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#1. Observation on Chassis Stiffness - from Paul Elliott
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 00:40:47 -0500 From: "Paul Elliott" <pelliott@rcn.com> Subject: Observation on Chassis Stiffness >>My 97 M3/4 (non-fold down rear seats) went from stock trim to X-brace, UUC Strut Barbarian, AA rear brace, H&R c/o's. In so doing, I can now jack up my car from one jackpoint (either front or rear hockey puck) and raise the entire side of the car.<< For what its worth, other than an xbrace, my suspension is 100% stock, and I too can raise the entire side, by placing the jack behind on rear, rt or left, hock puck! --------------------------------------------------------- Paul Elliott '99 White M3; < 40K miles; Dinan stage II SC kit with 6" RMS crank pulley: 11 psi; AA Water Injection; Rotex pads;X-Brace; Stygar SS and Clutch Stop; Sound by Polk, Excelon, JLAudio
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#2. Central Lock fails on trunk, underbody shields go byebye - from Reid Conti
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 04:28:52 -0800 (PST) From: Reid Conti <reid@conti.net> Subject: Central Lock fails on trunk, underbody shields go byebye Two things.. First of all, I reported earlier sometimes my door locks pop up right after locking with the alarm.. the problem seems to be with the trunk. With the lock in the up and down position, my trunk only SOMETIMES locks with the central locking system.. god knows how long this has been going on for, but it pisses me off to find out that I've been leaving my trunk unlocked. When I turn the key in the trunk latch, it feels really stiff and lots of times doesn't want to turn.. any ideas what to lubricate/work on with this? anybody had similar probs? Second problem.. 120mph today claimed my middle underbody shield.. I heard some noise, so I slowed.. amusingly enough it didn't start dragging until I dropped to 60mph or so. Either the airflow pushed it up at higher speeds, or it just hadn't fully detatched. so I came to a stop on the shoulder with lots of scraping noises.. sure enough, the middle shield was sitting on the ground. With the help of my hand BMW toolkit I was able to undo a bolt on a side shield to get the middle one lose. The side ones are each missing at least one bolt, but they're on pretty good. The middle one is shot. What nobody tells you is this: YOU CAN'T GET THE DAMN THING OUT FROM UNDER THE CAR! I tried backing up, but to no avail. The shield is flat, but goes up on both sides.. and it's about TWICE as tall as the distance from the lip spoiler to the ground on an M3 with stock suspension. Finally, by doing lots and lots of serious bending, I was able to get the shield out from under the car.. fortunately didn't manage to burn myself, and nobody rearended my car while I was kneeling in front of it alongside the freeway. I would have jacked it, but it would need to go REALLY high to lift the opposite side enough to clear.. as it was, I got one side out, and once that was out I rotated it 90 degrees and was able to yank it out. From what I've heard, these aren't all that necessary, correct? And if I were to replace them, I'd probably have to worry about stripped screw holes? How much are the parts (both for the center and bolts, and just for giggles the center AND side pieces)? Worth doing? They lasted 56k miles... I'm in Seattle, so they're probably helpful in keeping my belt and other similar parts dry.. but hopefully moving to California soon.. thanks! - reid
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#3. Re: [E36M3] Central Lock fails on trunk, underbody shields go byebye - from The Abels
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 08:13:52 -0600 From: "The Abels" <aAbel@austin.rr.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Central Lock fails on trunk, underbody shields go byebye > > From what I've heard, these aren't all that necessary, correct? And if I > were to replace them, I'd probably have to worry about stripped screw > holes? How much are the parts (both for the center and bolts, and just > for giggles the center AND side pieces)? Worth doing? They lasted 56k > miles... I'm in Seattle, so they're probably helpful in keeping my belt > and other similar parts dry.. but hopefully moving to California soon.. > Not exactly sure what the side-effect is of running without the underbody panel; I've been without since I bought the car (shows you just how robust BMW's CPO check is). No attendant cooling problems or weird handling at high speeds (125 mph). When I get around to a replacement, I'll go with the JTD underpanel. Jeff 97 M3/4 sans underpanel
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#4. Speedo hates the cold - from Carguymb@aol.com
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 10:25:49 EST From: Carguymb@aol.com Subject: Speedo hates the cold No, not the swimwear, although I guess that's true, too... In my '95 E36 M3 I've noticed that since the weather turned cold, the speedo consistently under-reads for the first few miles. When I first noticed it, my reaction was, "that's strange, it feels like I'm going faster than that". When I noticed it again, a comparison with the tach verified the problem. For instance, 2,000rpm in 4th should be around 39mph, but Friday evening was 25mph. The symptoms are independent of the gear, but seem to be getting slowly worse (even though the worst of the recent cold snap in Philly has passed, at least temporarily). The odometer continues to run, but I can't comment on the relative rates of accumulation of the miles. Other than the cold weather, there've been no external changes other than putting on the winter wheels (stock rims with 215/45-17 Pilot Alpin's). There's no clutch slip, no wheelspin, and the diff fluid was changed around 7,000 miles ago (to Redline 75W90, from whatever the PO had in there). The only other possibly related symptom that comes to mind is that the car features the typical occassional E36 "fuel gauge stays on empty after fill-up" problem , which I've reset 3-4 times in the past year by disconnecting and reconnecting one sensor (before I learned about pulling the fuse). Maybe the car hates winter as much as I do (do cars take on their owners personalities, like dogs? I had an Alfa 164 that would groan whenever it was started and the temperature was below 25 degrees). Any insight on this being a known condition with a ready fix? I'm suspecting a loose or corroded connection somewhere? TIA, Martin Bullen '95 M3 '97 Z3 2.8
