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#1. RE: [E36M3] Ground Control Suspension Question. - from Dave DeBuhr
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:15:07 -0800 From: "Dave DeBuhr" <debuhr@comcast.net> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Ground Control Suspension Question. Here's GC's new rear weight jacker/height adjuster. You get at this one from the bottom of the control arm with a wrench. These don't come with the race kit though. http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=639 If you drive on the street mostly, get the hybrid camber plates. They don't affect stack height noticeably and are much quieter. I have the race kit and am very happy with it. I run a 375 6"F and 450 7" R spring setup because it is mostly a street car and the car rides almost like stock. I also have Eibach sways. I have the extra kick that Jay mentioned and saw a tiny bit of rubbing on my strut housing with 17.8.5" LTW forged wheels and 245/40 Bridgestone SO3s. So I bought some Rogue 10mm spacers and the rubbing is gone. You will need to enlarge the holes on the RSM bushings to fit over the large Koni shock shaft. Why GC doesn't do this for you , I have no idea. You will also probably have to slightly enlarge the holes in the front sway bar mounting brackets on the strut housing. I was told that they are sized for the GC adjustable end links. Takes 2 minutes with a standard hand drill. Also, make sure to ask for a spanner wrench. They forgot to put one in the kit. When the threads on the adjusters get cruddy, the wrench makes it a lot easier to turn the adjusters. It is a really nice kit. I'm very happy with it. If my wife didn't drive it too, I would probably have gone with 450/525lb springs. I drove a friends 325 with that setup and it rode only slightly firmer than mine. Since you do more track days, that may be the ideal rate for you. It's cheap and super easy to change springs later... Thumbs up if you have the bux! Dave DeBuhr 98 M3/4 Antioch, CA -----Original Message----- From: Townsend, William [mailto:wtownsen@enterasys.com] Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 7:47 AM To: E36M3 Subject: [E36M3] Ground Control Suspension Question. Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:43:17 -0500 From: "Townsend, William" <wtownsen@enterasys.com> Subject: Ground Control Suspension Question. So I am thinking of the race version GC package from Bimmerworld since my M has 80K+ on the original suspension. (don't want ot go cut-n-gut method, want the camber plates and the adjustable dampers so the race package has all that) Had a couple questions for the list. I will be driving the car to DE events and some nice day to work drives but is mostly a track car. No winter driving. Do about 15 DE/yr. No intention to race the car, have about 40 track days now. Running RA1's (235/40-17 on 8.5 factory rims on all 4) and the stock factory suspension eats the outsides like candy. (read - not enough negative camber) Anyone had one of these for a while? Impressions? I am guessing I will need front wheel spacers, what size have worked with this setup? So, what spring rates have seemed to work on this set up? I run in the north east mostly and Mont Tremblant (Canada). Anyone had trouble with adjusting the rear perches? I plan to corner balance the car but I am concerned about the rear adjustable perches. Seems like the GC perches go at the bottom of the spring making them VERY hard to get to. Anyone run into this doing it themselves? My 328 has the Bilstein PSS kit with the perch at the bottom and this was a royal pain in the a** to adjust. Had to drop the rear suspension for every adjustment. General set up opinions are also welcome! Thanks, --Bill 96 M3 Coupe red ************************************************* Please help support the E36M3 list by visiting our sponsors: Bimmerworld http://www.bimmerworld.com Turner Motorsport http://www.turnermotorsport.com Eurosport High Performance http://www.eurosporthighperformance.com Rogue Engineering http://www.rogueengineering.com Treehouse Racing http://www.treehouseracing.com DIGEST INFORMATION: http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm *************************************************
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#2. Re: [E36M3] RE: Wacky tachy problem found - Need Gauge Cluster - from John
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:17:17 +0100 (CET) From: John <johnf@freenet.de> Subject: Re: [E36M3] RE: Wacky tachy problem found - Need Gauge Cluster On Wed, 2 Mar 2005, Jamie Howton wrote: > > Actually, you can have the cluster match the plug once you change. > > I forget the procedure but it can be done. > > This _may_ be true. There was a change in clusters mid 1995 Model > Year.... It was later than that on some models. The cluster in my 6/96 318is didn't have the transferable distance plug. -John
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#3. Re: Wacky tachy problem - Cluster Found, but now anti-tamper - from John
