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#1. Re: [E36M3] Car and Driver Review (neutral M3s) - from Sean Hester
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 10:34:34 PST From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Car and Driver Review (neutral M3s) >So, Sean.. what was your final suspension receipe to >achieve that perfect balance? Components? Alignment? > I assube it couldn't have been neutral in all >conditions since the M3 isn't a prototype race car but >what was the final outcome? Would you describe your >car as easy to drive or was it a monster. How was >trailing throttle and brake response? my final M3 setup (95 M3) was as follows. - turner's 'euro' intake, including jim c chip, large hfm and euro airbox. (not that this has much to do with handling, but i may as well list it all right?) - kmac camber plates. front and rear camber set to -1.8 degrees. toe set to just a tiny bit of toe in. (sorry i don't remember the number, but it was only a tiny tiny bit) -1.8 was all i could get from the fronts without having too little caster. i know i could get more from the rear, but setting them to the same helped my goal of a neutral car. - stock sized (235/40/17) r compound tires (usually A032Rs) on the stock 10 spoke 17/7.5 rims. note... on 95s you get the same size front and rear. that's a big step toward neutral handling. smaller tires in the front (obviously) makes for understeer. - koni adjustible shocks. rears set to 1/2 turn from full soft. fronts set to 2 turns from full soft. note... i kept the stock springs, my car wasn't lowered at all. - xbrace, eibach front strut tower bar, dinan rear strut tower bar. - harness bar with 5 pt belts. --------------------------- that's is. with the front konis set to 2 turns i has neutral handling. meaning it was just as easy to get oversteer as understeer. that's the way i set it in the dry. with the fronts softer i got more understeer. this is what i did on the street, in the rain, and in the morning before i was warmed up. with the fronts stiffer i got oversteer. this is what i did if i was in a wierd mood and just wanted a tail happy car. (not very often) now... i'm sure my car wasn't the best handling one in the world. lowering would have helped. as would sway bars. in fact michael lord's and brian horne's were both set up "better" just in the seattle area. but the one thing i DID have was netral handling. (meaning as much understeer as oversteer) i'm pretty sure michael's car oversteered, and brian's understeered, while both could get through corners faster then mine. i just stopped messing with it once i got to neutral handling. _________________________________________________________________________ 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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#2. Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review - from Sean Hester
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 10:36:55 PST From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review >Understeer = cars turns _less_ than you've dialed in (NASCAR guys call it >"push"). > >Sounds like the C&D guys need to learn to drive properly... that's a thought i had late last night. no matter how "perfect" a car is set up. if you slam on the gas (to see how cool the engine is) and then realize it's time to turn, you're gonna get understeer. this behaviour is REALLY common, on test drives, with a powerful car. i'll be watching other reviews to see if other drivers comlain about the understeer. _________________________________________________________________________ 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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#3. Body Work Referral in Portland, Oregon - from John Craft
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 10:53:08 -0800 From: John Craft <john@elementri.com> Subject: Body Work Referral in Portland, Oregon Hello - Nasty bad luck while valet parking. Need a great reference for a body shop in Portland, Oregon who can be gentle with my Cosmos black quarter panel. Thanks, John Craft 95 E36
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#4. Dinan CAI Install - from Bora Akyol
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 11:35:34 -0800 From: Bora Akyol <akyol@pluris.com> Subject: Dinan CAI Install Has anyone of you done this? I am buying a used one and I am told that I will be needing some nutserts, do you know what size they are and where best to buy them. Any specialized tools that I may need? Like a jackhammer to drill through the steel plates. Thanks Bora Akyol Pluris akyol@pluris.com
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#5. RE: Fooling the seatbelt tensioner - from lgilb141
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 14:45:31 -0500 From: lgilb141 <lgilb141@bellsouth.net> Subject: RE: Fooling the seatbelt tensioner Don't know if this will work on a 98, but on my 95 the seatbelt tensioner presents a 100 ohm resistance between the two outside pins of the three pin connector under the seat. I just cut the connector off and soldered a 100 ohm resistor between the two pins and then plugged it back in and had the light reset. Larry
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#6. Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review - from John Demartino US-Valencia
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 20:51:49 +0100 From: John Demartino US-Valencia <j.demartino@us.qiagen.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review "Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 10:28:44 -0800 From: Jim Powell <jsp98m3@home.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review You have entered a turn too fast. Understeer means you leave the track nose first. Oversteer means you leave the track trunk first. Neutral means you leave the track sideways. Jim" Powell recalls his Magic Mountain experience, HA!... Missed ya at Laguna dude! > John C. DeMartino Product Manager QIAGEN Inc 28159 Ave Stanford Valencia, CA 91355 800-426-8157 x23507 j.demartino@us.qiagen.com
