[uucdigest] Monday, July 30 2001 Volume 03 : Number 4074 _________________________________________________________________ | | Search the ARCHIVES: | http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] | | Visit Richard Nott's Ultimate BMW Database: | http://www.gis.nsw.gov.au/staff/rnott/bmw/bmw.html | | 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. | Technical Problems? Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |__________________________________________________________________ In this BMW UUC Digest: [uuc] e28: Installed intake,TMS Chip this weekend (long) ["jedinite" <bi] Re: [uuc] WTB: 1995 e36 M3 ["Ed McKernan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] Re: [uuc] synth oil query [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Re: [uuc] e28: Installed intake,TMS Chip this weekend (long) [Rob Levins] [uuc] M3 lists [Bryan Welch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] [uuc] M3 Brake Q... ["Ed McKernan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 23:52:35 -0500 From: "jedinite" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] e28: Installed intake,TMS Chip this weekend (long) This weekend (my first full weekend of owning the '87 528e) I did a number on the car: First, two full cans of engine degreaser to clean up the mess under the hood. Started with "maximum strength" degreaser and then rinsed (low pressure water, just barely dripping out the hose). Sacrificed a couple of towels to wipe down all the surfaces I could reach, getting them pretty presentable (there really was painted metal under that layer of grease!). Followed that up with a full can of "regular" degreaser (the foaming kind). Followed up again with drizzle from the hose and the sacrifice of a few more towels. The results were impressive - much much nicer than before. Not quite a concourse car, but for a week of ownership and 110,000 miles in the company of someone else, not too bad. I cleaned the inside of the car (vacuumed floors, wiped windows, stripped old stickers & gunk, armor-all dash, etc), as well as gave the outside a decent wash and wax, plus hitting the chrome with two coats of polish and the trim (especially the bumpers) with several coats of black restorer. Also cleaned the wheels and shined (dressed) the tires. So with a mostly-clean, pretty decent looking $3000 new-to-me '87 528e sitting in my driveway, I figured I better start on making it faster ;) First, the badge came off the back. I like the clean, symmetrical look without the model number distinction. And it's faster without the weight ;) Hair driver to heat the glue holding on the numbers and letter, and dental floss (in a sawing motion behind the numbers) to remove. No problem. Reside removed with goof-off. There is a little discoloration where the numbers used to be, but I can live with it I guess. I'll probably put it back on if I decide not to repaint, due to the discoloration. I also took off a little two-tone pinstripe running the length of both sides. Man was that a PITA. Goof-off to loosen, then pull it up, then two doses of goof-off to remove the adhesive. Took at least an hour, but I like the clean german look without the stripe. On to the good stuff: I ordered the K&N cone filter & intake and TMS/Conforti Chip earlier in the week. Everything arrived as expected, well packaged and on-time. Instructions were provided with both items, which were clear and to the point. The intake instructions could have been a little more detailed, but they worked OK. A better picture could have saved some time and confusion, but no harm done. Intake was first. With the newly-cleaned engine bay, the new parts wouldn't stand out too bad. Removal of the factory airbox was a snap. Found a crack in my intake hose just beyond the factory airbox. Repaired it with a nice slap of Racer Tape, until I can get a new hose. The bracket for the intake is well-built and solid. Everything matched up well and bolted up easily. The intake hose didn't quite seem to fit exactly perfectly with the new setup, but it seems to be snug enough. Once I replace the hose with a newer (non-cracked) hose, I'll evaluate again. The cone filter is pre-oiled and fits right on the new assembly. No problems here - plenty of clearance in every direction. Overall, install was about an hour. Nothing big at all. If it wasn't my first time under the hood of the e28, it probably could have been accomplished in thirty minutes. After the intake was installed and double-checked, I took it for a spin around the neighborhood. Cool open-air intake sound under acceleration? Check. Acceptable (almost imperceptible) noise levels with regular driving? Check. Noticeable increase in acceleration? Check. Of course, just sealing the crack in the intake could have helped there. But I was happy with the money spent on the