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#1. RE: Coilover Redux - from Burgess, Kim L
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 12:42:42 -0700 From: "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> Subject: RE: Coilover Redux I attended a suspension tech session here in Puget Sound about a year ago, where TCKline was a guest speaker. He stated that raising and lowering a BMW only changed camber - _NO_ toe change. He also went on to say that if one has camber plates and changes the camber - same ride height - that toe changes, and needs to be addressed. There are folks that have camber plates and have had there toe optimized for street/track. They change camber at the track to run max camber with near zero toe and change camber back to street optimum camber and run close to factory toe. (as I recall) KLBurgess -------------------- 5 -------------------- Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 09:10:10 -0500 From: "Gary" <probikeguy@probikeusa.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Coilovers (again) When you lower it you will change the toe settings front and rear, not just camber... Meaning every time you move it you will need to get an alignment or buy some tools to do it yourself. Not to hard to set it. Gary
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#2. Stailess Steel Caliper Piston Problem. (long) - from William Townsend
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 16:36:15 -0400 From: "William Townsend" <wtownsend@juniper.net> Subject: Stailess Steel Caliper Piston Problem. (long) Forgot to post this, Chester woke me up here. So I tried the SS piston route on my 96 M3 and had a problem with the front calipers. I rebuilt the fronts and rears with the OE rebuild kits but replaced the factory pistons with SS pistons. Tried the set up at a test and tune day at NHIS. It was a cool day, all went fine, brakes seemed ok. A couple weeks later went to The Glen for a 2 day event. The first day was a mix of rain and a final cool dry last session. All seemed fine, brakes worked great. The next day was warm in the mid 70's and during the first session the brakes began to act funny. Once the tires and brakes got to track operating temperature, the rear of the car wanted to step out to the left in the brake zone. This required a good amount of counter steer to prevent looping the car. Hmmm, went in to the garage, put it up on stands checked the suspension and bolts on all I could check, nothing. Went back out same thing! Warm up lap, worked fine, hot laps, wanted to step out. Decided I was not going to figure it out at the track, day done. The only thing I thought I did different with the brakes was the SS pistons. Dropped both front calipers to check it out. Turns out the right front pads are worn 2x the left side. Rears were perfectly even. Popped the pistons out to find the left side with score marks from the cylinder wall in the piston. The right piston had minor abrasions. Both came out with minimal air pressure. It seemed as if the left piston was rubbing the cylinder wall very hard. I came to the conclusion that the left piston once hot, would stick in the bore provide little or no brake effort to the pads. I put the factory pistons back in and went to The Glen the next weekend. Every brake event was back to normal. The temps were warm again in the mid to upper 70's. I don't believe there was any debris in the bore, but by my micrometer, the left bore was just about ½ a thousandth of an inch smaller than the right. I know that SS has a greater rate of thermal expansion than carbon steel and I am just assuming this was part of the problem. I asked Kevin at Turner if they have ever tried this for track use and he said they had. He immediately knew what happened to me since they had tried it. They never got it to work with good results and dropped it. As I have done. Another guy I know has run the same pistons and has not had this problem. (he has also not tried them at The Glen yet either) I believe the small variation in the caliper bores from caliper to caliper may allow this to work sometimes but not all the time. I just don't know for sure. Anyone have any success/failure stories with aftermarket SS pistons for track use? This stuff should work fine on the street since the conditions are much less extreme. --Bill 96 M3 red
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#3. RE: caliper piston - from Burgess, Kim L
