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Hi Folks, Had my E24 a while now and working on some slight convenience improvements whilst not changing anything permanently. I've got a magsafe phone holder/charger where the ashtray used to be. To do this I bought the outrageously expensive official BMW ash tray replacement storage box (just a small black plastic box that slides in to replace the ash tray £50!) I then bought this item which is a 3d printed magsafe phone holder designed for the BMW iX https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336310951793 Then bought a standard sized magsafe charging puck. Insert puck into holder Double sided gorilla tape the phone holder to the front inside edge of storage compartment Plug into cig lighter and slide into place (later I will work out how to wire a permanent 12V to a USB C connector and plug the magsafe puck into that so I can loose the ugly cig lighter charger. Works great and can be undone just by pulling out and replacing original ashtray. I believe the E30 shares same ash tray as E24 so should work on old 3 series too! I am in touch with the ebay seller who made the magsafe holder and he's even looking at making a single unit which would be the ashtray replacement storage compartment and the magsafe holder which would be great and safe a lot of cash.

I was wary about taking it to someone without knowledge of how these older R12 based systems work and how to work out the correct R134 oil and gas levels. Found a great guy Paul https://pwautoelectrical.co.uk/ He worked on 80's BMWs when new - doing the aircon installs for dealers as in those days you could either order the car with aircon or get it done at the dealer once delivered. Definitely recommend him for anyone wanting similar. He tested it, found a leak, had to replace a couple of seals and rethread a connector, All good now just need the warm weather :)