intake. It would be really nice to get a heatshield around the intake, something to at least shield it from the motor itself. I'll try to fabricate something down the line, but for now it didn't seem to run hot at all after preliminary testing. Pulling the ECU was not a problem. Getting the ECU uncovered proved to be a nightmare. The little screws holding the ECU cover didn't want to give up without stripping out the heads. Against my better judgment I took out a hammer and pounded a short phillips into the center of the stuck screws, getting just enough traction to remove them all. Once the cover was out of the way, the printed circuit board had the same problems - two of the screws holding it down were the same soft phillips head. One came out with the hammer trick. One required the use of an electric screwdriver, destroying the screw in the process. Once the ECU was finally opened, chip replacement was about 5 minutes. Prying the factory chip out was a breeze. The new chip was too wide to go straight in, so I carefully bent the pins into the proper width and snapped in the chip. Re-install ECU, 2 minutes, and hop out for a drive. One word: WOW! The difference is amazing. The car is almost peppy now. It's certainly "torquey". First gear has some definite pep. The power point for each gear has definitely shifted down - before it was hard to get power out of the engine below 3500 RPMs. Now it would pull from about 2800 in every gear. Not very strongly, but it would pull. Running up to redline wasn't as necessary, and certainly didn't seem to be putting such a stress on the engine. The intake and the chip seemed to match up very well. A very significant increase in performance. I can see this is money well spent - the car will be easier and more fun to drive, no question. Much easier to get around, and the car is not so dependant upon being in the lowest possible gear. I fully recommend both products to anyone interested. The biggest jump came from the chip, no question. I do like the intake and was willing to take the chance. The bang-for-the-buck is definitely in the chip, though. But both seem to compliment each other very well. What's in store for the etaBeast? Floormats, for one - the stock mats are stained and shot. Weathertek seems like the best bet. I also want to do something about the seats - the leather is terribly cracked. Either I'll resurface them myself, or pay someone locally to do so, or I might just go with seatcovers and forget about it. I will likely get new wheels and tires - probably 16", possibly 17", in a classic 5-spoke (like the Racing Dynamics RGS) with some decent wet-weather tires. Nothing expensive. Primarily for the purpose of being able to mount some excellent snow tires on my factory rims for easy changeover come winter. I'll likely replace the missing chrome strips around the windows. A paint job is a possibility - done locally for well under a grand (at a big step up from Maaco quality), if I do the prep-work. The paint is pretty far gone in several places - hood, roof mostly. I'll likely start attacking all the usual maintenance items. Fluids, hoses, belts being good culprits. My driver's side high-beam is cracked (still functional, but taking on water). I'll replace it, but might step up to the Euro setup instead of direct replacement. UUC shortshift will be ordered tomorrow I think. Rather than replace the worn-out bushings in the shift linkage, I'll likely just buck up and put in the UUC. The car already has an in-dash CD, but I'll likely put some work into the sound system (new head unit, eq, amplifiers x2, mids in kick-panels on the floor, tweets in the factory location, a single sub in the back) plus an alarm. If this is going to be a regular daily driver for the next few years (as I'm expecting) and not just a winter beater, I'd like to have a decent sound system. Nothing big, nothing fancy. Almost all either second-hand or already-owned-sitting-on-a-shelf equipment. Mostly just wiring and time needed :) The car soon will go into the local CCA member & expert mechanic for a full once-over, just to ensure that I didn't miss anything. I'm not sure where I'm going with this car yet. I'm in the process of buying a 1995 M3 as my fun car and track car. The 528e will definitely be the winter car, and will probably be a daily driver to keep the miles off the M3. Especially as the M3 gets more and more "track prepared". the M3 might even turn into a club racer at some point next year. I might keep the 528e for a long time. Or I might put a little work into it and move on next year. We'll see! :) Pictures to come (to my website). My digicam is currently out on loan. Eric Foster http://bmw.jedinite.