The BMW UUC Digest Volume 2 : Issue 278 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: Re: Earnhardt Re: Earnhardt Re: Earnhardt Re: Earnhardt Re: Earnhardt Re: Earnhardt Re: Earnhardt Re: Spray on Wax Earnhardt's Car on Fire E36 M3 rims Re: Earnhardt Re: E30 Hub conversion (loooong) (part 2) Re: E30 Hub conversion (loooong) (part 1) Re: Earnhardt <Misc> Reviews of Eclipse Head Units
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 01:03:53 -0400 From: ben keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> the program manager noted at the track that the impact busted the filler neck off & it was full of fuel. having so much fuel in the car that filler neck is full would (perhaps) make sense at Le Mans where every ounce of fuel can make a difference over the 24 hrs. overfilling the tank for freaking practice before the race is stupid. one might think that they'll develop some sort of overflow system or something to prevent this sort of thing happening again, but it might just be a fluke as well. the headline here on the Speed web site seems to indicate that the problem was specifically the fill cap : http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/roadracing/ but there's no mention of this in the actual article at the link : http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/roadracing/12103/ recall that one of the vettes was hit at extremely high speed at Le Mans when it spun out & ended up back on track and there was no fire and the car later re-entered the race, so the design is stout. Ben Neil N. wrote: >They showed the rear-facing bumper camera, and on >impact, you could see fuel gushing in front of the >lens for a second or two, and then the car just burst >into flames. I'm no technical wizard, but isn't a >fuel cell supposed to prevent just this type of thing? > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 22:10:44 -0700 From: Mark Dadgar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On Jul 19, 2004, at 10:03 PM, ben keyes wrote: > but there's no mention of this in the actual article at > the link : > http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/roadracing/12103/ 'Doug Fehan, program manager for Corvette Racing, said the accident “was caused by a combination of many factors, including a slick racetrack, cold tires and a full tank of fuel. The hit was so hard that it broke the filler neck off the fuel cell and caused a fire."' Translation: our driver screwed up bigtime. - Mark ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 08:39:29 -0400 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Not to mention the car builder. Gary Derian > > 'Doug Fehan, program manager for Corvette Racing, said the accident > “was caused by a combination of many factors, including a slick > racetrack, cold tires and a full tank of fuel. The hit was so hard that > it broke the filler neck off the fuel cell and caused a fire."' > > Translation: our driver screwed up bigtime. > > - Mark ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 08:03:34 -0500 From: "Beaudette, Roland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Uuc (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Brett Anderson (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For what it's worth, ESPN last night reported that the fuel seen spilling from the car was from overfilling that had remained in the filler neck... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:13:23 -0400 From: "Robinson, Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I second that. I've been wondering the same thing all > day. And you're absolutely right - all (racing) > things considered, it was a very mild impact. WRong. Pappy works for ALMS. Because of the crash standards in place for the series, they investigate crashes like this. Most cars have tons of electronics that allow engineers to evaluate the performance, & in the case the crash of a car. The word coming out of the team was that this was apparently one of the most violent recordings from a crash they've ever made. Just because it doesn't look hard on TV doesn't mean that wasn't. Driver error, full throttle through that turn on cold track tires.......Heck, it was even a left-hand turn.... > Neil Lee ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:56:31 -0400 From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> > The word coming out of the team was that this was apparently one of the most > violent recordings from a crash they've ever made. Just because it doesn't > look hard on TV doesn't mean that wasn't. Driver error, full throttle > through that turn on cold track tires.......Heck, it was even a left-hand > turn.... > > > Neil I'd have to agree. They showed the in-car camera on Inside Nascar last night and it looked like he may have been knocked out or at least rattled real good. His chin dropped down to his chest and he didn't move at all until a good 5 seconds after he was fully engulfed in flames. The panel said they thought he was out too. It was just such a "light impact" that killed his Dad. Rick ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:39:53 -0400 From: "Brett Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "UUC Digest" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Heck, it was even a left-hand > turn.... > > Lee ROTFLMAO Brett Anderson KMS --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.720 / Virus Database: 476 - Release Date: 7/14/2004 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:26:56 -0700 From: "Kevin Kelly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "BMW BMW BMW BMW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Spray on Wax Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Steve wrote: > I am looking for recommendations for a spray on wax. > The purpose is to wax the various painted areas in the > engine room. Since a paste or cream type of wax is > inappropriate for this application, I figure a spray on > type is a reasonable alternative. Has anyone had any > experience with these products? When Steve says "engine room" I'm assuming he is talking about the "engine compartment" or "under hood area". I've tried the spray on way before on hard to reach places but unless you are able to wipe ALL of it off it will dry cloudy and look bad. Unless you are a total concours sicko that plans to spend hours under the hood with long Q-Tips and wax the best way to detail the under hood area is to use plain old Armor All since it will cleans and shine everything in one step. Kevin Kelly BMW CCA 50039 P.S. When I was living in San Diego I noticed that a lot of the surf shops used spray on car wax to make the new surfboards shine... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 23:40:30 -0700 From: "Kevin Kelly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "BMW BMW BMW BMW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Earnhardt's Car on Fire Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Brett wrote: > Can someone explain to me why all the news coverage is about the > "lucky Dale who escaped this horrific crash with minor injuries" > and not about "why did this Corvette burst into flames after a very > insignificant rear impact with a tyre wall". What a joke. > The car and it's designers tried to kill him, and he's a hero for surviving. One of my co-workers was working (for free) in the Panoz pits all weekend (you have to be a real race fan to sign up for a job that requires you to wear a full fire suit all day in the summer at Sears Point). The story my co-worker heard was that when Dale Jr. hit the wall he hit it at just the right angle to tear the fuel filler off and spray gas on the car (that came in contact with something hot and burst in to flames). Kevin Kelly BMW CCA 50039 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 01:36:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Brian Ruiz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: UUC Digest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: E36 M3 rims Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hey all, I have been considering some rims from the M3 as a replacement to my original styling 13s on my 325. I definitely don't want to go over 17"; however I am wondering which wheels would fit well on the car without spacers, rubbing, or any other woes. I really like the M Contours, and they are 17"x7"; however the styling 39s are really nice too, and I like that they are more "open" to show the rotors and such. However, they are 17"x8" (correct me if I'm wrong). I don't want such a low profile tire that the first pothole will dent the rim; I think a 45 sidewall is the smallest I'd go. With as that sidewall height, I believe the tire is a 225/45/17. (?) Which of the two rims would fit that tire size well enough and not cause problems (and preferrably not be too close to flush with the sidewall, i.e. to minimize/prevent curb rashing)? Thanks, Brian __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 05:06:48 -0500 From: Jenny Morgan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: UUC Digest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I heard it was a broken filler neck on the fuel cell. He get the money... so he gets the press... GO KENSETH! 17! Jenny Morgan On Jul 19, 2004, at 9:51 PM, Brett Anderson wrote: > Can someone explain to me why all the news coverage is about the > "lucky Dale > who escaped this horrific crash with minor injuries" and not about > "why did > this Corvette burst into flames after a very insignificant rear impact > with > a tyre wall". > > What a joke. > > The car and it's designers tried to kill him, and he's a hero for > surviving. > > Brett Anderson > KMS > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 18:02:14 -0400 From: ben keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: bmwuucdigest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: E30 Hub conversion (loooong) (part 2) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (part 2) anyway, enough editorializing on my part, your choices break out like this : E30 M3 stuff F/R. this gets you everything you need and can sometimes be had in a package deal for around $1k-$1.5k. brakes are larger, attachment points & geometry is the same (other than offset or not control arm bushings, but that's nothing you can't/won't do on a normal E30) so it's pretty simple to bolt up. keep in mind that the M3 front wheel bearings are much more expensive (2x ?) than the normal E30 ones, so a future cost to keep in mind. you can use E28 535 bearings which are a good bit (half ?) cheaper, but you have to refit the ABS rings from the M3 as they're different on the E28. note that the M3 uses a different front sway bar attachment than other E30's so you'll need new sway bar links if you are going to swap the strut housings as part of the change. the effective rate of the sway bar is different due to the attachment point as well. in place of E30 M3 rear stuff, you can use 318ti or Z3 parts. note that some of the 318ti's & Z3's use different wheel bearings (the hole in the trailing arm is a different size, you must use the correct ones) so that can add complexity/cost/ hassle/time to future repairs or refreshing of the bearings as part of the swap process. buying a complete rear suspension off a wrecked 318ti or Z3 could make the swap quite easy, as you can drop the entire rear subframe in one piece by removing the diff bushing & the nuts from the bottom of the subframe bushings. then you just line the replacement subframe up with the car and raise it up with a couple of floor jacks. this worked well on my car, but it may have been dumb luck and/or the fact that the subframe on the car had been installed less than 3 years ago. one which has been in place for 10+ years may be considerably less likely to just drop off the subframe mounts. I recall beating the hell out of some part of the rear subframe on a car I helped someone part out a while ago. note that the MZ3 has a reinforcement on the trailing arm that can interfere with the fuel filler hose. more information here : http://www.e30m3performance.com/now_showing/m-coupe-arms/index.htm also some info on other reinforcements you