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#5. WTB: 95 stock exhaust - from Guillermo Molina
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 10:30:09 -0500 From: "Guillermo Molina" <drwillb@msn.com> Subject: WTB: 95 stock exhaust Looking for a stock cat-back exhaust for 95. I'm not sure if the exhaust system for the 95 is specific to the 3.0L but according to the ETK the 95 has a different part number. Maybe someone out there knows better. BTW, I'm located in northern NJ. Thanks, Bill Molina 88 M3 95 M3 _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
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#6. Re: [E36M3] Central Lock fails on trunk, underbody shields go byebye - from Chester Wong
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 07:37:11 -0800 (PST) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Central Lock fails on trunk, underbody shields go byebye > locks with the central locking system.. god knows how long this has been > going on for, but it pisses me off to find out that I've been leaving my > trunk unlocked. When I turn the key in the trunk latch, it feels really > stiff and lots of times doesn't want to turn.. any ideas what to > lubricate/work on with this? anybody had similar probs? Do you use your trunk a lot? I've heard that the harness failes because it has to bend a lot (almost onto itself) when you close the trunk. You might need to replace the harness. > From what I've heard, these aren't all that necessary, correct? And if I > were to replace them, I'd probably have to worry about stripped screw > holes? How much are the parts (both for the center and bolts, and just > for giggles the center AND side pieces)? Worth doing? They lasted 56k > miles... I'm in Seattle, so they're probably helpful in keeping my belt > and other similar parts dry.. but hopefully moving to California soon.. I'd replace it with stock and stock bashing things ;) As far as I remember, the main underpanel is held in place (those verticle end pieces) by nylon inserts. If those are stripped, you can pop then out and insert new ones. Pork chops, well...you can replace those. The only thing that might have happened that isn't good is that you cracked the bumper around the mounting holes. HTH, Chester ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
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#7. Need help fitting '99 M3 tranny into '94 325i - from Chester Wong
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 07:58:01 -0800 (PST) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: Need help fitting '99 M3 tranny into '94 325i Trying to do an upgrade project and put a '99M3 5 speed into a '94 325i. Are the driveshafts compatible? The '94 325i is intact and running but has a bad bearing. Will the driveshaft of the 325i bolt up to the M3 tranny? If we have a M3 driveshaft, will it bolt up to diff mounting points? The guy has a turbo, so I'd imagine an M3 driveshaft might be worthwhile. Thanks for any help. Chester ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
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#8. Re: [E36M3] WTB: 95 stock exhaust - from NickG
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 11:21:15 -0500 From: "NickG" <nikog@MediaOne.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] WTB: 95 stock exhaust The '95 M3 muffler is different than the '96-99 M3 muffler. The latter unit has larger diameter pipes, as well as a notch cut out for extra tire clearance. My suggestion would be to get the 96-99 unit since it probably flows a little more, yet is just as quiet. It will bolt right on to the 95. Nick > Looking for a stock cat-back exhaust for 95. > > I'm not sure if the exhaust system for the 95 is specific to the 3.0L but > according to the ETK the 95 has a different part number. Maybe someone out > there knows better. > > BTW, I'm located in northern NJ. > > Thanks, > Bill Molina > 88 M3 > 95 M3
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#9. Re: [E36M3] WTB: 95 stock exhaust - from Matt Henson
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 09:29:11 -0800 (PST) From: Matt Henson <hensonator@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] WTB: 95 stock exhaust As I understand it, they are a different part but still compatible. The 96+ exhaust is supposed to flow better due to larger tubing. Maybe someone can back this up.. -Matt --- Guillermo Molina <drwillb@msn.com> wrote: > Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 10:30:09 -0500 > From: "Guillermo Molina" <drwillb@msn.com> > Subject: WTB: 95 stock exhaust > > Looking for a stock cat-back exhaust for 95. > > I'm not sure if the exhaust system for the 95 is > specific to the 3.0L but > according to the ETK the 95 has a different part > number. Maybe someone out > there knows better. > > BTW, I'm located in northern NJ. > > Thanks, > Bill Molina > 88 M3 > 95 M3 > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print > your photos: > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx > > > ************************************************************* > List Commands > UNSUBSCRIBE - (in subject line) unsubscribes you > from the mailing list. > DIR - sends a listing of files available in the > list's GET directory. > GET filename1.ext,filename2.ext - sends the > requested file(s). > > To issue a command/request to the server: > Send a message with the command you wish executed as > the > subject of the message to the email address > e36m3@bmw-m.net. > ************************************************************* > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
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#10. electrical question regaurding elec fan - from James Mckenna
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Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 12:30:57 -0500 From: "James Mckenna" <shutupkid@home.com> Subject: electrical question regaurding elec fan ok.. i ran into a little problem with wiring my elec fan... first of = all my aux fan doesnt seem to run at all on its own... i connected my elec fan to the low speed wire and a ground.. then my aux fan starts = spinning (but the new elec engine fan does not) so it seems as though my elec = fan is making a full circut between both positive and negative wires.. should a motor make a full circut? or could both my pos and neg elec = fan wires be connecting at their splices (its acting as though they are) please respons asap... -james