[uucdigest] Friday, September 19 2003 Volume 03 : Number 6767
_________________________________________________________________ | | 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> UUC Stage II Flywheel + M5 Clutch + USSE3 ? [uuc] driving school - Tremblant - Sept 29/30 [uuc] '95 M3 Avus/Dove Gray FS RE: [uuc] Kumho MX tire RE: [uuc] Minimum Brake Pad Thicknesses for Track Usage Re: [uuc] An "oops" or coincidence? E36... [uuc] E46 final drive failure [uuc] Need h*lp ASAP. Please read and react. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 08:06:49 -0700 From: "Clan Hood-Douda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [uuc] <e36> UUC Stage II Flywheel + M5 Clutch + USSE3 ? Ok, thanks. I'll inspect and report results later. Mike - -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary Derian Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 6:39 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [uuc] <e36> UUC Stage II Flywheel + M5 Clutch + USSE3 ? It is highly suspect as the cause of the lurching. You may inspect it and find that it is the only part that needs changing. Its worth a try, although 123K on the original clutch it may be due anyway. Gary Derian ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 12:25:38 -0400 From: "Chris Pawlowicz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] driving school - Tremblant - Sept 29/30 Just in case anybody in the NE is interested, we're having a 2 day BMW Club driving school at LeCircuit Mt-Tremblant. This is an awesome track (totally repaved last year) in a really nice part of Canada (It's about an hour north of Montreal). We still have some spots open. The school is Mon.Sept.29/Tues Sept.30 and, while it is BMW Club Canada, runs very similar to BMW CCA events (usually a little smaller run-groups and more track time though!). Cost is ~$400 USD for the two days. More details from the BMW Club Quebec website at http://www.clubbmw.ca/conduite/ecoles.html If you're going, come by and say hi- I'm in a white E30 and will be running around as part of the organizers as well as a student. Chris P '89 325i, '74 2002, '99 z3 2.8 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 12:46:42 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [uuc] '95 M3 Avus/Dove Gray FS '95 Avus Blau w/ Dove gray, 5spd., 67K miles, excellent condition, staggered wheels. Stock no mods, need to sell. $18500 or best offer. Pix located at: http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/mdoctor37919/lst?.dir=/1995+BMW+M3+Avus+Blau&.src=ph&.view= Call for more details. Evan Evans President Smoky Mountain BMW CCA 865-694-3088 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 12:02:35 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [uuc] Kumho MX tire "Jamie Howton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Any experiences with the new Kumho MX tire? > > Is it the value it appears to be? > > My $0.02 > I have almost 10K miles on a set of 225/40-18 Kuhmo MX's on my 95 M3 > with one Road America D/E and two Autocrosses on them. Current tread > depth is approx .15" pretty evenly across all four tires, I rotate front > to back about every 4K miles. I don't remember what the tread depth was > when new. 9/32nds (unlike the usual 10/32 for full tread street tires). > My car is lowered on the TC Kline Trackline suspension (H&R track and > Koni S/A) with solid rear shock mounts, spherical rear trailing arm > bushings and Solid front control arm bushings (all Control Tech). I have a nearly identical car, minus the solid bushings. > It is aligned as close to stock toe settings as possible although I > have no numbers with me. In dry summer weather they grip very well, > I have no experience with race rubber but these are among the best > street tires I have driven on. Agree. Very good in the dry. > They tramline quite a bit on Chicago area highways, but some of the > roads are pretty rutted so I am not surprised. They tramline everywhere. Even on the above average for the US concrete Texas highways. They also had a bit of a low frequency hum from the get go. Luckily, my wife does not notice it. > In the wet they give up some traction, it's much easier to get sideways > and taking off from a stoplight and requires some feathering of the > accelerator (my engine is not stock FWIW). They are not as good as SO3's > in wet conditions although I haven't felt any evidence of hydroplaning > at very fast highway speeds. I haven't had S03s, but the MX are not as good as Pilot Sports in the rain (why are supposed to be worse than S03s). I would not say that they loose inordinate amount of grip (all tires do that on wet), but they They are also very heavy. > I haven't tried them below 50 degrees F, so I have no idea how they > would do in winter, my guess is "not well". We don't get much of a