can do to the rear arms : http://www.e30m3performance.com/installs/installs-3/jl_sub/index.htm none of this is likely required unless the car is going to be tracked pretty seriously. as you likely know, the E36 rear suspension is completely different than the E30, so there is no conversion path availble there. in place of E30 M3 front stuff you can use E36 parts, but there are some issues with getting caster/camber correct as well as the effective offset & general wheel position. I believe there are also issues with ride height due to the length of the strut housings, but I may be mistaken. Jon Siccardi at Treehouse Racing has done this several times on and can provide technical information on the subject, tho he may not be too excited about just giving away the work he's done to make it doable. then again you're in CA & he's in TN, so it's not like you can just drop by & pay him for his work. I believe he has some parts which make the conversion process simpler. I believe that you could also just change out the hub/flange parts _only_ and get the 5-lug attachement point that way, but you're likely to have to then re-drill rotors to allow you to keep your stock E30 brakes, which gets us back to the question of why you're doing the sway anyway. the E30 M3 front brakes are effectively the same size as the E36 325's (overall rotor mass is about the same, dimensions are slightly different). the pads for the E36 are more expensive but the rotors are cheaper. I have a set of E36 325 front hubs which I have no use for if you were to go that direction. no strut housing or brake tho and a good number of miles on them (2,000+ on track, probably another 30k on the street, dunno how old they were when they were put onto the car). making the swap to E36 M3 brakes on the front is easy if you start with the E36 325 stuff, but there are also a lot of available E30 M3 brake kits, including some which use E36 M3 parts in various combinations. running the 318ti or Z3 rear may let you swap directly to the large vented E36 M3/MZ3 rotors, but I'm not 100% certain. there may be differences in the trailing arms which make this harder. anyway, probably more than you wanted to read on the subject, but something to think about. Ben 2x E30's with engine swaps & E30 M3 stuff... [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > It looks like my son and I will get an E30 for him to drive. One question > arises. How is the hub conversion done to convert from 4 bolt to 5 bolt? I > have seen some web data that suggests it can be done with E36 suspension > parts or E30 M3 parts. Which is best? Which most reliable? It would seem > that the E36 route would allow more variation in upgrade paths for both > front and back. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 18:02:12 -0400 From: ben keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: bmwuucdigest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: E30 Hub conversion (loooong) (part 1) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (this seems to have been too big & got caught up in the server somewhere or something, so here it is in two parts.) why do you want the 5-lug hubs ? 1 - if you want a larger selection of wheels in 5-lug, it's sort of a waste of time since you're going to spend more than $1k to do it, which is a lot of money to just be able to run a particular set of wheels. there are a decent selection of 4x100 wheels available & there's really no point in going larger than a 15" wheel unless you have brake clearance issues (see #2 below) as there are a limited number of useful tires in 16" sizes which fit the car and you'll get as much grip as you need out of a 225/50 or 225/45-15, so going larger becomes a matter of vanity and extra money, not performance. 2 - if you want bigger brakes I'd hope that you're either racing or tracking the car heavily & find the stock brakes inadequate. there are lots of KP club racers who run the stock brakes & can run circles around most people. there is no need to upgrade your brakes for street use. if the car has had a larger engine swapped into it then the stock brakes are likely not up to the added speed you'll get out of an M/S5x swap. there are a few big brake kits available which allow you to retain the 4x100 hubs, but I'm not sure how they balance against the cost of the E30 M3 parts. 4 - if you want to do the work as a father-son bonding thing, that's cool, but there are likely lots of other fun things you can upgrade/replace/reinforce/etc on any E30 you might find, so spend your time & $ there. Ben ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 08:45:07 -0500 From: "Scott Staewen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Earnhardt Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or Pinto >Maybe they were using the fuel tank from a vintage Mustang? _________________________________________________________________ Planning a family vacation? Check out the MSN Family Travel guide! http://dollar.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:23:38 -0400 (EDT) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: <Misc> Reviews of Eclipse Head Units Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I'm having issues with the head unit in my E36M3, and I've been looking at the Eclipse low end head units with single CD/MP3 capabilities. Anyone out there have one/sell them, that can comment on the quality? I feel pretty confident about Eclipse's cd capabilities, but I'm wondering how their FM tuners work since I use the radio a fair amount. I realize that I will need to update the entire stereo to get a decent improvement due to BMW amp/crossover/speaker issues, and I have a longer term roadmap, but I figure I can get a reasonable benefit for a relatively low cost and fairly simple installation. I'll deal with tearing out the carpet and mounting an amp/crossovers, etc later, but I'm about to lose my garage to construction for 6 months. TIA, Marc Plante E36 M3/4, 53k 2002 Audi AR E36 325i, 220k [Gone] Vienna, VA ------------------------------ End of [bmwuucdigest] digest(15 messages) **********
