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#1. Facom Lug Wrench - from Bob Dorchester
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:23:43 -0500 From: Bob Dorchester <rjdorche@concentric.net> Subject: Facom Lug Wrench Shortly after purchasing my M3 in 1994, I took one look at the BMW lug wrench and knew there had to be a better solution. For some reason, I was soon on the Griot's Garage mail list (thanks BMWNA!) and purchased the Facom wrench. It provides about a 14" lever with a rubber grip. Has withstood about 4 years of monthly wheel changes and still works perfectly. Unless you prefer an X wrench, I highly recommend the Facom. I no longer see it advertised in Griot's catalog or his website. You can also check The Ultimate Garage. I have no affiliation with either business; just a satisfied customer. http://www.griotsgarage.com/ http://www.ultimategarage.com/home.html Bob Dorchester 95M3
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#2. Ups and Downs with an M3 - from Wayne Miller
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:55:10 -0400 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: Ups and Downs with an M3 I had a great M3 day yesterday when I got FTD at the NJ BMWCCA autocross and the car was just perfect. Today, I took it in for Inspection I and they changed the oil and then drove it to work. I parked at the outdoor lot next to the covered lot where I normally park (they were paving it so I couldn't park there) and then went into my office. When I was leaving, they brought me the car and I saw the the window was open. This normally wouldn't have been a problem because the car was on top of one of those 2 car stacking thingies but it POURED!!! today. The inside of the car was soaked on the driver's side. There was standing water behind the front seat. I got the manager and he told me that it would just dry out but I told him that I wanted a written report. He said to just come back and see him if there were any problems but I insisted on a written report. He filled out the proper paperwork, writing right on the sheet that it was the atendant's fault and I unhappily left. I then heard a noise inside the car and realized that the water shorted the switch for the lumbar support and the motor wouldn't stop running, even though it wasn't inflating the lumbar support. I turned around and went back to the lot and showed the manager and made him add that to the report. I pulled the connector under the seat to stop the motor and then left. I realized later tonight, when I got to my normal, enclosed, garage that the seat controls don't work. I will see if they work tomorrow. The receipt for the damage report says that I can't call with questions for 10 days so I will probably have the interior detailed and the seat fixed and then submit the bills to them. Does anyone have any better ideas? -Wayne '99 M3 that's all wet (there is more water in there today than when I accidentally drove the car into the flood last year).
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#3. An interesting link - from Wayne Miller
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:58:18 -0400 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: An interesting link I came upon this link just now: http://www.luxuryrecovery.com/1012_bmwm3_080300.htm Look at the description at the bottom of the page that goes with these pictures. Their "light left nose" damage looks worse than when I put my car into the wall at Pocono raceway (during a DE event) and did $20,000 damage. -Wayne
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#4. Re: [E36M3] Stereo Question - casette adapter - from Thomas E. Tice
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 23:47:24 -0400 From: "Thomas E. Tice" <tetice@worldnet.att.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Stereo Question - casette adapter I agree that a cassette adapter isn't a very elegant solution but the sound quality is decent (especially compared to an FM adapter). However, if you plan to count on a cassette adapter for any aux input, you may be in for bad news. I have tried these devices on at least 4 different BMW head units (usually with a portable CD until I installed a changer) and all have triggered the autoreverse mechanism repeatedly causing the setup to be unusable. The head units represented various manufacturers including Pioneer and Alpine for sure (maybe others?). I have also used two different cassette adapters one a Sony and another some generic brand. The adapters seem to work fine in home cassette decks (a Denon) and on various boom boxes that I tried. Tom Tice '98 M3/4 '99 540/6 PS FWIW, I have also tapped other head units into BMW amps successfully. In my case these were a '88 535iS and a '90 325iS. I have not tried this on more recent vintage BMWs. I would assume that it can still be done unless BMW has radically changed their audio system strategy ( E39 and E46 cars appear to represent such a change??). I had no problems but you had better understand thoroughly what you are doing or risk damage to the amps or head unit or both. > P.S. there's nothing that bad about a "casette adapter". casettes sound > bad because of tape. not the heads. if you put one head against another > you don't lose much signal quality at all. (assuming your casette player > and adapter are good quality) i can't imagine MP3 files (not that great > sounding to begin with) played through the stock BMW stereo (not that great > sounding to begin with) would be degraded enough to worry about. >
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#5. Re: [E36M3] strut tower bar with k-mac camber plates - from Bob Dorchester
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 20:47:23 -0500 From: Bob Dorchester <rjdorche@concentric.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] strut tower bar with k-mac camber plates I have a 95 M3 with H&R 29910s, K-macs and a Dinan tower brace, installed without the K-mac top reinforcement piece. The Dinan bar is contoured perfectly to fit the top of the towers and any proper tower brace should provide this reinforcement. And no flames on the Dinan brace being proper, please. It's the only Dinan piece on my car! Bob Dorchester 95M3 > Kit Wetzler wrote: > Just installed a set of K-mac camber plates (along with H&R sports and konis) > onto my car. (gotta do the rears tomorrow) > > Anyway, they include this neat reinforcement that goes on top of the strut > tower... my question is this: What if I want to get a strut tower bar? Do I > remove those little reinforcement plates and just depend on the strut tower > bar? Or, are there strut tower bars that will fit on top? >
