used cluster opens up a can of worms you probably don't want in such a special car.

[Duck360198]

I found myself asking the same questions about what to do after I picked up a low mileage E46 M3 in Canada. At the end of the day, I simply don't want to even mess with it. First, I would ONLY get a new cluster for the swap so nachob is correct in that starts at about $1K. Second, I'd ONLY let a dealer touch it from an installation and coding standpoint.

I found a guy out of somewhere in Vancouver I believe who does conversions. He was a great resource to talk to and clearly sounded like he knew what he was doing. He had indicated the tamper dot would not be messed with. Others have said otherwise. It just scared me off too much. Not only that, I've already had local dealers here say they don't touch clusters. The dealership closest to the seller of the car in Canada also said they wouldn't touch it.

I threw the towel in. I hate doing the conversion math in my head so I just simply say "Hey Siri, how many km/h is 65 mph?" and I just run with it. I've now memorized 25 mph, 35 mph, 55 mph, and 65 mph and am getting by just fine.

[markslc1]

Originally Posted by Duck360198

I found myself asking the same questions about what to do after I picked up a low mileage E46 M3 in Canada. At the end of the day, I simply don't want to even mess with it. First, I would ONLY get a new cluster for the swap so nachob is correct in that starts at about $1K. Second, I'd ONLY let a dealer touch it from an installation and coding standpoint.

I found a guy out of somewhere in Vancouver I believe who does conversions. He was a great resource to talk to and clearly sounded like he knew what he was doing. He had indicated the tamper dot would not be messed with. Others have said otherwise. It just scared me off too much. Not only that, I've already had local dealers here say they don't touch clusters. The dealership closest to the seller of the car in Canada also said they wouldn't touch it.

I threw the towel in. I hate doing the conversion math in my head so I just simply say "Hey Siri, how many km/h is 65 mph?" and I just run with it. I've now memorized 25 mph, 35 mph, 55 mph, and 65 mph and am getting by just fine.

I'm could see trying that. I'm using the digital speedometer in the meantime. It works but it's pretty small.

[Duck360198]

Originally Posted by markslc1

I'm could see trying that. I'm using the digital speedometer in the meantime. It works but it's pretty small.

You're lucky you have that. E46 M3 doesn't.

[iDontRemember]

You could also try a small GPS speedometer and mount it on the steering column cover. it’s a pretty generic part (the cover) so it wouldn’t be an issue to drill a couple of holes for solid mounting purposes.

[champignon]

What is being missed in this conversation is that the analog speedometer is intentionally incorrect, to the tune of around 3 mph (to the upside) on the 1M. More generic BMWs of recent vintage overestimate the true MPH to the tune of 6-7 mph on the analog gauge. This is intentional on the part of BMW and supposedly is a "safety feature."

Using coding applications such as Carly, you can get the small digital speedometer on the 1M to report your actual mph without intentional overstatement. BMW has made this type of coding impossible on later models such as the M2.

Bottom line is that you can change your cluster and you can get an analog mph speedometer in your 1M that came out of Canada, at considerable cost. After having done so, you will have an intentionally inaccurate mph analog reading that overestimates your actual speed by around 3mph. You can then use this speedometer and then do arithmetic constantly to try to get at your actual mph.

Alternatively, you can get your small digital speedometer to read in mph (e.g. "v=xx mph"). If coded, you can get this number to be real, while the analog reading will always be intentionally inaccurate, courtesy of the folks in Munich.

I much prefer using a tiny but accurate digital mph reading rather than a larger but not correct analog speedometer.