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:41:31 +0100 (CET) From: John <johnf@freenet.de> Subject: Re: Wacky tachy problem - Cluster Found, but now anti-tamper questions On Wed, 2 Mar 2005 air2daa@insightbb.com wrote: > 4. With a new gauge cluster comming to me, is there a way to program the new > (correct) mileage to the odometer so it reflects the correct mileage? That > is, without buying a psecial programmer available for around $500. In Germany there are people who will reprogram your cluster to read whatever value you wish. I would probably break some U.S. federal statue having a 100% certain, milk-the-violater penalty if I were to explain how. So I won't. I can, however, safely remark that German automotive electronics engineers are well known for not be very adventurous. They generally choose solutions that are so obvious and have been so often used that they are boring. -John '96 318is
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#4. RE: RTAB R&R - from Townsend, William
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 13:42:18 -0500 From: "Townsend, William" <wtownsen@enterasys.com> Subject: RE: RTAB R&R I went with the method at this link. Seems barbaric but worked great. Replaced with a 2 piece urethane bushing so no need to press back in. Tried the victory tool but would not budge with that. Big tip: once the car is up on stands, take it out of gear and release the e-brake. Found out the hard way with my M3 this was needed to be able to push the trailing arm down to get at the bushing. My 328 went very quick once I knew this trick. You will also need to disconnect the sway bar. The victory tool may work well if you need to press back in a factory unit since you can clean all the rust away and the tool looks more suited to do that. May want to consider the Turner trailing arm bushing limiter kit if you put the factory bushing back in. Have fun. http://www.apexcone.com/JimPowellHomepage/RearBushings/RearBushing.html --Bill 96 M3 coupe 97 328i
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#5. Re: Replacement gauge cluster - from Chip Mitchell
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 14:13:26 -0500 From: Chip Mitchell <chipmitchell@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Replacement gauge cluster While we're on the subject, remember that a savvy buyer will consider at least cars from option 2 (new cluster +sticker) and, if they are aware of the repair, also from option 1 to be TMU ("True Mileage Unknown") as there is no way to confirm how many miles the car was driven with a broken cluster. There is the potential that the car was driven for many, many miles with no miles registering on the odometer. Obviously, a TMU car is worth significantly less - try to trade one in and see what they offer... > -------------------- 1 -------------------- > Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 15:29:09 -0600 > From: Jamie Howton <jhowton@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [E36M3] RE: Wacky tachy problem found - Need Gauge Cluster > > > Actually, you can have the cluster match the plug once you change. > > I forget the procedure but it can be done. > > This _may_ be true. There was a change in clusters mid 1995 Model > Year. Prior to the change, the mileage was hard-coded into the > cluster, after the change it was coded into a coding plug which can be > removed from the cluster and inserted into a new/used one. The only > way to tell which kind you have is to remove the cluster and examine > the back of it. There is a break-out section on the lower left which > can be removed with a pair of pliers, if it has a removable coding > plug underneath it you are in luck. > > If your car is not equipped with a removable coding plug, you have two > legal remedies which are: > 1. Buy a new cluster from BMW and have it sent to New Jersey to be > coded with the mileage taken from your old cluster. This takes about > 6 weeks and requires that your car be parked at the dealer during the > entire process. > 2. Buy a new cluster from BMW and install it with 0 miles showing. > You must then install a sticker on the driver's side door jamb > indicating how many miles were on the car when the cluster was reset > to 0. > > In either case a new cluster must be programmed by BMW using the DIS > system before it will work in your car. I went through this with my > 95 M3 when the right side of the cluster stopped working at 77K miles. > Unfortunately I had to have a 0 mile cluster installed and programmed > only to have it stop working again 500 miles later. The problem > turned out to be a malfunctioning DME, I replaced that and 23K miles > later everything is still good. > > The new cluster cost me $600 ($900 list) from BMW + $125 for > programing, the used DME cost $450. > > -- > Jamie Howton > 2002 330i > 2000 M5 > 1995 M3 > Hampshire, IL >
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#6. Re: Wacky tachy problem found - Need Gauge Cluster - from Michael, Dave
