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#1. Re: Camber and Cross camber and King Pin Inclination - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 08:59:59 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Camber and Cross camber and King Pin Inclination on 12/4/01 2:38 PM, TFRM3@aol.com wrote: <much good stuff snipped> > P.S. I am sure someone somewhere has a car that meets factory specs for > alignment and ride height. Jay, I agreed with everything right up to that last point! Neil 96 M3
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#2. 95 M3: idle miss and vibration @ 2500rpm - from NickG
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Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 09:13:49 -0500 From: "NickG" <nikog@mediaone.net> Subject: 95 M3: idle miss and vibration @ 2500rpm Ever since I bought my 95 M3 back in early 1998, it had an occasional miss at idle. Listening to the exhaust, you could hear it skip a beat every now and then. Also, when in neutral, raising the revs to 2500rpm resulted in a fair amount of engine vibration. Injector cleaning helped somewhat, but wasn't the cure. But finally, after all this time (cause it really didn't bother me that much), I've solved the problem: FAULTY IGNITION COILS. I started suspecting they were bad because of funky dyno results I got last week. The A/F ratio curve was very wavy (as was the power), which indicated cylinder misfiring. Upon close inspection, all 6 coils had surface cracks on them. Replacing the coils smoothened out the A/F ratio curve, stopped the occasional idle misfire, and eliminated the vibration at a 2500rpm idle. I know in the past several people have complained of an idle miss on the 95 M3, and it was chalked up to it being 'the nature of the beast'. If you 95 has the problem, you may want to check your coils and see if they're still good. Incidentally, the 96+ OBDII cars have different coils (still made by Bosch, but no, they don't fit the 95 - different mounting bolt pattern). Nick '95 M3 turbo
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#3. M3 Undertray (was Wheel strength) - from Dorffer, Rich
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Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 09:57:10 -0500 From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> Subject: M3 Undertray (was Wheel strength) James, Welcome to the group. You will find many informed and experienced individuals here as well as me posing to be one and any others. You seem to be ahead of the curve based on your first post :-) The following is a repost I made about the M3 Undertray issue (which Neil Maller has also waxed eloquently along with a host of others). You may also want to search the archives. Best regards, Rich 95 M3 89 325is -------------------- 7 -------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 18:03:07 -0400 From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> Subject: the incredible sucking sound of your front splash shield heading I spent some time this weekend modifying my new underpanel to hopefully last a little longer than the OE one (seven years which is all very relative depending on your driving style). To bring you up to speed, I spent a day at Nelson Ledges in July and found my way off the track in turn one where a little ditch allowed my car to bump the under panel and the right pork chop against the ground while mowing some of the grass in the process (I noticed it flying into the passenger compartment and thought this must be what they mean about mowing at the track). Anyway, after the run, I looked under my car to survey the damage and noted the aforementioned items and I was able to finish removing the underpanel before it tore off completely taking with it the pork chops and the fender liners. Anyway, I beefed up the mounting areas of the new underpanel with some aluminum and pop rivets. I bent the aluminum over to form a U shaped piece of metal over the stock attachment point and used pop rivets to attach them as follows: /----------- <-------This being the metal piece I attached via | -----------| pop rivets \----------- | <-------This being the stock under panel attachment | point (four locations) | | Also, I still used the stock fasteners (machine screws) and added a washer to each screw. I took pictures of what I did and will post them to the Web if anyone is interested (a picture is worth a thousand words). I also read Neil Maller's instructions on using nutserts to attach the bumper cover to the underpanel where the underpanel tucks up above the bumper cover. Neil feels this is the primary source of problems on the stock underpanel in the M3 coupe (particularly at high speeds). I did not do this since I am not certain this is the weakest point on the underpanel (although it is probably the second weakest point in my opinion). With Neil's extensive experience, he will likely end up proving me wrong if I do not go back and do this on my own. I think Neil's approach is particularly beneficial in high speed situations. I feel what I did is more suitable for those low speed impacts with animals, cones, small ditches, curbs, etc. (which Neil also recommends). Do them both. If your underpanel still comes off, than you obviously have much bigger problems (i.e., damage to your beloved M3). Best regards, Rich 95 M3 - new underpanel and new fog lights (finally) after a misfortunate incident with a bridge under construction last year. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 15:17:16 -0400 From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> Subject: [uuc] E36 M3 Underpanel Reinforcement I mentioned that I reinforced my new underpanel before installing it on my E36 M3. Here is a link to the photo album. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1090300&a=13603061 Again, Neil Maller has done some extensive work (and documented instructions) on reinforcing the leading edge of the underpanel as well as the attachment points for the porkchops and fender liners. Regards, Rich
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#4. Apology - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 10:01:40 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Apology Crap! I accidentally copied that long instruction to the List instead of just sending it privately. Apologies for wasting bandwidth. Shouldn't send stuff after my bedtime! Neil 96 M3
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#5. Re:[E36M3] Flex Disc (Guido) (was '95 Cam timing) - from Chester Wong
