ntinosath

Hello members of the forum! My name is Dinos and I am from Greece. I present you the interior of my 2001 w203 . I had some free time over the summer and using my knowledge in electrical engineering I decided to do a conversion from pre facelift to facelift center console keeping all the factory functions but doing it right.

The special thing I wanted to achieve was for the ESP button to work properly, that is, to be able to deactivate it but then also have the possibility to activate it again without turning off the car. Everyone who has converted from a 203 pre facelift has this problem. Mine is a MY 12/2000 so it has the old esp system and I couldn't do it by swapping the abs/esp unit with a facelift one.

I managed this by reading the can bus through an arduino board. Through a process called can bus sniffing, which is also shown in the video, I found the command that gives the "ESP on" button and made a code that reads the network and sends the old command whenever needed.

Finally, in order for the factory parktronic button to work, it was necessary to change the control unit with that of the facelift.

Everything else worked straight away. Diagnosis via star das is done like usual without any trouble codes. It was a time consuming process (weeks for the board and a couple of afternoons sitting in my garage assembling them) but well worth it.

Also, I changed the cluster with a w209 facelift one, code it and I modified the eeprom in order to have working mileage with my old EZS. I installed MAPPS fuel tank sensors in order for the fuel level to be working.

The second thing is the radio. For years I was looking for what to do with my car radio. I wanted to have a factory look but at the same time good sound, wireless connection with my mobile phone (CarPlay, android auto) and google maps.

After a bad experience with the dynavin n7 pro, which in 1.5 years started to crash non-stop and sounded bad from the beginning, I installed a used factory comand ntg 2.5.

But then to install CarPlay I had to borrow another ntg 2.5 from a friend since mine was on the car. Then I had to look for schematics (some of them were wrong), take the risk and make my own RCA adapter (since the adapter is no longer sold) on which I connected a universal device for CarPlay. Then I had to code on the bench the ntg 2.5 with vediamo (since my car is pre facelift) to activate the video aux function. There is the possibility to easily put a touch screen with a adhesive film, but I liked the knob controller.

I also installed a rear view camera which works like OEM.

PS1. The radio it's not a project I generally recommend anyone doing because it has quite a few difficulties and a huge amount of cables to fit. In general I would suggest a good brand aftermarket monitor (alpine, pioneer etc). But, if you want to have a factory look without any glitch is the only way. The android ones are really bad.

PS2. The ashtray is sent for polishing

PS3. I added the ucp with the alarm buttons because I am going to retrofit the alarm, I already have the parts


New facelift interior

Pre facelift old interior


Interior disassemled

More photos

More photos

w209 cluster with amg menu enabled

Original ntg 2.5 menu

BF_JC230

Looks great and great work getting all that accomplished!!!

Can you share what exactly had to be done, physically (and digitally- although I have a built 11/30/2004 facelift) to get the w209 cluster? I’ve always wanted the aluminum to pull my aluminum door panels across the dash…

Also, after all that, why not fit Distronic? I have it fitted - but can’t seem to force it to code with the MTX - I “might” really start considering a CANBUS emulator or arduino to see if I “can tell it” a NAG is fitted, but not sure that’ll work if it doesn’t know what gear and it “needs to know” as I assume it would for up and down shifting the adaptive cruise…

Again, GREAT job and love to see the 203 love! Mine brings me joy everytime I turn the key!

ntinosath

Thank you very much for your kind words for the w209 cluster if you have a 06/2002+ car I think that you only need to virginize the cluster’s eeprom and do an initial start up with star das. Also you need to change the plastic cage behind the cluster in order to fit properly.
Mine is a 12/2000 car and I had to fit new fuel level sensors and flash it with digiprog in order not to read EZS mileage because of an incompatibility.

As for the distronic, I was thinking about it, but my car needs newer EZS, steering column, newer ESP that needs changes in the wiring, and distronic parts in order to have working distronic. I spoke with Steve mbenznl and he told me that with all the interference from the radars of the newer cars it will not be working perfectly and it doesn’t worth the effort and the money. So I will do only the newer ESP because the version that I have (prior to 07/2001) it is very problematic (random BAS fault), but I will not fit distronic as of now.

BF_JC230

Steve’s fantastic!
Understood.

I have a 209 cage, can you remove/replace from the front - or did you have to remove EVERYTHING from below to swap out?

ntinosath

yes but I have seen your posts about distronic on a manual transmission you can try your luck with the arduino that I used. You may be able to hack the system and get it working. But why not retrofit an automatic? It is nicer imo for that type of car

unfortunately for the w209 cage you have to remove the panel below. You don’t have to remove steering column. But the panel has to get out in order to access the bolts. And for this to get out, you have to remove first the center console and armrest. After that you must trim the cage to fit

ntinosath

A photo from the rear view camera also I don’t know why it is angled. Maybe it is the camera. But it gets the job done

Davidas87

Hello,

It looks absolutely fantastic!!! I am very curious about the carplay integration into ntg 2.5. Please can you share with us the operation of the carplay? Does the steering wheel buttons works in the carplay mode (next song, navigate in carplay menu...). Thank you

ntinosath

thank you very much!! The operation of CarPlay is done from a knob. Imagine the operation of the knob of the w204 comand. It’s kind of the same thing. I have put it into the ashtray to retain the factory look of the car.

Also in CarPlay mode, the steering wheel buttons work partially.

• Volume up/down works
• Phone answer/hangup works (because I have connected the phone with Bluetooth to the ntg 2.5 so it changes screen automatically),
• Up and down for changing tracks doesn’t work but either you have the knob or you have Siri

There is also the possibility of making the screen have touch with an adhesive film that connects in the universal CarPlay adapter. It is simple, but I wanted to have it as stock as possible.

Hmm if you want I can make a video showing how it works! Also if you are interested I can upload schematics of the harness that I made to make it possible and the coding procedure

Davidas87

It would be great to see how the carplay works. I dont like the android headunits. I installed the carplay box in to my wifes 2011 glk and she loves it. There is a knob same as in a w204 c class so its better for use.
I also found this website with an carplay RCA for mercedes: https://*****************/. You can plug in the carplay into RCA and then use the original touch screen or screen buttons. So my other question is, if you can navigate through carplay by original buttons on the right of the screen (up, down, left, right...)
Can you send us a link for the carplay with a knob? If you can provide as many informations as possible such as harness and schrmatics, I would be very grateful. Thank you

ntinosath

Sorry for the late reply but my free time was limited I made a video of how it works.
In the video it seems a little laggy, because when you record a video while you have CarPlay connected on the same iPhone, the CarPlay has reduced performance. Unfortunately I didn't have a second phone/camera for the recording.
In my case you cannot navigate through carplay with the original buttons because the adapter that I made it transfers only audio/video. In order to get the buttons working you need a complex adapter that connects with most fiber optics i think and it emulates a tv tuner, but they don't make them anymore.
I will post later the schematic and the harness

carputech

You did a great job! I am also a crazy fan of Mercedes-Benz. I keep all my car accessories original and am not willing to make any changes. So the carplay module is really tailor-made for Mercedes-Benz that don't have carplay, so that you can keep it Original!
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Heri

Fantastic job , I would say the best till now around the internet and so far no one had been full optional in every aspect of modernization of an old NTG like the 2.5 . Te ideal upgrade .
Will you share please the list of harness cables that should be find and purchase , or not to be invadent, where have you bought them please
best regards

ntinosath

Thank you very much for your kind words
I have a video explaining how I did it.


If you have any questions, I am happy to help you!