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#1. Re: [E36M3] Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... - from Andrej Dolenc
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:48:47 -0400 From: Andrej Dolenc <adolenc@erols.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... Chester Wong writes: > http://www.geocities.com/chester_p_wong/ouch.jpg Dang, that sucks Chester. Glad you and your friends are OK, hope the damage to the car is sheet metal and didn't impact the frame. > BTW, definitely replace tires if you are approaching the wear limit or feel > that the grip is just not there anymore Noted, my toyo's are real damn close to the wear bars. Time to pay a visit to the friendly tire store! Andrej
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#2. Modded cars and selling them - from Dorffer, Rich
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 10:04:36 -0400 From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> Subject: Modded cars and selling them Kit says > > I've bought and sold 6 cars in the last 5 years. > I've owned: > 1986 Mazda RX-7 > 1991 NX2000 > 1999 Miata > 1997 Eclipse > 2000 S2000 > and now I have my 97 m3. > Selling a modded car is difficult at best. People don't buy modded cars. Sorry Bobby, I wrote this before I saw your post so I will throw in my $0.02 I agree. Maybe you can find the right buyer and, as well all know, it only takes one right buyer. But, it is going to be more difficult to sell a car with modifications (Dinan or otherwise) than one that is bone stock. Doesn't matter if they both have the exact same service records either. Doesn't matter if the modded car was more babied or not. I saw a supercharged LTW last year with 8k miles, never tracked and a garage queen, sell for less than one with more miles and occasionally tracked. This is all about public perception is, regardless of reality. Look at the opinions on this list, I think it has been 5:1 that modded cars are more difficult to sell. Furthermore, this is a poor representative example statistically as most people here are familiar with mods, do them too and would potentially appreciate them more than the average BMW purchaser. Argue all you want but this is more empirical evidence than you should need. I also think it is funny that Paul mentions various people who want to buy his car. Ahh, I have the same type of people approach me to buy my cars. Funny, not one of them ever actually bought one of my cars when I went to sell them. I hope Paul has better luck than I do. Best regards, Rich Other random thoughts: Paul E is in denial...go gentle on him folks :-) Kit owned an NX2000....that is kind of funny. S2000 pretty neat, but NX2000?!? Chester - I feel bad about your loss. Hope it goes back together better than new. Mel - Come on, you had success one time, give me a break. Someone must have really want Pepe like you want Penny. I wonder if Bobby is pissed I didn't stop beating this horse? Gary Gray - How many people have commented on your name over the years? Folks, I am just kidding above. I am swamped at work right now and want to go on vacation!!
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#3. Re: Front upper spring perch - from Neil Maller
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:25:16 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Front upper spring perch on 9/19/02 8:42 AM, E36M3 at e36m3@bmw-m.net wrote: > Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 06:34:31 -0700 > From: "Jay W. Hudson" <jwhud@cdsnet.net> > Subject: [E36M3] Front upper spring perch > > Group- > > I have H&R OE Sport springs on my '97 M3/2. Because these springs are a > little larger, in diameter, than stock '96+ springs, the upper spring perch > from a '95 is supposed to be used. That's correct. It's P/N 31 33 2 227 348, and you'd also need the rubber spring seat, P/N 31 33 1 128 523. > While talking with Jay @ GC the other day, he told me he thought there was > an upper spring perch that was the same diameter as the '95 that would > lower the car by 10mm. Apparently, it has a deeper cup. He said he > thought it might be off a 325Ix or maybe an E39. > Does anyone know of this part? Year and model? Part number? The 95 rubber spring seat is used on a wide range of BMW cars: E24, E28, E30, E32, E34, E36, Z3. This suggests that they all have the same form for the spring's top end, and that therefore the spring perches may also be interchangeable - albeit for different effect. Which one you might want I can't answer. There are two other questions I can't answer either: 1) The H&R OE Sport springs are similar to the Sports except they don't lower the car as much. If you do want to lower it more, why not just use the Sport springs? 2) What about the rears? Neil 96 M3
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#4. Re: [E36M3] Modded cars and selling them - from Robert Chay
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 10:45:25 -0400 From: "Robert Chay" <rchay@mindspring.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Modded cars and selling them Rich, I'm not pissed but it seems that Paul wants to single-handedly change the perception of the motoring world by arguing his points (like no one's tried before) with selling a car with mods. Maybe he just wants to feel better since he spent a lot of money on a sc from dinan? I don't know. -Bobby ps. the random thoughts were hilarious pps. Kit- NX2000??? ;-) ppss. Chester- Really sorry to hear about your accident. Glad you're ok and it looks like from the pics, it won't be too hard to fix it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> Sorry Bobby, I wrote this before I saw your post so I will throw in my $0.02 <snip beating> Best regards, Rich Other random thoughts: Paul E is in denial...go gentle on him folks :-) Kit owned an NX2000....that is kind of funny. S2000 pretty neat, but NX2000?!? Chester - I feel bad about your loss. Hope it goes back together better than new. Mel - Come on, you had success one time, give me a break. Someone must have really want Pepe like you want Penny. I wonder if Bobby is pissed I didn't stop beating this horse? Gary Gray - How many people have commented on your name over the years? Folks, I am just kidding above. I am swamped at work right now and want to go on vacation!!