winter in Dallas, but the MXs did turn hard and lost traction when the temperatures dropped all the way into 50s last "winter". > I probably would buy these tires again although I'd go with a 235 or > 245 width next time, they'd fit which is contrary to the advice that > I got from the Tire Rack. Tire Rack was right. The 245/40-17s are larger than the size spec would suggest. They barely cleared the rear fenders and rubbed the muffler on my '95 M3. '96+ M3s have a bend in the muffler that should alleviate but not necessarily solve the muffler rubbing problems. That's why those tires are on my wife's 4-door E36. Where they fit better and only rub the outside fender lips during full compression (major bumps with passengers in the back). Fender rolling will solve that problem as soon as I get to it ;-) YMMV, alex f ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 12:21:17 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [uuc] Minimum Brake Pad Thicknesses for Track Usage "Marco Romani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I was told that it was possible by a former BMW mechanic that races > an E36. I've rebuilt many a caliper, thanks. However, I've never > bothered to do the math on if the rotor is at minimum run out and > the pads are gone if the cyclinder can get to the point where it > will leak. I didn't say the cylinder will fall out and go shooting > across the track. ;-) Yeah, I was exaggerating a bit. Like the other poster had clarified, old outer dust seals are very likely to dislodge at full caliper extension (low pads + low rotor). That will allow dust and moisture to get onto the piston surface. In time, the piston will scar/corrode that may in turn damage the internal fluid seal. In a round-about way you may end up with a brake fluid leak if you abuse and neglect your caliper seals, but it's not an immediate experience. > Next time I have everything apart I'll measure it. I'm pretty sure you'll end up with plenty of spare piston length. Either that or a group of BMW brake engineers are developing second careers as janitors. > never-the-less pads are cheap. Track time is expensive. Why get > to the point where you may have to loose track time to save a few > bucks on pads? Because most of us are cheap bastards with more time than money! Plus, changing pads is fun (or so I keep telling myself ;-) > I have seen some guys run the backing plates down so far that they > were about 1/2 normal thickness. Amazing. OK, I'm not THAT cheap. But I do like to get my money's worth from the pads. With the exception for all PBR/Repco products. Somehow every one of those I've ever tried had begged their way into my trash can long before they wore out. alex f ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 22:38:09 +0100 From: "Andrew Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] An "oops" or coincidence? E36... Pavel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: "When I started the car later, after I started the engine AND after I switched the lights on, check control said "Tail Light Failure". I thought "hm, another fused bulb" and drove off as it wasn't even dark yet. When I arrived at my destination I checked all the tail lights with the engine on and off, and they all seem to work?!" My old E36 318is did not come with Check-Control, but I understand that the Check-Control senses the current passed through the bulb filament. As the current drops to zero (blown bulb, infinite electrical resistance), the Check-Control displays a fault message. I ddid have problems with the outer taillight bulb carrier contacts "melting" due to an imperfect connection; sometimes the bulb would light, sometimes it would not. I suspect also that the Check-Control may indicate a bulb failure only when the resistance increases, not when it goes to infinity (blown bulb). In this case, the C-C will show a fault even though the bulb appears to illuminate. "I wasn't able to get the HVAC control unit out - I removed the knobs, the black front cover, and I got to a white box. The problematic light bulb is the middle one which lights up all the writing on the panel. The individual buttons' lights work fine. The bulb itself is ok and I got it to light up for a moment, but the problem is on the inside. It seems to be too big to slide out to the front or to slide down through where the OBC panel used to be, what's the trick here?" Do you have air con? Haynes shows the HV (not HVAC) unit coming out through the space left by removing the clock/OBC beneath it. I believe the HVAC unit (with two air-con controls) is deeper. Maybe that's why Haynes left it out. "Does that mean that my car is pre-wired for the advanced OBC and I can just get a new head unit and plug-n-play?" You will at least need your dealer to re-code your car so the OBC can be recognised. It's