[uucdigest] Friday, February 11 2000 Volume 03 : Number 239 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | For all available Digest commands including unsubscribe/subscribe, | visit the BMW UUC Digest page: http://www.uucdigest.com | Send SUBMISSIONS to [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Complaints? Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you must. | Visit http://www.bubbaclub.com | www.bimmers.com - "serving enthusiasts on the 'net" | Visit http://www.bimmer.org - ultimate BMW bulletin boards! | Subscribe to the Zionsville Autosport Parts Digest: | http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/majordomo.htm ����������������������������������������� In this BMW UUC Digest: Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag [uuc] Fun and staggered wheels Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag [uuc] <Possible WOB> <FS Pet Barrier for Full Size SUVs> Re: [uuc] Cars wanted Re: [uuc] Cars wanted Re: [uuc] <WOB> My Viper lust is over [uuc] Piston Update Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag [uuc] <WOB> active noise suppression [uuc] Kids & Driving Schools [uuc] Request of "Stupid Chester Tricks Part(3)" [uuc] Stupid!! - Really? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 05:18:57 -0800 (PST) From: Matthew Yip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag It's not dangerous, it's just plain stupid. Sorta like playing Russian roulette with a sawed-off shotgun. Wouldn't it be safer to just not drive SUVs? Much like the old Army "duck", most SUVs are too cumbersome to be a good car and to light-duty to be a good truck. - --- Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > NEVER ride/drive an SUV without a seatbelt. It is one of the most dangerous things you can do. ===== Matthew Yip [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/mgyip/ '87 GTi 16v - x2 '88 M5 '99 F350 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 08:42:46 -0500 From: "Holmes, Michael A (Michael)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Fun and staggered wheels Hi, all, I have 7.5 wheels front and back (95 M3) and I get tickled pink every time I execute a controlled tail slide turn, do the 8.5 rears stop you doing that ? Mike ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 05:51:42 -0800 From: "Jonathan Reiser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag Matthew Yip Wrote: > Windbags, er airbags aren't all they're cracked up to be. Just ask > the KC Chiefs player that was killed when his Stupid Useless Vehicle > rolled - no seatbelt BUT lots of windbags. Don't know if you've read > all the negatives to windbags - namely causing decapitation in > PROPERLY BELTED children and short folk. Side windbags that do the > same thing - do you really think this is a good thing too? > > Given my druthers, I'd like to disable my windbag - I'll sign a > release that says I'd prefer to walk away from the accident without > two broken arms and a broken nose from the windbag. Just like people > that are killed w/o seat belts, if someone wants to disable a windbag > AND knows all the risks, let'em. If they're killed, they got their > just rewards. My Response: Matt, I would have to strongly disagree with you here. It is well known that airbags only work properly when the occupant is wearing their seatbelt. And later automobiles have safety precautions for putting a child's seat into the passenger seat of the automobile (automatically turning off the airbag). That being said... I will tell you (very reluctantly as I am embarassed by it) why I am a very strong advocate of airbags. I come from a family of big corvette enthusiasts and in 1993 purchased the first new body style Camaro Z28 LT1, Six Speed, to be delivered in the state of California. I was 19 years old when I purchased it and had absolutley no business behind the wheel of a 285hp car with a ton of torque and straight rear axle. One day on my way to class a fully tuned Acura Integra (Import Enthusiast is the current term right?) pulled up next to me and wanted to race... Being a young, dumb, arrogant, egomaniac 19 year old kid, I downshifted the Six speed transmission into second gear and PUNCHED it.... I left him in the dust and to prove the point I continued through every single gear, flooring the car and powershifting all the while. When I reached a blind, decreasing radius turn in the road I was travelling 110mph. ABS brakes were fairly new at the time and since the age of 16 I had been autocrossing my Uncle's Corvettes and attending driving schools. Back then, the first thing they told you was not to touch the brake pedal if you start to lose the backend of the car but rather to stay in it and counter steer.... So, that is what I did.... The backend of the car came out, I lifted (mistake), didn't touch the brakes (another mistake - I had ABS), and countersteered.... The car continued to skid