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#1. Re: [E36M3] Powerflex bushing failure - from Gerald Low
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:02:44 -0400 From: "Gerald Low" <gerry@parallel-mkt.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Powerflex bushing failure Rich, I have resisted "harder than stock" bushings for my street/track car thus far but I am starting to experience premature bushing failures. I will be testing a urethane RTAB in the next month and will see how it feels and holds up. Are you booked for Mid-Ohio in May? Gerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> To: "E36M3" <e36m3@bmw-m.net> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 10:56 AM Subject: [E36M3] Powerflex bushing failure Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 10:51:25 -0400 From: "Dorffer, Rich" <RDORFFER@CleIndians.com> Subject: Powerflex bushing failure > Rear: replace the beat powerflex bushings with stock and use the Ground > Control spacers. I'm leary of going with the monoball solid aluminum TA > because I do drive the car on the street occasionally. I am going to try the GC reinforcements with stock bushings. I hear that longevity is improved with a stock ride for the most part. I have never tried the Powerflex and probably never will. Regards, Rich ************************************************* Please help support the E36M3 list by visiting our sponsors: Taylor Autosport http://www.taylorautosport.com Rogue Engineering http://www.rogueengineering.com BMW M3 Specialties http://www.jt-designs.com Bimmerworld http://www.bimmerworld.com DIGEST INFORMATION: http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm *************************************************
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#2. JT-Designs - from Jim Mihal
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 09:13:23 -0700 From: "Jim Mihal" <jmihal@jt-designs.com> Subject: JT-Designs Group, Just a note to let everyone know that I have extended the free shipping = program to Dec. 31 of this year. Upon check out, simply use this code: suzylist This will get you free ground shipping to the continental US for all of = our products. Happy Driving! Jim Mihal www.jt-designs.com
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#3. Re: Powerflex bushing failure - from James Clay
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:55:12 -0400 From: "James Clay" <james@bimmerworld.com> Subject: Re: Powerflex bushing failure Front control arms - E36 M3 for most applications, E30 M3 to save weight if it really matters to you. Bushings: The unfortunate part about this is the joint really calls for a spherical bearing. It rotates on the bolt axis, and then twists on the other two as the suspension is loaded and unloaded. Any soft bushing in that location is a wear item, I like the Powerflex because they are easy to replace on the car with no special tools. A solid bearing is really the way to go in a car that will be used hard (Dinah) and because it is more of a pivot joint than a load bearing joint, ride harshness isn't a big factor. There is a little more noise, but not a ton with an interior. James James Clay http://www.bimmerworld.com Engineered BMW Performance 540.639.9648
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#4. Re: Powerflex bushing failure - from Kit Wetzler
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 10:28:34 -0700 From: "Kit Wetzler" <kitwetzler@mindspring.com> Subject: Re: Powerflex bushing failure > Front: Replace the control arms. This hasn't been done yet, and I think > it's time. I can go with either stock or E30 aluminum. I will be > replacing these no matter what bushings I choose. Opinions from those > who have E30 aluminum ones? Remember that these are a different geometry than the 96+ control arms. You'll gain caster. > Rear: replace the beat powerflex bushings with stock and use the Ground > Control spacers. I'm leary of going with the monoball solid aluminum TA > because I do drive the car on the street occasionally. stock bushings + GC spacers really don't last a whole lot longer than just stock bushings. Do you have the newer black powerflexes? I have the old style purple ones and have had LOTS of track time on them and they're fine, still. The Monoball bushings don't add a terrible amount of NVH, probably stock to powerflex is about the same jump in NVH as powerflex to monoball. That said, when they do die (note I said when and not if) they make a terrible racket. :( I have heard of a few of the front control arm bushings failing (all brands, RTRS, Powerflex, etc) but I haven't heard of the RTABs failing. :( If you do a lot of track time, I'd try the GC spherical bearings. They are replaceable (snap ring) and work fairly well. They will add some NVH, and may require some grinding to fit (they are made fairly large). The AA monoballs are really scary, I wouldn't use anything that glued in, especially something that will fail, like a unsealed spherical bearing. The TC Kline ones are replaceable too, but I had a bad experience with them failing, and the customer service. :P I weighed all the options and got powerflexes, and mine have been great. I think i have at least as many track days on mine as you, although that's not a real helpful datapoint. -kit
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#5. Soft Brakes - from Neil Maller