unlikely that the car is pre-wired and ready, as the E36's full OBC has two connectors which IIRC are wired differently. If you mean that there is an unused white connector plug lying around behind the clock/temp/C-C, then as I understand it, you will have to move two wires from one connector to the other. John? :) Andy T ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 23:05:45 +0100 From: "Andrew Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] E46 final drive failure Dear all, a recent or not-so-recent thread discussing limited-slip diffs has suddenly become very apposite for me. Recently a constant low-frequency vibration made itself felt through the car at 68-69 mph, staying until 73 or so. A couple of local-dealer technicians agreed that the vibration is clearly excessive (it's similar to the drumming noise you get when you leave a sunroof partly open at motorway speeds). Anyway the senior tech' has identified a "worn" diff (details are scant, I've yet to grill him) despite under 4,000 miles showing. I had suggested out-of-balance roadwheels, an out-of-round tyre, and an out-of-balance propshaft, but the service advisor wasn't forthcoming on whether or not those items had been checked. I don't particularly want the dealer to just replace big bits at big expense until they find the problem; it's under warranty, but I'll end up paying for it one way or the other, and wholesale parts replacement is a poor substitute for proper diagnosis. In order that I arm myself with some in-depth knowledge for my next visit, does anyone know of either (a) E46 final drive early failures or (b) another likely cause of such a noise? Extraneous noises are difficult to express accurately in words, I appreciate. The car is a 318i 2.0 auto, which has a 3.45:1 final drive. If it comes to it I may ask them to fit a 3.73 or 3.91 instead (30 mph/1000 rpm is too much for 150 lb-ft); these are offered as optional, shorter final drives in some Asian markets (option code S204A). LSD would be nice, but of course there isn't one for an E46 if it's not an M. The M diff is 3.62:1. That would be perfect. Any advice would be as welcome as ever. Andy T Thrummy '03 318i 2.0 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:22:28 -0400 From: "KMS - Brett Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Need h*lp ASAP. Please read and react. We found out an hour ago that the SCCA has withdrawn the eligibility of the Z4 in SSB. The cars are at the National Championships right now. TC Kline, Jim Leithauser of Bimmerhaus, and Dave Nielsen in a KMS prepared car, were all told the car was eligible, they were allowed to qualify, and because they ended up in the first three positions, the Mazda Miata crowd went bezerk. The result of several days of protests was for the SOM (Stewards of the meet) to rule in favour of the Z4, as the car has followed all the rules of eligibility. The Chief steward, a few hours ago, over ruled the SOMs and disqualified the car. His reasoning was that a printing delay in the cars specs proved it ineligible. The specs were published in April of this year, although the comp board showed their meeting minutes for December 16 2002 to have classified the car before the Dec 31 deadline. This printing delay has happened before on several occasions, at least once in this class, with the Acura RSX. The Chief Steward dismissed the precedent set by these previous occurrences and disqualified the car. It's our belief that Mazda corporate became involved, and this is a political decision. The Mazda Miata has ruled this class for the last 9 years, and they don't like the idea of having to race against a completive car. I'm asking for the help of everyone on these lists. Forward this list to any others you're on. Following is a list of email addresses of people who have the combined ability to reverse this decision before race time at 1pm tomorrow (Saturday 20th). This decision can be reversed up to 5 minutes before the race time. Please send an email expressing your disappointment in the actions of the Chief steward to each of these addresses. Note that many mail servers will reject more than about 20 email addresses, so you may have to break the list up. The list is in order of priority, with the president of SCCA at the top, Executive director next and so on, so if you can only send a few, start at the top. All of the really important people are above the break in the list. Thanks for any help you can offer. Brett Anderson KMS [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________ 100% Spam Control by SpamEnder Free Download and Trial http://www.spamender.com/ ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #6767 *************************** | | 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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