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 13:50:53 -0700 From: "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> Subject: RE: caliper piston Brake fluid will sure mess up a good paint job, I'm not sure about JBWeld. Also note that the corrosion you have is above or outboard of where the caliper seal would pass. I believe that spot, while on the 'seal plane' is out of the 'wipe' area or region of the caliper seal. As mentioned BimmerWorld sells the caliper pistons that one of our list members had produced, and they are reasonably priced. Kim Burgess -------------------- 6 -------------------- Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 13:55:08 -0500 From: Steve Klein <s.klein@steveklein.cc> Subject: Caliper rebuild After months of having to put off the work, I finally rebuilt my calipers this weekend and not having one drag is a joy unto itself! However, there was a torn boot on the left front and a bit of corrosion on the piston itself. Having no spare and needing to get the car back together, I did a very un-BMW repar: JB Weld. I'd like to hear opinions on how long my patch may hold until I can get a new caliper. The scenario: A few bubbled, corroded areas were lightly sanded (400grit) to knock the scale off and I used an X-acto blade and a loupe to remove the rest and make sure I had a solid, clean surface on the piston. Fretting that it was enough of a gap to leak, at 2am I struck upon the idea to fill it back in with good ol' JB. I mixed a bit and doped it in with a toothpick, finally using a playing card to drag along the surface and smooth it down near level. After sitting overnight, I re-sanded it until I had knocked it back to level with the rest of the piston and buffed it until it was as smooth as possible. My main concern is how it will hold up to the brake fluid (ATE Super Blue) for a period of time. I guess I can pull the caliper in the near future, disassemble and see if there's any leaking into the dust boot, but it's responded well so far (more bleeding necessary. Anyone know how to cycle the ABS pump electronically ?). Pics: Http://www.steveklein.cc/caliper/index.htm Thanks for your input, Steve
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#4. Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? - from MDR
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 14:32:40 -0700 From: MDR <mdrlist@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? When you guys have changed your tensioner pulleys, do you change the tensioner as well? I understand a rotating mechanism wearing out, but the actual spring (I think) tensioner. Reference adjusting pulley #5 and tensioner #7 at: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BF93&mospid=47486&btnr=64_0831&hg=64&fg=50&hl=6 or *http://tinyurl.com/zldvb* Thanks, Murray On 6/7/06, Mark D <mdlkml@atari-source.com> wrote: > > Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:33:06 -0400 > From: Mark D <mdlkml@atari-source.com> > Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? > > On Wed, 2006-06-07 at 13:24 -0500, Raza Uddin wrote: > > Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 11:21:57 -0700 > > From: "Raza Uddin" <raza.uddin@gmail.com> > > Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? > > > > On 6/7/06, Mark D <mdlkml@atari-source.com> wrote: > > > > > > Speaking of pulleys and all of that. I recently had new belts > installed > > > in my M3 (S52) and after a few months I started experiencing a > whistle/light > > > squeal that is both constant and loudest at idle. > > > > > > > Over the winter, my car started squealing also. I changed the belts and > all > > the pullies (tensioner pullies and offset, alternator pulley) and the > noises > > went away. The main culprit of all the noise was the offset alternator > > pulley- it squealed like a pig once I got the belts off an started > rotating > > them by hand. > > > > My question is if there is a better pulley brand than others? I got > Meyle > > pullies and I can swear that they are starting to squeal again, albeit > > lightly, on cold-start up. I'd hate to go back in there again... > > > > Drive Safely, > > Raza > > Thanks for the info on this guys... > > I'm thinking alternator pulley but I'll probably go ahead and replace > both tensioners, idler pulley and alternator pulley as a matter of > principle. I think while I'm in there I'll do my water pump with > 175,000 miles on it ;) Should have done that when I did my thermostat > but too lazy. > > Thanks, > Mark > > > > > ************************************************* > 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 > Elephant Motorsports Inc. http://www.elephantmotorsports.com > > DIGEST INFORMATION: > http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm > ************************************************* > > >
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#5. Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? - from Jamie Howton
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 16:40:43 -0500 From: "Jamie Howton" <jhowton@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? > When you guys have changed your tensioner pulleys, do you change the > tensioner as well? No, I just changed the pulleys. -- Jamie Howton 2006 M Roadster 2000 M5 1995 M3 Hampshire, IL
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#6. Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? - from Jim Bassett