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Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 07:11:22 -0800 (PST) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: Re:[E36M3] Flex Disc (Guido) (was '95 Cam timing) You probably have to drop the drive shaft in order to get at it. That involves dropping the cat back exhaust and even the mid pipe, then the exhaust shielf. While you're in there, you might want to replace the drive shaft center support. It's a good idea to mark where the drive shaft connects to the diff (meaning put the bolt through the same holes when reinstalling). This is outlined in the TIS to avoid droning. Also, remember to tension the center support (I think it's 4mm towards the front of the car). Good luck, Chester --- Robert Liu <bob_a_liu@yahoo.com> wrote: > JimC suggested that the oscillations of the dyno chart > at high rpms may be due to a worn guido (flex-disc). I > had noticed some cracks starting to form on the guido, > so I am going to try replacing that first. Any > suggestions on replacing the disc? The Bentley manual > procedure looks more involved than it really should > be. ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping. http://shopping.yahoo.com
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#6. Re:[E36M3] Flex Disc (Guido) (was '95 Cam timing) - from Robert Liu
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Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 07:20:51 -0800 (PST) From: Robert Liu <bob_a_liu@yahoo.com> Subject: Re:[E36M3] Flex Disc (Guido) (was '95 Cam timing) Chester, Thanks for the advice. Is the drive shaft center support a common wear item on a e36 m3? I don't want to replace parts just to do it. But, if it's a known weak point, I don't mind replacing it. Thanks, Bob --- Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> wrote: > You probably have to drop the drive shaft in order > to get at it. That involves > dropping the cat back exhaust and even the mid pipe, > then the exhaust shielf. > While you're in there, you might want to replace the > drive shaft center > support. It's a good idea to mark where the drive > shaft connects to the diff > (meaning put the bolt through the same holes when > reinstalling). This is > outlined in the TIS to avoid droning. Also, > remember to tension the center > support (I think it's 4mm towards the front of the > car). > > Good luck, > Chester > > --- Robert Liu <bob_a_liu@yahoo.com> wrote: > > JimC suggested that the oscillations of the dyno > chart > > at high rpms may be due to a worn guido > (flex-disc). I > > had noticed some cracks starting to form on the > guido, > > so I am going to try replacing that first. Any > > suggestions on replacing the disc? The Bentley > manual > > procedure looks more involved than it really > should > > be. > > > ===== > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping. > http://shopping.yahoo.com ===== ------------------------------------------------------------ Robert Liu bob_a_liu@yahoo.com ICQ# 22765210 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping. http://shopping.yahoo.com
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#7. Eurosport Cam Kit Questions 95 M3? - from Mike Tse
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Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 10:34:42 -0500 From: "Mike Tse" <phid_bombadier@hotmail.com> Subject: Eurosport Cam Kit Questions 95 M3? With all this talk about the Eurosport Cam Kit, anyone know if the valve springs and retainers on a later model 95 M3 will have any problems with the Cams? I vaguely remember reading about problems with the earlier 95s (built in 94 I think). I'm assuming as long as you're not sitting in the redline zone all day long you should be fine with the stock valvetrain. Is there anyone in the MA area or NJ area that has this setup on a 95 M3. I'd like to get your impressions and maybe even meet up to get a ride (if possible). I've already heard some great things about the OBDII Setup! TIA --- Mike Tse 95 M3 UUC/SS - M20 Flywheel/E30M3 Clutch BMWCCA NJ (Soon MA) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
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#8. Eurosport OBDII Cam Kit gas mileage?? - from Steven Tom
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Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 09:15:08 -0800 From: Steven Tom <stom@qualcomm.com> Subject: Eurosport OBDII Cam Kit gas mileage?? hmmmm This is a little odd. I ended up getting 20 mpg (19.77 if you want to know exactly 227miles/11.48gallons). Now as most of you know I'm skippin' happy if I get more than 17mpg. I do attribute part of the increase due to a little extra highway miles but nothing too significant. I will be getting my car dynoed tomorrow. I will let you all know the results. I will also try to get some more mileage info. The increase in gas mileage seems a little odd but I'm not complaining. Anything is better than what I was getting. I find myself dropping into third on the freeway a little more now just to feel the power, steve - now with more hp and better gas mileage.
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#9. Re: Undertray - from Carl Stern
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Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2001 10:17:32 -0700 From: Carl Stern <carl.stern@xilinx.com> Subject: Re: Undertray I lost my undertray about 1 week after I bought my car last May. This was surprising since I bought a garage queen 95 w/ only 14k miles. I guess some driveway scraping is enough to weaken it. After seeing nothing mentioned about it in my factory Bentley manual, I've yet to do anything about it. I though I'd get the JTD, but now I wonder if I need it at all. So the big question is: What is this thing designed to do? What harm/effect can come from leaving it off? I've had my car on the track on 95 degree days and the temp needle never moved above center. I don't get over 100mph on the track, nor do I drive above that on the road. Do the regular E36s have them? Can I just forget about it? Carl Stern
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#10. Clear lenses - from jim.bassett@alloptic.com
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Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 10:28:17 -0800 From: jim.bassett@alloptic.com Subject: Clear lenses > BTW, put my clear corners on tonight, less than 5 minute job. > Do you folks > that run clear corners change the bulbs to amber bulbs like I > did, or am I > just really anal? (let's be nice!) Well, depending on where you buy them from, the already come with amber bulbs (mine did). So, no, no more anal than the rest of us (well, OK, me :-)) Cheers, Jim Bassett - was up until 3AM with this damn @Home debacle, and *still* recovering from the 12-Hour Enduro 1998 M3/4 1993 325is #44 KP