until it was sideways.... Suddenly the rear hooked up, and in the blink of an eye went straight for a curb at about 95mph, give or take..... The car jumped up on the curb, hit a cement light pole while in the air, went through the cement pole which spun it (all the while the car is completely off the ground) into a large tree. The car then bounced off the tree and went head on into another large tree. The second tree is what finally stopped the car. The force was so great that the glass in the T-tops exploded and landed about 100 yards from where the car landed. The car was bent in half, the rear seat folded so badly that the ends were touching, two of the wheels broke off the axle with the disc brakes still attached to them. When I hit the second tree, the airbag deployed and hit me in the face like Mike Tyson. This is actually what woke me up because I had blacked out after hitting the cement light pole, I had hit the side of my head on the driver's side window hard enough to shatter it. The greatest force in the accident was the frontal impact when hitting the second tree because that is the impact which caused the car to cease motion. I came away from the accident without any physical damage what so ever except a strong headache and soft tissue damage from being thrown around. I am positive the airbag saved my life. The insurance adjuster who looked at the car had spent 20 years looking at cars and stated it was worst car he had ever seen in his career where someone wasn't killed. For a couple of years afterwards I would have nightmares about the accident that I hit someone jogging or bicycling down the sidewalk and needed to see a shrink to deal with it. So please don't flame me for telling this story... I fully understand how dumb it was and just writing it out right now and reliving it is painful. If you don't believe what a violant accident it was or how fast I was travelling.... My uncle has two pictures of the car at the tow yard after the accident which will prove my case. I am the little blonde kid in the pictures. If you are a parent on this list... Don't let your teenage kids drive highpowered vehicles and if at all possible, send them to driving schools which teach the basics of defensive driving, recovering from a skid etc. It could save their lives. At any rate, if interested in seeing the car, here are the links: http://www.rjsmith.com/images/jon1.jpg http://www.rjsmith.com/images/jon2.jpg Jon - An Airbag saved my very stupid butt. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 09:36:27 -0500 From: "Dean Boucouras" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] <Possible WOB> <FS Pet Barrier for Full Size SUVs> I realize that some of the Digesters do not like SUVs, but some Digesters do own them, so I thought that I would post this here. Sorry if I have offended anyone with this post. When I bought my Expedition a few years back, I bought the Pet Barrier to help contain one of my German Shepherds (we had 2 at the time). Unfortunately, he took ill shortly after I bought the barrier and I never needed it. I have been keeping it in the box it came in down in the basement thinking that I may need it some day. It fits perfectly in our Expedition and is as good as new. Here is the link for more information: http://www.overlander.com/petbarrier.html It should also fit many other of the larger SUVs (including Suburbans, Yukons, Tahoes, Durangos, Land Cruisers, Range Rovers, MB ML320s, etc.) The one that I am selling is the Full-Size Pet Barrier. It has been in its box in the basement ever since I bought it. I am asking $50.00 plus shipping for it. Thanks, Dean ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 09:27:08 -0500 From: "Rob Levinson - UUC Motorwerks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Cars wanted Damn, they've got me figured out now. I'm working on writing a new book: _Sun-Tzu and the Art of Digest Posting_ - - Rob - ----- Original Message ----- From: VincentMathew Malfa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Ouch, Jim really isn't going to live that one down! Mental note: Never > display any personal weakness in the vicinity of Rob L. > -Matt M. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 06:35:05 -0800 From: Jim Powell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Cars wanted Yeah, wait till I pin the kid under the scissors lift. ;) Jim VincentMathew Malfa wrote: > > Ouch, Jim really isn't going to live that one down! Mental note: Never > display any personal weakness in the vicinity of Rob L. > > -Matt M. > > -----Original Message----- > > Any excuse to fire up that air compressor and paper bag, huh Jim? > > Love that kid! > > ;-) > > - Rob > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jim Powell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I'm buying decent cars that may need some work. > > The kid and I need something or several somethings to fix