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 05:06:09 From: "Ed McKernan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] WTB: 1995 e36 M3 Does anyone out there know if e36 M3 Front brakes fit behind the 16inch split spoke wheels that came on the 99 Z3 2.8 coupes. I know that most 16s do not work but, I am hoping to get lucky as I have all the necessary parts to do the conversion minus the calipers. Also have any Z3 owners out there converted their rear brakes to the MZ3 rear brakes? If so what is involved, parts wise? TIA Ed 99 Z3 Coupe _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 01:31:22 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [uuc] synth oil query Kim from Down Under writes: << Now, on to Mobil 1. Did you know that this oil is NOT made from a true synthetic base stock?? It is actually dino oil in disguise!! Which is one of the reasons why Mobil was involved in a court case in the not-too-distant past in which it was LEGALLY determined that they are allowed to market a number of their products as "sythetic" - because they have undergone an elaborate transformation. However, the truth is that the base material is still crude oil. From my limited understanding of chemistry I believe what they do is turn the base stock into a gas then turn it back into a liquid - ask a chemist how, not me. The point is, a duck is still a duck even after its been roasted. >> Aherm, Call me Silly Sally, but I beleive that was CASTROL, and they argued that the oil, a mixture of sythetic and dino blood, was a "Synthesis" or some such double talk. Maybe Mobil had the same problem, but they way I have always heard it -Mobil 1 has been and continues to be 100% synthetic. But I use Amsoil so what do I know...... Cheers, Jim Jim Laing 84 318i EVO II 85 325e Dirty E30(s) www.DirtyE30.net ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 01:45:11 -0400 From: Rob Levinson * UUC Motorwerks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] e28: Installed intake,TMS Chip this weekend (long) > From: "jedinite" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [uuc] e28: Installed intake,TMS Chip this weekend (long) > This weekend (my first full weekend of owning the '87 528e) I did a number > on the car: Sounds like you're having fun and treating it the way it deserves. However... > I cleaned the inside of the car... armor-all dash... Clean that Armorall stuff off NOW. Undo the damage with some Vinylex. The Armorall is known to dry out the plastic, causing you to _need_ more Armorall. E28 dashboards are notorious for cracking anyway, Armorall would be the kiss of death. Vinylex, ASAP. > On to the good stuff: I ordered the K&N cone filter & intake I keep forgetting the mountain of public misperception that must be overcome. You're not doing your motor's reliability any good with a K&N (unacceptable amounts of particulate, and less flow when slightly dirty) and you are certainly _losing_ power without a shield. Even in my 475hp M5 Turbo, I ran a stock paper air filter. If you really want the 3hp that badly, take out the big metal weight in the spare tire well. The weight loss will equal more regained power, and you can stick with the E28 airbox which actually flows very well and already is a cold air intake from behind the headlight. - - Rob E28 veteran X 4 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 22:39:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Bryan Welch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] M3 lists What are the other M3 related mailing lists worth joining? Thanks Bryan ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 05:07:01 From: "Ed McKernan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] M3 Brake Q... Does anyone out there know if e36 M3 Front brakes fit behind the 16inch split spoke wheels that came on the 99 Z3 2.8 coupes. I know that most 16s do not work but, I am hoping to get lucky as I have all the necessary parts to do the conversion minus the calipers. Also have any Z3 owners out there converted their rear brakes to the MZ3 rear brakes? If so what is involved, parts wise? TIA Ed 99 Z3 Coupe _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #4074 *************************** ________________________________________ | Please visit these UUC-approved BMW parts vendors/service providers: | (listed alphabetically) | Camptown Automotive - http://www.camptownauto.com | Circle Tire Co. (used & classic BMW parts) e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Detailwerks Chicago Inc. "Chicago's Premier Automotive Appearance | Center" . http://www.detailwerkschicago.com |==================================================== | Koala MotorSport . BMW technical information, special tool sales/rental | http://www.koalamotorsport.com |==================================================== | Taylor BMW - http://www.taylorbmw.com - Doc Bimmer! | UUC Motorwerks . http://www.uucmotorwerks.com |__________________________________________