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 14:46:18 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jim Bassett" <jim@jimbassett.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? On Wed, June 7, 2006 2:44 pm, Jamie Howton said: >> When you guys have changed your tensioner pulleys, do you change the >> tensioner as well? > > No, I just changed the pulleys. Same here :-) Jim Bassett
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#7. Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? - from Raza Uddin
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 15:05:17 -0700 From: "Raza Uddin" <raza.uddin@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? On 6/7/06, Jim Bassett <jim@jimbassett.com> wrote: > > On Wed, June 7, 2006 2:44 pm, Jamie Howton said: > >> When you guys have changed your tensioner pulleys, do you change the > >> tensioner as well? > > > > No, I just changed the pulleys. > > Same here :-) I changed my AC tensioner shock (very easy) when I did the belts, but struggled to find out how to change out the alternator-side tensioner shock. When I did figure it out, it required a lot more effort than I was prepared to invest. :) It was still working well, so I left it. Drive Safely, Raza
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#8. Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? - from Chester Wong
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 15:21:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? I replaced all pulleys and tensioners and I don't recall there being anything difficult... hmmmm.. I was even carrying out a conversation with Wayne as I was working on my car. Chester --- Raza Uddin <raza.uddin@gmail.com> wrote: > I changed my AC tensioner shock (very easy) when I did the belts, but > struggled to find out how to change out the alternator-side tensioner > shock. When I did figure it out, it required a lot more effort than I was > prepared to invest. :) It was still working well, so I left it.
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#9. Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? - from Raza Uddin
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 15:43:05 -0700 From: "Raza Uddin" <raza.uddin@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] pulleys and tensioners? On 6/7/06, Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> wrote: > > I replaced all pulleys and tensioners and I don't recall there being > anything > difficult... hmmmm.. I was even carrying out a conversation with Wayne > as I > was working on my car. Chester, Do you mind posting your precedure? I looked at a writeup on bimmerforums which wasn't that clear and when I looked at it, I didn't see the same provisions to take it off like the AC side. I recall something about needle bearing. I've never been good with bearings so I just decided not to deal with it. Next time I'm in there, I'd like to replace the alternator tensioner. Hopefully it's as easy (for me) as you say. Thanks in advance!
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#10. RE: [E36M3] Caliper rebuild - from James Clay
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 19:07:04 -0400 From: "James Clay" <james@bimmerworld.com> Subject: RE: [E36M3] Caliper rebuild We have sanded pistons to get by in the past and it works. But there is a right way and a way that works. I have been bitten often enough by the way that works to do things the right way. Of course it also depends on the demands you place on the car. James Clay http://www.bimmerworld.com http://www.bimmerworldracing.com http://www.powerflexusa.com Race Proven BMW Performance 877.639.9648
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#11. Re: [E36M3] Coilovers (again) - from James Clay
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Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 19:07:04 -0400 From: "James Clay" <james@bimmerworld.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Coilovers (again) One more data point. People rarely change height on the coilovers. Alignment changes, yes. But even beyond that, once you get it right, it is a pain to do and just doesn't happen. In fact, a huge number of my customers, with an adjustable damper like the Tein or GC/Koni, rarely even change the damper once they get the feel right. It would take 5 minutes, but it is just a step that doesn't happen. On a side note - I took a car around with a Tein kit - pretty impressive range of feel with the adjustable dampers (SS kit). And we did a Moton car that I track tested a few months ago - you could make it feel anywhere from stock to almost race stiff, WITH 700# front springs and proper platform support for track use. A Moton or JRZ setup is about $4k - is the Praxis really much more than a gadget for a similar price? That is a serious question because I would like real feedback, not a snipe at the suspension. James James Clay http://www.bimmerworld.com http://www.bimmerworldracing.com http://www.powerflexusa.com Race Proven BMW Performance 877.639.9648