[uucdigest] Tuesday, January 21 2003 Volume 03 : Number 6039
_________________________________________________________________ | | Search the ARCHIVES: | http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] | | Visit Richard Nott's Ultimate BMW Database: | http://www.bmwdatabase.com | | 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: RE:[uuc] <E36> "Disc Error" / CD Changer Re: [uuc] Windows CE crashes on 745i Re: [uuc] Windows CE crashes on 745i [uuc] Re: E30 convertible weight ballast [uuc] Re: <E36> Euro Headlights WITH Xenon Upgrade? Re: [uuc] Re: E30 convertible weight ballast [uuc] CD Player Re: [uuc] CD Player Re: [uuc] CD Player RE: [uuc] 740iL rotors Re: [uuc] Re: E30 convertible weight ballast Re: [uuc] CD Player ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 17:41:30 -0800 (PST) From: Jonathan Brush <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE:[uuc] <E36> "Disc Error" / CD Changer "Rob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sez: " Has anyone successfully repaired one of these old Alpine 6 disc players? I was thinking of opening it up and cleaning it. Any advice?" Rob, not sure if the player is the same one in my E34, but I did take mine apart a few years ago, when I was getting alot of errors in playing. The box was easy to remove and the plastic gears and sliding parts were in the open. I used plastic-friendly lube from my model railroading days (for the locomotives) and got everything slippery again.I put it back together and have had no trouble since. HTH. Jon __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 18:07:51 -0800 (PST) From: Andre Yew <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Windows CE crashes on 745i On Sat, 18 Jan 2003, John Coffin wrote: > http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,3959,833424,00.asp?kc=BAZD103019TX1K01 > 00547 > > How do you reboot while driving? Interesting stories on how Windows CE in > the 745i has a few gitches. John, thanks for the link. As a software engineer working in the embedded computing industry, I agree that as more computers are embedded into everyday devices, reliability (and security, see below)is going to be more important. However, from reading the article, there really isn't anything in those trouble reports that single out WinCE as the culprit. More likely, as the article states, it's just a really complicated system, and there are bugs in the application, not the OS, that are causing all sorts of problems. And as much as WinCE is a joke as far as embedded OSes go, we can't necessarily blame it for the 7's electronic problems. As cars become more connected, interesting security issues start to come up. With many car peripherals sharing the same internal communications busses, and cars starting to be networked (OnStar or other about-to-be-introduced Internet connections), it's very conceivable that someone could remotely hack into your car and cause problems. What would happen if someone told your new throttle-by-wire control to go to and stay at WOT? Or someone told your ABS brakes to apply full braking pressure, or manipulated them to cause instant oversteer? Can you imagine the trouble one could raise by doing this simultaneously to very many cars at rush hour? This may seem fanciful, but after seeing the public history of hacking, there are fairly amazing and non-intuitive ways of breaking into systems and making them do what you want. For example, many uninitiated people would consider the 1988 Internet Worm's mechanism to be straight out of a movie. - --Andre ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 18:17:30 -0800 (PST) From: Andre Yew <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Windows CE crashes on 745i On Sat, 18 Jan 2003, John Coffin wrote: > How do you reboot while driving? Interesting stories on how Windows CE in > the 745i has a few gitches. One more thing I wanted to add, speaking of reboots. There is a certain well-regarded maker of ABS brakes whose ABS computer purposely reboots a few dozen times per second because that's the only way they can guarantee a certain reliability level. (For the non-computer people here, a reboot or reset generally restores most things in a computer to a known state, and is generally a good way to eliminate random variations in the state of the computer that may lead to crashes.) So the next time you use your ABS, think of how many times the computer's rebooting underneath you, between each ABS pulse :-). - --Andre ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 18:19:06 -0800 (PST) From: Neil Deshpande <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Re: E30 convertible weight ballast Gary: I second this (in part). The mechanism of a spring-mass damper is to be much smaller than the mass to be damped, but 'move a lot more' to dissipate the energy of the larger mass and cut down vibration. However, for a mass-only damper the action is different. It changes the vibration characteristic of the body itself and cuts down vibration that way. For example, the tail of the iC may be resonant at the same frequency as the cowl. Putting a mass on one will take them out of sync. At least, that is how I've always understood it. If it were a rigid mass clamped to the body w/o a spring how would it 'move more' to dissipate energy anyway? Neil Deshpande *** "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Any battery, when bolted to the body, will vibrate less than a battery configured as a damper, much less. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:32:40 -0500 From: "Bill Bauman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Re: <E36> Euro Headlights WITH Xenon Upgrade? > I was looking into remedies for the rather poor performance of the lighting > on my E36 M3 and came across two items: 1) The Euro lights (glass lenses, > projector style) and, 2) various "home-cooked" Xenon upgrades. I have Euro lights on my '97 328is and an upgrade kit to HIDs for my '02 F150. This is made by Sylvania, and replaces the entire headlight assembly. They're both great systems. Excellent coverage way down the road without blinding other drivers. The difference between the two is the color of the light. Yeah - the whiter light provided by the HIDs is nice, but I don't feel I'm missing a thing with the Euros. I think I've seen kits that allow you to upgrade the Euros to HID for another $4-500. IMO, not worth it just to change the color of the light. If the reflector design is the same (which it would be), you're not gonna gain anything other than whiter light. If it were me, I'd put in the Euros and be done with it. Good luck, Bill '97 328is '02 F150 SC 4x4 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:10:42 -0800 (PST) From: Tammer Farid <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Re: E30 convertible weight ballast That's why I said: "... it won't work because part of the mass absorbing the vibrations will be the battery--which is what you want to avoid." So could John B. make the damping mass smaller, so the battery could be bolted to the body, vibration-free, in the trunk location? tammer <--doubtful but curious to see if this could work. - --- Gary Derian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Any battery, when bolted to the body, will vibrate less > than a battery > configured as a damper, much less. > > Gary