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 14:16:38 -0500 From: "Michael, Dave" <Dave_Michael@maxtor.com> Subject: Re: Wacky tachy problem found - Need Gauge Cluster I bought my 98 m3/4 in Canada and imported it using a letter from BMW saying it meets fed regulations AS LONG AS THE GAUGE CLUSTER IS CHANGED. I had that that done in Canada, but the mileage was not reset correctly. The dealer here (FMW - blech), wanted to just put the sticker on, but I nixed that. To get the cluster to read properly, they needed to send it AND the mileage module along with the OLD mileage metric mileage module (for proof) to NJ. After nearly three weeks of sending the wrong cluster and having the mileage set incorrectly, they got it right. But it took constant supervision..... So, the moral is that it IS possible to get the mileage correct, but it is NOT easy. Dave 98 m3/4
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#7. Re: Ground Control Suspension Question. - from Fernando Mujica
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 16:14:50 -0600 From: Fernando Mujica <fmujica@mac.com> Subject: Re: Ground Control Suspension Question. Bill, I have had my GC suspension for about a year and a half. 400/500 f/r with SA Koni's and CCPs and stock sways. The rear perches are not that hard to adjust if you have the long shocks, i.e., the springs are not compressed when the car is in jack stands. I have the long shocks and use 7" springs f/r. No problem. In the front, I run a 5mm to fit 255/40/17 Victoracers on 8.5" ET40 wheels. The "kick" in the strut helps with tire clearance. It also depends on the spring height and how much you want to lower your car. E.g. with my ride height if I were using 6" springs in front I would need no spacers as the spring perch would be above the tire. 400/500 worked pretty well for me. But this season I'm trying 400/550 to dial out some understeer. Fernando On Mar 3, 2005, at 12:06 PM, E36M3 wrote: > Subject: Ground Control Suspension Question. > > > So I am thinking of the race version GC package from Bimmerworld since > my M has 80K+ on the original suspension. (don't want ot go cut-n-gut > method, want the camber plates and the adjustable dampers so the race > package has all that) Had a couple questions for the list. I will be > driving the car to DE events and some nice day to work drives but is > mostly a track car. No winter driving. Do about 15 DE/yr. No intention > to race the car, have about 40 track days now. Running RA1's (235/40-17 > on 8.5 factory rims on all 4) and the stock factory suspension eats the > outsides like candy. (read - not enough negative camber) > > Anyone had one of these for a while? Impressions? > > I am guessing I will need front wheel spacers, what size have worked > with this setup? > > So, what spring rates have seemed to work on this set up? I run in the > north east mostly and Mont Tremblant (Canada). > > Anyone had trouble with adjusting the rear perches? I plan to corner > balance the car but I am concerned about the rear adjustable perches. > Seems like the GC perches go at the bottom of the spring making them > VERY hard to get to. Anyone run into this doing it themselves? My 328 > has the Bilstein PSS kit with the perch at the bottom and this was a > royal pain in the a** to adjust. Had to drop the rear suspension for > every adjustment. > > General set up opinions are also welcome! > > Thanks, > --Bill > 96 M3 Coupe red
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#8. Fan - Viscous Replacement - from Burgess, Kim L
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:40:38 -0800 From: "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> Subject: Fan - Viscous Replacement I recall someone posting a write-up for wiring a electric fan for replacement of the viscous fan. Anybody else recall such post? Kim L Burgess
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#9. The ULTIMATE e36 m3 track car is for sale - from Ty Vilhauer
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 17:12:20 -0700 From: "Ty Vilhauer" <quest@pacifier.com> Subject: The ULTIMATE e36 m3 track car is for sale I just wanted to pass this on to anyone who may be interested. If you know anyone else who might be interested please pass this on to them. http://hpaownersclub.com/m3/m3.htm I've ridden in this car out on the track and it's AMAZING, it really raises the bar for a track car. No expense has been spared on anything in this car. I'd really like to see it go to another enthusiast so I thought I'd send it out to all of you. I know Pete would really like to get it sold, and trust me if I wasn't a college student (and had that kind of cash laying around, I'd own it) Pete can be contacted at pete@stoppani.net (I have his number, for interested parties also) Ty
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#10. Re: [E36M3] Fan - Viscous Replacement - from David Bauer
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Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 16:15:59 -0800 (PST) From: David Bauer <dbauer@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Fan - Viscous Replacement Here's one: http://home.earthlink.net/~rbirkz/E36M3_Electric_Fan_Install.htm David Bauer 95 M3 99 Z3 2.8 - still for sale --- "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> wrote: > Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 15:40:38 -0800 > From: "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> > Subject: Fan - Viscous Replacement > > I recall someone posting a write-up for wiring a > electric fan for > replacement of the viscous fan. > Anybody else recall such post? > > Kim L Burgess