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#5. RE: [E36M3] Modded cars and selling them - from Wayne Miller
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:46:10 -0500 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Modded cars and selling them I find all of this discussion about buying a modified car interesting. My M3 was extremely modified and I always thought that I would end up turning it into a race car because I doubted that I could ever sell it. I didn't mean to turn it into a sardine can first ;-( What's funny is that in my search for another E36M3, I am not even looking at the modified ones. I think that is because I have all of the modifications in my basement waiting for the right candidate but it is also because I want to personalize the car in MY way. No Chester, this doesn't mean that I will put some dents and scratches in it right from the start ;-) In my opinion, my car used to be just about the perfect combination street/track car and I am sure that many people out there would have a different view. I don't think that I stay away from modified cars because they have been run harder because these cars are supposed to be run hard and not babied all the time like some people do. As far as the car "never being the same" or "having frame damage", my $.02 is that these aren't necessarily true at all. Most modern cars are unibody so there is no "frame" anymore. You can cut apart almost any part and weld another back together and be virtually as good as new. After my first incident a few years ago, they just cut out the old pieces and welded in new ones. Aside from the fact that they did a crappy paint job and the paint kept falling off, the car was as good as it was before and there were no alignment issues and I didn't feel like it was less safe. In fact, I even crash tested it to find out and it did just fine (not that I recommend this approach). I once saw a pictures from American Honda of an NSX that was at least 2' shorter in the rear than it used to be so they bought it, cut off the entire rear and welded in a new one just to show that it could be done. In fact, I saw the car in person and you couldn't tell that anything was ever wrong with it and their engineers were satisfied with the repair. -Wayne Still looking for my next E36M3 candidate....
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#6. Re: [E36M3] Modded cars and selling them - from Robert Liu
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 07:56:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Robert Liu <bob_a_liu@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Modded cars and selling them --- Robert Chay <rchay@mindspring.com> wrote: > pps. Kit- NX2000??? ;-) Hey, I had one too. It was a cool car! Well, not compared to a M3, but when you're right out of school and not making much money, it was a poor man's M3 :) Bob ===== ------------------------------------------------------------ Robert Liu bob_a_liu@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com
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#7. Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... - from Paul Elliott
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 11:35:51 -0400 From: "Paul Elliott" <elliott.paul@worldnet.att.net> Subject: Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... Chester, Between you and Wayne, do you think all these fenderbenders (using the term loosely!) are just dumb luck, or, do you think weve done something to anger the M3 GODS?! Any idea how fast you were moving when you hit the guardrail? Being the good driver that you are, Im sure the road was plenty slippery that day. And if it was greased with oil, Im not sure how much more traction a couple of more 32nds would have gotten you. But, at least youre not jumping ship in favor of another marque, or model, even! We dont want to lose you as a resource! If you decide to paint the whole thing, you can really turn it to your advantage. I just remember how beautiful Ben's car was after his repaint. Good luck, and keep us informed as you go through the rebuild process. Paul Elliott --------------------------------------------------------- '99 White M3; 45-50K miles; Dinan stage II SC kit with 6" RMS crank pulley: 11 psi; AA Aquamist Water/Methanol Injection; Fikse FM-10s; X-Brace; Dinan Koni Suspension; Stygar SS and Clutch Stop; Sound by Polk, Excelon, JLAudio
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#8. Re: Help!!! Towing E36 with an X5 - from m3ltw@msn.com