Derian > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:13:27 -0600 From: "Burtsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] CD Player I want to buy a gift for my son for his 30th birthday. He has a 1996 E36 and the radio is semi broken. He has the basic radio with no CD player and the FM is on the fritz. Can someone suggest how to do one of the following: A. Get his radio repaired (he lives in Denver) and have someone install a 6 disc CD changer in the trunk (What brand will work with his radio? Bought where? Installed by whom?) B. Where can I purchase a rebuilt radio for his car that is basically original equipment (Alpine?) that includes a 6 disc CD changer in the trunk and where should he get it installed in Denver? C. Where can I purchase a new radio for his car that is basically original equipment (Alpine?) that includes a 6 disc CD changer in the trunk and where should he get it installed in Denver? D. Should I forget all the above and just send him to a BMW dealer in Denver? E. Should I go for an alternate stereo brand (like blaupunct, HK, or whoever makes the upgraded system for the E36) and are there any problems with matching the car as far as looks? (He has had radios stolen in the past when he was in Chicago so he does not like high end stereos for his cars.) Burt 98 M3 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:36:20 -0800 From: "Bora Akyol (BMW)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] CD Player CD changer installation on the E36 is a slam dunk 15 minute job as they are all pre-wired. As far as the head unit goes, you should be able to pick up a used head unit in good condition on Ebay or from one of the listers. I also think BMW has a flat rate repair service for these head units Bora On 1/20/03 7:13 PM, "Burtsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I want to buy a gift for my son for his 30th birthday. He has a 1996 E36 > and the radio is semi broken. He has the basic radio with no CD player and > the FM is on the fritz. > > Can someone suggest how to do one of the following: > > A. Get his radio repaired (he lives in Denver) and have someone install a 6 > disc CD changer in the trunk (What brand will work with his radio? Bought > where? Installed by whom?) > > B. Where can I purchase a rebuilt radio for his car that is basically > original equipment (Alpine?) that includes a 6 disc CD changer in the trunk > and where should he get it installed in Denver? > > C. Where can I purchase a new radio for his car that is basically original > equipment (Alpine?) that includes a 6 disc CD changer in the trunk and where > should he get it installed in Denver? > > D. Should I forget all the above and just send him to a BMW dealer in > Denver? > > E. Should I go for an alternate stereo brand (like blaupunct, HK, or > whoever makes the upgraded system for the E36) and are there any problems > with matching the car as far as looks? (He has had radios stolen in the > past when he was in Chicago so he does not like high end stereos for his > cars.) > > Burt > 98 M3 > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:50:50 -0800 From: Mark Dadgar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] CD Player Bora Akyol (BMW) at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > CD changer installation on the E36 is a slam dunk 15 minute job as they are > all pre-wired. > > As far as the head unit goes, you should be able to pick up a used head unit > in good condition on Ebay or from one of the listers. You need to be a little bit careful, though. The 1992-1995 cars used a different bus interface to the CD changer than the 96+ cars did (in fact, some very late 95 production cars had the later style, too). I'm not sure if the cable is the same, but it's worth looking into before you buy a used head unit/changer. It would suck if you bought a pre-96 setup and it didn't work with the wiring harness already in the car. - - Mark - -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:51:46 -0800 From: "KKiely" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [uuc] 740iL rotors Jeff, None that I know of in the Bay Area, however, if you call Steve D'Geralamo he has in the past had it shipped from a warehouse in the valley. And Steve is just a great person to deal with. - -Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 23:16:21 -0500 From: "Gary Derian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] Re: E30 convertible weight ballast I like to modify cars as much as the next guy, but if I had an E30 convertible, that would be my cruising around car and all my modification energy would go into my M3 or M5 or some other car where performance modifications had a purpose. Just my opinion of course. I'd never suggest that dinking around with battery boxes and dampers is a futile exercise. I figure than BMW engineers got it right and sized the damping mass and spring mounts for it to correctly damp the body flex. If the mass were reduced, the springs would have to be softened to maintain the resonant frequency and the damping would be a bit poorer. If the battery were used as the mass, it would fail in short order due to constant vibration. The easiest solution for a decidedly non performance car is to put the battery in the engine compartment and a solid damper mass where it can do the most effective damping. Regardless, this thought experiment or gedanken experiment as Einstein would say is certainly interesting and provoking. Gary Derian > > So could John B. make the damping mass smaller, so the > battery could be bolted to the body, vibration-free, in the > trunk location? > > tammer <--doubtful but curious to see if this could work. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:13:13 -0800 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [uuc] CD Player Yes Mark, That is called due diligence :-) >-- Original Message -- >Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:50:50 -0800 >Subject: Re: [uuc] CD Player >From: Mark Dadgar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: BMW List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Bora Akyol (BMW) at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> CD changer installation on the E36 is a slam dunk 15 minute job as they >are >> all pre-wired. >> >> As far as the head unit goes, you should be able to pick up a used head >unit >> in good condition on Ebay or from one of the listers. > >You need to be a little bit careful, though. The 1992-1995 cars used a >different bus interface to the CD changer than the 96+ cars did (in fact, >some very late 95 production cars had the later style, too). > >I'm not sure if the cable is the same, but it's worth looking into before >you buy a used head unit/changer. It would suck if you bought a pre-96 >setup and it didn't work with the wiring harness already in the car. > >- Mark >-- >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #6039 *************************** | | In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. |________________________________________ | Please visit these UUC-approved BMW parts vendors/service providers: | (listed alphabetically) | | Autoscope-Motorsports - http://www.autoscope-motorsports.com | |==================================================== | | Koala MotorSport . 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