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#7. pics from Laguna - from Scott Smith
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 12:15:11 -0800 From: Scott Smith <ssmith@akamai.com> Subject: pics from Laguna took some pics at the Corkscrew of the B group on Sunday... I know there were some other people floating around with digital cameras. I'd be happy to host the pics, just send me a pointer... for 800x600: http://www.gelatinous.com/scott/pics/2000/Laguna-Nov%2018-19/half/index.html for 1600x1200: http://www.gelatinous.com/scott/pics/2000/Laguna-Nov%2018-19/index.html Scott
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#8. [E36M3] Inspection Light - from John Demartino US-Valencia
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 21:04:39 +0100 From: John Demartino US-Valencia <j.demartino@us.qiagen.com> Subject: [E36M3] Inspection Light -----Original Message----- > From: Will Gilbert [SMTP:will@zim.com] > Sent: Friday, November 17, 2000 3:26 PM > To: E36M3 > Subject: [E36M3] Inspection Light > > Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 14:52:04 -0500 > From: will@zim.com (Will Gilbert) > Subject: Inspection Light > > Is 18,000 miles normal for the inspection light to come on? > When I called > the dealer to schedule a appt they said "I bet you have > about 35,000 miles > on it". When I said no, actually 18,000 they were very > surprised. Is there > any cost for this inspection or is that inspection 2? > > Thanks, > > Will > 99 M3 Are you sure you are not confusing your oil changes and your inspections? Your first trip to the dealer, light comes on at about 10k, is not Inspection 1, it is just an oil change. Your second trip, typically at about 20k, is Inspection 1. > John C. DeMartino Product Manager QIAGEN Inc 28159 Ave Stanford Valencia, CA 91355 800-426-8157 x23507 j.demartino@us.qiagen.com
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#9. Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review - from Jim Powell
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 12:52:30 -0800 From: Jim Powell <jsp98m3@home.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review You will continue to miss me at Laguna for CCA schools. The pricing model is skewed. The typical 2 2/3 hours of track time over a weekend is insuffiicient given the $$ cost. Non-CCA schools represent a better value at this point. So far the San Diego school at Buttonwillow and some LA chapter schools make sense financially. Laguna might make sense if I lived locally and had no travel costs associated with it. But for me, with the present cost structure, Laguna represents an approximate cost of $1K (and 8 hours each way of travel time) for 3 hours or less of track time. I don't consider that to be 'worth it'. I will drive there again but outside of the CCA environment. The CCA schools in some cases don't seem to be run by a non-profit organization anymore. I certainly don't have numbers to back that up and its none of my business anyway, how local chapters choose to accumulate money or not. They'll just accumulate less of mine. As for my off track excursions, he who is without sin, cast the first stone. :) Jim John Demartino US-Valencia wrote: > "Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 10:28:44 -0800 > From: Jim Powell <jsp98m3@home.com> > Subject: Re: [E36M3] Re: Car and Driver Review > > You have entered a turn too fast. > > Understeer means you leave the track nose first. > > Oversteer means you leave the track trunk first. > > Neutral means you leave the track sideways. > > Jim" > > Powell recalls his Magic Mountain experience, HA!... Missed ya at Laguna > dude!
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#10. E36 M3 plastic underpanel - from dahermann@alum.mit.edu
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 15:58:28 -0500 (EST) From: dahermann@alum.mit.edu Subject: E36 M3 plastic underpanel I tore up the plastic underpanel that connects to the underside of the front spoiler on my 96 M3. I'm considering replacing it with the JTD aluminum underpanel. Has anyone found this to be more durable or am I just going to tear up a more expensive aluminum underpanel on my next off-track excursion? thanks, dan 96 M3
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#11. Re: [E36M3] RE: Fooling the seatbelt tensioner - from Sean Hester
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 13:45:09 PST From: "Sean Hester" <seanh_race@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] RE: Fooling the seatbelt tensioner >Don't know if this will work on a 98, but on my 95 the seatbelt >tensioner presents a 100 ohm resistance between the two >outside pins of the three pin connector under the seat. I just >cut the connector off and soldered a 100 ohm resistor between >the two pins and then plugged it back in and had the light reset. that's all that the recaro plugs you can buy are. a new connector with a resistor soldered across the pins. the hard part is finding the resistance. i was afraid that putting an ohmmeter across the pins might set off the tensioner and make it explode in my face. since an ohmmeter works by putitng current into the system, i was afraid that "signal" might set the thing off. how did you find out it was 100 ohms? are you just less chicken then me? _________________________________________________________________________ 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.