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 08:34:53 -0400 From: m3ltw@msn.com Subject: Re: Help!!! Towing E36 with an X5 ----- Original Message ----- Wrom: NNSKVFVWRKJVZCMHVIBGDADRZFSQHYUCDDJBLVLMHAALPT To: <m3ltw@msn.com> Cc: <e36m3@bmw-m.net> Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 4:24 AM Subject: Re: Help!!! Towing E36 with an X5 > On Wed, 18 Sep 2002 m3ltw@msn.com wrote: > > > Unfortunately, this is just the normal BMW hitch and 4 wire harness, which > > doesn't include brake control/power capability. > > > > Are you sure about that? The factory trailer hitches I am familiar > with have a 13 pin connector that duplicates *all* the rear lights, > including the brake lights. You would get stopped and fined in these > parts if you were caught towing an E36 on an unbraked trailer. But > then, isn't adventure written into the above web address? > > -John Okay, it may be a 13 pin connector (technicalities!), and does include all of the brake LIGHTS, but provides neither power for trailer brakes nor a control circuit for trailer brakes. Don't confuse brake lights with trailer brakes (nor the deceleration-detecting electronic brake controller which controls said electric trailer brakes). One must provide your own trailer brake controller (in or below the dashboard), tap it into the brake light wiring, source a hot lead for power (to run the trailer's electric brakes) and then run these lines back to the harness/plug for the trailer. The harness/plug that comes with the BMW trailer/towing package is just fine if you are towing a trailer which does NOT have or require supplemental electric brakes (such as a small boat/jet ski, etc). For towing a race car, I would highly recommend having the trailer brakes! FYI, nearly every US truck/SUV comes with this stuff all prewired--all you have to add is a trailer brake controller, which plugs into a pre-wired harness! Dan
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#9. Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and - from Paul Elliott
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 11:48:00 -0400 From: "Paul Elliott" <elliott.paul@worldnet.att.net> Subject: Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and >>The fender is a bolt on, the door is being replaced and the trunklid is being replaced. << Chester, How do you make sure in a situation like this that the body shop uses genuine BMW parts instead of 3rd party knockoffs like so many body shops use? Paul Elliott --------------------------------------------------------- '99 White M3; 45-50K miles; Dinan stage II SC kit with 6" RMS crank pulley: 11 psi; AA Aquamist Water/Methanol Injection; Fikse FM-10s; X-Brace; Dinan Koni Suspension; Stygar SS and Clutch Stop; Sound by Polk, Excelon, JLAudio
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#10. Re: Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... - from m3ltw@msn.com
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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 08:50:09 -0400 From: m3ltw@msn.com Subject: Re: Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... > Wrom: QBGJSNBOHMKHJYFMYXOEAIJJPHSCRTNHGSWZIDR > Subject: Baby needs a new rack, and paintjob, and... > > The only thing that at least bothers me is "it won't be the same" kinda > feeling :( Whaddya guys think? Someone talk me out of this feeling. > Basically the whole ass will be cut off and rewelded. The shop does > great work but still.... I can address this from personal (albeit non-BMW) experience. We had a 3 month old Accord that was broadsided (just behind driver's door) at moderate speed. The damage was amazingly extensive (basically the rear of the car was bent, and since the car was pushed into a curb, even the right side suspension was destroyed), including even some of the interior. Taking it to a top body shop, the estimate was for just under 80% of the value! The insurance company at fault (accident was witnessed by a cop!) refused to total the car, so repair began. Either way, there was the same concern about feel and such (will this thing fall apart on the highway?). But, it ran drove and held up just like a new car when it was all done (took several months). I will say that the guy (Kip, who now works for Knauz in Lake Forest, IL) is a perfectionist and refused to use any part that wasn't OEM (or better), and replaced anything safety related (including the drivers seat--as he said that you can't tell if there is internal damage which could hurt strength and safety). When it came time to sell the car (we traded it in), it got full value from the dealer (they couldn't tell there had been any damage! Even the undercoating was perfect.). Dan