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:31:50 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Soft Brakes Last week I helped to ferry a friend's E36 325i over to Akron, over 200 miles away, to get a roll cage welded in. I hadn't driven another E36 for a while, and was shocked at how high and firm his brake pedal was. Mine is quite low and mushy by comparison. I can still engage ABS on a dry road, but without the sensitivity of control his 325i has. Trouble is, this is one of those things that you adjust to. Then you drive someone else's car... I replaced my master cylinder last year because it had the classic symptoms of M/C failure: soft pedal sinking gradually to the floor with pressure on the pedal. It seemed better afterward, although not what I'd call rock hard. Someone else had mentioned that he pulled the M/C out, bench bled it, and reinstalled it and that helped. I'm having difficulty figuring out how or why that would help. The M/C bore is horizontal, with two large apertures on the top leading to the reservoir. I can't see where any air could lurk in there. I generally use a combination of pressure and pump-the-pedal bleeding. My dealer mechanic says that's what he does too. I suppose it's possible that my year-old M/C is bad, but geez, you hate to spend $300+ (and a messy replacement job) just to test out that theory. I wonder if there's any possibility of the ABS unit valves leaking down internally? (Jeremy, sounds like a question for you.) Don't much want to think about that one either. I'm at the track this weekend. Guess I'll bleed the snot out of the system one more time first. Any suggestions anyone? Neil 96 M3
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#6. RE: [E36M3] Soft Brakes - from Wayne Miller
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:50:47 -0400 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Soft Brakes While I can't offer any solutions to the mushy pedal feel, I can say that no matter what I did as far as bleeding my E36M3 brakes, it was always a bit mushy and I was never able to heel and toe because the brake pedal went too far down. I had tried every bleeding method that anyone suggested (manual, with the Steve D. pressure bleeder, with a pressure bleeder hooked to an air tank, doing things in different order, hammering the calipers with a rubber mallet to make sure no air bubbles are stuck, etc.) and the pedal was still mushy. My master cylinder wasn't leaking and the pedal wouldn't slowly leak down but it would go well below the level of the gas pedal. This used to drive me crazy and I finally go so fed up with it, I drove my car into a wall! Okay, so that wasn't on purpose (or even that funny) but it still did bother me. I had started to look into possibly using a larger master cylinder but the demise of the car ended that. Maybe this is a problem on a bunch of M3's for some reason? On a similar note, this past weekend was my first driver's school (Summit Point) in my E46M3 and I was very happy that I could heal and toe with no effort at all. I used Carbotech Panther XP (1108) brake pads on the suggestion of Gerry Low (from this list) and they worked great. I had no fade, no corrosive dust and boy did the car stop fast - in fact I kept braking too early because I didn't think the brakes would work so well. They are high temperature pads but I installed them the week before my track event and they worked fine in street driving even when it was snowing here last week. The only downside that I can come up with is that when it was cold out, my car sounded like a NYC bus when stopping and these pads even have the proper clips on the back. You can see more here: http://www.carbotecheng.com/prod-ct-compounds.htm . Now that the weather is a bit warmer, I plan on leaving them in for a while to see (hear?) if they stop squeaking. -Wayne '01 E46M3 Phoenix Yellow/Black
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#7. RE: [E36M3] Soft Brakes - from Michael Gilbert
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:15:15 -0400 From: "Michael Gilbert" <mjg2002@attbi.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Soft Brakes Hey Wayne, When your brakes were soft, did you have fresh pads in them or were they ~1/2 worn? I found that when I had fresh pads the pedal was all the way to the top, and no matter how much I bled the brakes they were a little soft when they were >1/2 worn. Here's a tip courtesy of Denis Friedman of the Boston chapter. Make up 8 "blanks" with brake pad bones - just the metal backing plates - to use as spacers. Grind off the remaining pad material and any metal nubs that may be on that particular pad. When the brakes were ~1/2 worn, insert one backing plate on each wheel behind the pad (doesn't matter inside or outside). Then when you're about 2/3 worn, put the second in behind the other side. That way the calipers are at almost full extension all the time and the pedal throw will be like new. I believe you may find your E46 exhibits the same behavior once you start to wear those new Carbotech pads down..... Only thing is you want to check your brake pads regularly, as is the case anyway but this method assumes you will be running your pads down to almost nothing. The spacers help a lot with heat dissipation too! Just my $0.02... -Mike 97 M3 IS #121 -----Original Message----- From: Wayne Miller [mailto:m3@waynemiller.com] Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 3:56 PM To: E36M3 Subject: RE: [E36M3] Soft Brakes Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:50:47 -0400 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Soft Brakes While I can't offer any solutions to the mushy pedal feel, I can say that no matter what I did as far as bleeding my E36M3 brakes, it was always a bit mushy and I was never able to heel and toe because the brake pedal went too far down. I had tried every bleeding method that anyone suggested (manual, with the Steve D. pressure bleeder, with a pressure bleeder hooked to an air tank, doing things in different order, hammering the calipers with a rubber mallet to make sure no air bubbles are stuck, etc.) and the pedal was still mushy. My master cylinder wasn't leaking and the pedal wouldn't slowly leak down but it would go well below the level of the gas pedal. This used to drive me crazy and I finally go so fed up with it, I drove my car into a wall! Okay, so that wasn't on purpose (or even that funny) but it still did bother me. I had started to look into possibly using a larger master cylinder but the demise of the car ended that. Maybe this is a problem on a bunch of M3's for some reason? On a similar note, this past weekend was my first driver's school (Summit Point) in my E46M3 and I was very happy that I could heal and toe with no effort at all. I used Carbotech Panther XP (1108) brake pads on the suggestion of Gerry Low (from this list) and they worked great. I had no fade, no corrosive dust and boy did the car stop fast - in fact I kept braking too early because I didn't think the brakes would work so well. They are high temperature pads but I installed them the week before my track event and they worked fine in street driving even when it was snowing here last week. The only downside that I can come up with is that when it was cold out, my car sounded like a NYC bus when stopping and these pads even have the proper clips on the back. You can see more here: http://www.carbotecheng.com/prod-ct-compounds.htm . Now that the weather is a bit warmer, I plan on leaving them in for a while to see (hear?) if they stop squeaking. -Wayne '01 E46M3 Phoenix Yellow/Black ************************************************* Please help support the E36M3 list by visiting our sponsors: Taylor Autosport http://www.taylorautosport.com Rogue Engineering http://www.rogueengineering.com BMW M3 Specialties http://www.jt-designs.com Bimmerworld http://www.bimmerworld.com DIGEST INFORMATION: http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm *************************************************
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#8. Re: [E36M3] Soft Brakes - from Gerald Low
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:51:37 -0400 From: "Gerald Low" <gerry@parallel-mkt.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Soft Brakes Neil, What brake fluid are you using? Is your brake pedal as soft when you put fresh fluid in the spring? Gerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Neil Maller" <neil.maller@gte.net> To: "E36M3" <e36m3@bmw-m.net> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 1:36 PM Subject: [E36M3] Soft Brakes
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#9. Re: [E36M3] Soft Brakes - from Neil Maller
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 17:06:13 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Soft Brakes on 4/14/03 4:51 PM, Gerald Low at gerry@parallel-mkt.com wrote: > What brake fluid are you using? Is your brake pedal as soft when you put > fresh fluid in the spring? Gerry, My usual Super Blue - fluid is new after I rebuilt all four calipers and replaced the lines a month or so ago. Already flushed and bled, drove around and activated ABS and DSC, bled again. And before you ask, no I'm not sure how soft the pedal was before I did that work. Not only does the body adapt, but the mind does too... Neil 96 M3
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#10. 95 M3 intake Upgrade Fun - from Jake McClean
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 14:53:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Jake McClean <sin@mail.value.net> Subject: 95 M3 intake Upgrade Fun Hey peeps. Despite my initial desires to not spend money upgrading my M3, the damn upgrade bug has taken a healthy bite out of my willpower. So, it's time. I bought my 1995 M3 a couple years ago and it came with an AA intake, UUC exhaust, and the original owner also mumbled something about a throttle body and Dinan chip, but I never bothered to look. I could care less about the chip, since I'll be ordering a Conforti chip. I've checked the HFM and it is the regular US HFM, so I'll be getting my hands on a euro model. What's the easiest way to check the throttle body to see if is standard/larger? Just measure the opening - or is there an external marking of some sort? With the euro HFM (with the larger 3.5" diameter), will I need to chuck the smaller 3" AA intake that's currently in place to get any benefit? (actually, here's a question.. are the HP gains from the euro HFM from solely due to the increase in diameter, or some other factor?) I think that covers most of it for now, thanks for any tips! Jake PS - My resistance to upgrade the M3 also came from a desire to not have the car end up like my last car (95 Eclipse), which was fun at the track but a bitch on the street. I upgraded my way through 3 turbos, more intake/exhaust parts than I dare count, and two full frickin suspensions. Heh. My goal here is just a little extra oomph, that's it! :)