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#6. Suspension Improvement questions from a newbie - from Bora Akyol
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 21:45:31 -0700 From: "Bora Akyol" <akyol@pluris.com> Subject: Suspension Improvement questions from a newbie Hi This is my first post to this list, please advise if this post is inappropriate. I am the newest owner of a 1995 M3 in pristine condition. The car is bone stock and I am planning on improving the suspension before I start on engine upgrades. What are the best improvements I can do for my car for the money? I am currently planning to do the BMW Motorsport X-brace and the strut tower brace. I have read pretty controversial statements on several web site about the strut tower braces. Since I would like to spend the least possible amount of money, which strut tower brace provides good results for the least amount of money? What else should I plan on upgrading? Thanks in advance Bora Akyol 95 M3 (1/95 prod date)
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#7. RE: [E36M3] Suspension Improvement questions from a newbie - from MDadgar@handspring.com
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:28:54 -0700 From: MDadgar@handspring.com Subject: RE: [E36M3] Suspension Improvement questions from a newbie Hi Bora, > This is my first post to this list, please advise if this post is > inappropriate. > Welcome! > What are the best improvements I can do for my car for the money? > You're probably going to hear this a lot (and I'm making some assumptions here), but the BEST thing you can improve about your car is the DRIVER. These things are SO GOOD right out of the box that chances are the car is way better than you are. Unless, of course, you're an ex-F1 driver. And if you are, you won't need advice on what to change. :) Take it to the track a couple of times and see if it really does need improvement. If it does, chances are the track time will tell you exactly what to fix first. > What else should I plan on upgrading? > If this is a street car, I'd recommend a Jim Conforti chip. It will improve the driveability of the car noticeably. You can get one from Eurosport (www.sharked.com), Turner Motorsports (www.turnermotorsports.com), or a number of other retailers. - Mark '95 M3 '97 528i 5-spd '88 M3, Hennarot, track car ---- Mark Dadgar - Product Manager, Accessories (650) 230-5037 voice - (650) 230-2100 fax mdadgar@handspring.com - Handspring, Inc. "wide awake on the edge of the world" - Marillion Check out Visor at www.handspring.com!
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#8. Re: [E36M3] Stereo Question - from Sean Hester
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:57:56 PDT From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Stereo Question >Sean, >Why can't you use an aftermarket head unit with the >stock amp? They both use high-impedance lines. You'd >have to splice some lines but I don't see why it >wouldn't work. Maybe add a cap to decouple them, if >necessary. Another alternative is to use a switch or >relay to use the aftermarket MP3 player with the >factory amp. Just wire its outputs to the switch, >along with the factory head unit. Output goes to the >factory amp. Maybe wire a relay to click over to the >factory head unit when its on and over to the MP3 >player when the factory head is off. Easy to do with >Radioshack components. Well you might want a better >relay. Maybe a solid state one to get rid of the >contact chatter.. >Whadya think? i always forget not everone is lazy like myself. but sure... if you want to re-wire a couple things, make level matchers, rig up a couple relays, etc, etc then you could do all the things matt mentions. though... i'm not sure it would sound much better (if at all) then a good cassette adapter. it's pretty easy to make a "bad" level matcher, or noisy relay system... these days i never do that sorta stuff, i spend money (like on new amps) instead of spending time and effort. the only time i DO do that kinda thing is when what i want isn't available. (like i rigged up two 6 cd changers to act as a 12 cd changer, because i couldn't buy a 12 cd changer for my stereo... _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
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#9. Re: [E36M3] Stereo Question - casette adapter - from Sean Hester
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Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 23:17:23 PDT From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Stereo Question - casette adapter >However, if you plan to count on a cassette adapter for any aux input, you >may >be in for bad news. I have tried these devices on at least 4 different BMW >head >units (usually with a portable CD until I installed a changer) and all have >triggered the autoreverse mechanism repeatedly causing the setup to be >unusable. you gotta get a good one. there are ones that have gears internally, that make the "sprockets" feel like a running tape, by tensioning then correctly. that's the kind you need for most car stereos. one thing to watch out for is mechanical noise. i had a cheap one of these and the internal gears made enough squeaking and grinding noises to be a PITA. but i did eventually find one that was quiet and sounded very good. of course it cost $50... the ones that have no gears (or sprockets at all) will usually only work with non auto-reverse decks, or home decks (front loaded, where you put the thing into a holder and close the door, instead of side loaded (where the tape gets sucked in like a vcr)) _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
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#10. Dome Light Bulb Size - from Altezza280TT@cs.com
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Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 02:30:04 EDT From: Altezza280TT@cs.com Subject: Dome Light Bulb Size Anyone know what size bulb for dome light? And also the front turn light bulbs for e36 M3. Thank, Mark 97 ///M3