up. > > > > Jim ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 09:47:28 -0500 From: "Rob Levinson - UUC Motorwerks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] <WOB> My Viper lust is over Interstingly enough, there's a rare "Fiat Ferrari Dino" model using the same motor. Less conspicuous than the Ferrari-bodied car and just as fast. Still kicking myself for not buying that one 12 years ago. But then again, you really can't hop into a car like that and trust it will last through a long trip. Strictly a toy. A BMW, particularly any M-car, will have just as much (usually more) performance... just missing the great Italian engine sounds. <light bulb> New UUC product: digital recording on a chip of classic Ferrari/Alfa/Lambo engine sounds that responds to real engine rpm and plays through stereo system. Oh man, just think of how many more tickets you'd get! BMW could call it the "QBM" option - Que Bella Machina! - - Rob - ----- Original Message ----- From: Erick Baumeister <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > My Viper Lust lasted all of 58 hours. That would be from the end of the > Rolex 24 Sunday to the moment I saw what one of my mates just picked up. > Tuesday night at the local watering hole he produced the latest fruit > of being a private auto importer/exporter: a Genuine Ferrari Dino GT > with just 12,000 miles on its 2.4l V6. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 09:52:37 -0500 From: "Lee Leslie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Piston Update Thanks to everyone who responded to my Piston questions, I decided to go out to the dealer & get a little better explanation of exactly what they were doing to my car... It turns out that the "Piston" that needs replacing is in the vanos system.. While I am still ignorant as to what this means, they are assuring me that this is not a big deal... Hopefully they will have the car ready today/monday... With this in mind.. anything else I should worry about now.. Thanks again, Lee ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:01:35 -0500 From: "Rob Levinson - UUC Motorwerks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag It *is* legal to disable your airbag. Not sure of legality of selling the car that way or of a dealer selling it that way. Seatbelts are glorious "Darwin Devices" - those that get killed because they weren't wearing them... tragic, but a chlorination of the gene pool every now and then can't be all that bad. I have mixed feelings about side airbags. I don't see any technical description of how they work in concert with the "bracing" behind them - specifically the door. Without the door to hold it in place, is the side airbag strong enough to keep my 260lbs from pushing right past? Or even underneath, but snapping my neck on the way? This is not a crazy hypothetical situation - in my youth, I put a car into (actually through) a telephone pole sideways at 40mph (gotta love slick, wet concrete and ZR-rated tires). When the car struck the pole, my body's inertia threw me against the door hard enough to push it open (the folding of the car's frame helped too) and I was thrown out of the car. I briefly saw the stars in the sky, and it was only the seatbelt wrapped around my neck that kept me from flying out and then having the car slide over me. Yes, whiplash and a concussion from slamming my head on the door frame coming back into the car, but I obviously (and to Matt's dismay) survived. So when I see a side-impact airbag, I wonder what would have happened in that situation besides deafness from the airbag explosives. - - Rob - ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthew Yip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Re: Deactivating/removing E34 airbag > Windbags, er airbags aren't all they're cracked up to be. Just ask > the KC Chiefs player that was killed when his Stupid Useless Vehicle > rolled - no seatbelt BUT lots of windbags. > Given my druthers, I'd like to disable my windbag - I'll sign a > release that says I'd prefer to walk away from the accident without > two broken arms and a broken nose from the windbag. Just like people > that are killed w/o seat belts, if someone wants to disable a windbag > AND knows all the risks, let'em. If they're killed, they got their > just rewards. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:13:11 -0500 From: ben keyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] <WOB> active noise suppression Rob Levinson - UUC Motorwerks wrote: > <light bulb> > New UUC product: digital recording on a chip of classic Ferrari/Alfa/Lambo > engine sounds that responds to real engine rpm and plays through stereo > system. Oh man, just think of how many more tickets you'd get! > > BMW could call it the "QBM" option - Que Bella Machina! I have wondered when someone will put active noise suppression tech into cars. they have this for airplane headphones & I know that Lotus had automotive proof of concept stuff around a few years back. perhaps with the advent of cheap(er) flat-panel speakers, someone will package them in the headliner/a/b/c pillars. all you need then is a series of good mics & some processing power. it might be particularily good at eliminating consistent NVH from road & wind. likely that we just will spend more money on foam & the like... perhaps our NVH experts on the digest can comment - Neil, Jack, others ? Ben Keyes m coupe/m5 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 07:15:07 -0800 (PST) From: Matthew Yip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Kids & Driving Schools - --- Jonathan Reiser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > If you are a parent on this list... Don't let your teenage kids > drive highpowered vehicles and if at all possible, send them to driving schools which teach the basics of defensive driving, recovering from a skid etc. It could save their lives. This is probably the most intelligent thing I've seen written in quite some time. Several years ago, a local HS girl was killed along with 1 or 2 of her girlfriends when she crashed her "high-performance sports car" - namely a 325iX. The impact was severe enough to break the car into 2 pieces. Naturally, the liberal DC area media made a point of the fact that the hapless girl was driving a BMW. In her case, under the conditions, she most likely would have been killed while driving a Caprice. Needless to say, she had her license for about 2 weeks and her parents rewarded her with the car - most likely with no more training that where to put the key and how to wink at the service station attendant whenever the low fuel light illuminated. Last year, a kid killed a few friends performing a similar maneuver in a Legacy wagon - again a new driver with little or any training. For your kids' sake, put them into a class that teaches more than the basics of starting and moving a car. Defensive driving and autocross schools held by local clubs are excellent resources. The only caveat is that parents need to teach their kids about using their knowledge intelligently. Racing is for race tracks and race cars. Driving is for everday. Don't get the two confused. ===== Matthew Yip [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/mgyip/ '87 GTi 16v - x2 '88 M5 '99 F350 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 07:23:43 -0800 (PST) From: Chester Wong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Request of "Stupid Chester Tricks Part(3)" Duh...I didn't save that one in my archives...doh! Anyone have it handy? Please forward to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks, Chester ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 09:31:24 -0600 From: "Chris Alberts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Stupid!! - Really? Joe opines, with regard to airbag removal: >>Other than it being a really stupid thing to do, it would all but kill resale value. I think >>you have to sign a release form too! >>I've seen wooden airbag BMW wheels for about $650 - $850. >>Is a stylish wheel worth you (sic) life? Check the facts: airbags provide benefit in less than 5% of circumstances if the driver is wearing a seat belt. (Much greater if not.) If the original poster always belts up, then the additional benefit of an airbag is marginal. I'd like a kill switch for all the airbags in my car personally, and I'd happily sign any release. As other posters have mentioned - airbags are not nearly as good as they're cracked up to be, and while every life saved is valuable, the $40bn that airbags have cost car buyers over the years put the cost of saving each life at something like $5mn. There must be a more cost-effective way to save lives than this. Estimates also place the number of children killed by airbags at nearly 100, but I'm not even going to get into that. You may be right about resale value though. C. 99 M3 <--- just got recall notice for side airbags that said to avoid excessive speed when near potholes or curbs or on rough roads. ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #239 ************************** _________________________________________ | Please visit these UUC-approved BMW parts vendors/service providers: | (listed alphabetically) | Bonneville Motorwerks . http://www.bonnevillemotorwerks.com | Circle Tire Co. (used & classic BMW parts) e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Curry's Auto Service . http://www.currysauto.com | Eurosport . http://www.eurosport-hp.com | Koala MotorSport . http://www.koalamotorsport.com | Taylor BMW - http://www.taylorbmw.com - Doc Bimmer! | The Ultimate Garage . http://www.ultimategarage.com | UUC Motorwerks . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com | Zionsville Autosport . http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com ����������������������������������������
