themilepost may/june 2006 · regulars 2 new members 4 upcoming events 5 president speaks 6 black...
TRANSCRIPT
May
/Jun
e 20
06 the
Milepostthe Kansas City BMW Club newsletter
Got Cones?
Inside:* Grease Talk* Gateway Tech* DE Registration* Upcoming Events* Racer’s Corner* Subchapter News
Summer is here! AutoX, tech sessions, DE’s, Eureka Springs, picnics,and more. We’ve been busy planning lots of fun events for everyoneto enjoy. Be sure to check out the Events page to get the latest in clubhappenings and come on our and meet some of your fellow members.
Come out to Arrowhead’s Lot L or the Woodlands to watch some fan-tastic AutoX racing. Competition is fierce this year as many of theBimmer Brothers are in the same class. National champions willbattle it out nearly every weekend this summer. Don’t miss out on theaction. Spectating is free. Participating is priceless.
Hope to see you out there!
Welcome New Members!
We invite all our members, new and veteran, to join us at our next meeting and event.
Jan BrooksKansas City,MO
Rebecca RosevearLeawood,KS2004 325xi
Gail SpauldingOlathe,KS
Richard and Anna MartinLiberty,MO
2001 M3
David RoeIola,KS
2002 M3
Craig WilcoxBlue Springs,MO
2004 325i
Charles CanillasGalena,MO
2005 Z4
Richard RandolphShawnee Mission,KS2003 Mini Cooper S
Michael & Carole BlankowskiLeawood,KS
2002 M3
Jonathan BraswellShawnee Mission,KS
Mark StanfieldOverland Park,KS
1989 325is
Charles SoslandKansas City,MO
1997 Z3
Chris DoyleLiberty,MO
Bob LedfordShawnee Mission,KS
2002 530
Kriss LovelessLiberty,MO
Eric WoerthWindsor,MO
2003 325i
Matthew HendersonOverland Park,KS
2003 350z
Bryan GleasonLeawood,KS
Shailesh SharmaTopeka,KS
Brian TuttleOlathe,KS2001 330i
Mickey MakayOverland Park,KS
2003 Z4
Winston JimenezEdwardsville, KS
2002 325ci
Eric GrayRaymore,MO
1998 528
Tom PaoliniShawnee Mission,KS
1997 328i
Jeff and Linda GernerKansas City,MO
2001 540i
Thomas and ChristopherMcIntyre
Overland Park,KS
Van and Jennifer BedellStilwell,KS
2003 Z4
Matt HansonPrairie Village,KS
2000 M Coupe
Jeff GoodnowOlathe,KS
Jay and Tatiane SzymanskiLees Summit,MO
2001 X5
Dustin and Julie KennedySpringfield,MO
2002 745i
Tony HoltkampMerriam,KS
2006 M3
Eric and Michele HinkleOverland Park,KS
2006 330xi
Jonathan ThomasOverland Park,KS
2003 M3
Scott and Clancy SchmidtLawrence,KS
1987 535is
Jen BaumLawrence,KS
1987 535is
John and Theodora StultzLenexa,KS2006 325xi
Andrew HagenShawnee,KS
Keith KurreOverland Park,KS
Brian LoeSaint Joseph,MO
1995 325i
Harry WrenLeawood,KS
2003 X5
Jason FrancoliniFort Riley,KS
1994 325is
Aaron BrownKansas City,MO
David TheobaldShawnee Mission,KS
Gary GibsonPrairie Village,KS
2006 M5
Tim HenryPrairie Village,KS
2006 M5
Shane and Laura BetzOlathe,KS
Gary BraleyBelton,MO
2000 Z3
Troy RinconShawnee Mission,KS
1998 328is
Dan PrendivilleLeawood,KS2006 325ci
Amanda MosesOverland Park,KS
2006 330xi
David TrippLeawood,KS
Regulars
2New Members
4Upcoming Events
5President Speaks
6Black & Blue
14Springfield News
15Wichita News
16Classifieds
May / June 2006
the Milepost is a publication of the Kansas City BMW Club, BMW Car Club of America, Inc.and is mailed to all members in good standing. Additional copies may be purchased for $1.00 each pluspostage. All contents remain the property of the Kansas City BMW Club. Information supplied isprovided by members and for members only. The Club is in no way associated with BMW of NorthAmerica, or any other agents of Bayerische Motoren Werke, AG. The Club assumes no liability for anyinformation herein. Please note that, unless clearly stated, no information in this publication bears thestatus of “factory approved.” Ideas, opinions, and suggestions expressed herein are those of the au-thors. No authentication is implied by the Club, officers, editor, or publisher. Modifications to vehicleswithin the warranty period may void the warranty, in full or in part. Permission is granted to BMWCCA and BMW ACA chapters to reproduce articles originating in the Milepost, provided full creditgoes to the author and the Milepost. “BMW”, the “M” logo, “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” and theBMW roundel logo are registered trademarks of BMW AG.
© 2006 Kansas City BMW Club
the
MilepostServing Kansas and Western Missouri
Special Features
8Little Obsessions
9Racer’s Corner
10 & 11Gateway Tech
12 & 13Grease Talk
14Corner Stations
17 & 18BMW DE Registration Form
Meg and Josh would like to thank everyone for contributingall the great pictures for the Milepost.
the Kansas City BMW ClubBoard
Chuck VosslerPresident
913.620.8838 [email protected]
Ned SmithVice President
913.696.1648 [email protected]
Mike ShawVice President, Wichita
Larry BlunkVice President, Springfield
Patrick SmithSecretary
Jennifer BlumenthalTreasurer
816.746.5359 [email protected]
Josh Ramsey & Meg VanderliestMilepost Editors
Charles [email protected]
Chris ConantAutoX Director
Joe EnnettChief Driving School Instructor
913.897.2053 [email protected]
Greg [email protected]
Scott Goodwin913.727.1998 [email protected]
Uli LipinskiTechnical Adviser
816.333.8880
Greg [email protected]
Brian Paddock913.963.1015 [email protected]
Brad ReinMilepost Advertising Manager
913.897.3931 [email protected]
Chris SmithWebmaster
Ray Spitzer816.525.3166 [email protected]
Mike StaubActivities Director
913.269.4843 [email protected]
Ryan Staub913.908.7280 [email protected]
the Milepost
Upcoming EventsBMW – AUDI Get Together at PaneraSaturday, May 6, 2006, 8:30 AMPanera at Antioch and 75th Street
Kansas City AUDI Chapter Driving SchoolMay 12-14, 2006Hallett, OklahomaGo to www.audiclubna.org/chapters/kc.htm to register.
AutoX Crown Event #3May 14, 2006, The Woodlands
CLUB MEETING!Thursday, May 18, 2006, 6:30 PMKansas City BMW Club Regular MeetingBaron BMW Service Department9010 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Merriam, KSTel. (913) 722-5100Baron Service Manager, Todd Hartje and the Service De-partment are going to give the club an up close look atwhat goes on when club members bring their cars in. Wewill also get to check out any new cars that might havebeen delivered. Join us at Baron BMW!
KC BMW “Fun Drive in the Woods”May 20-21, 2006Eureka Spring, ArkansasCome join the Club for a weekend in Eureka Springs. Enjoya morning drive through the mountains, picnic lunch at theNature Center in Ponca, dinner at the Bavarian Haus, shop-ping and more. Click on the forums page on the KC BMWwebsite for sign up and details.
AutoX SCCA Event #2May 28, 2006, Truman Sports Complex, Lot L
BMW – AUDI Get Together at PaneraNEW LOCATION!Saturday, June 3, 2006, 8:30 AMPanera at Shawnee Mission Parkway near Goddard Street,west side of I-35We needed more parking!
AutoX Crown Event #4June 4, 2006, The Woodlands
Iowa BMW Chapter Longest Day Driving SchoolJune 9-11, 1006
Mid America Motorplex, IowaGo to www.bmwia.org to register.
CLUB MEETING!Thursday, June 15, 2006, 6:30 PMKansas City BMW Club Regular MeetingSanta Fe Auto Sound8201 Lowell Avenue, Overland Park, KSTel: (913) 649-8500Mark Kroll will give a presentation of Clean Sweep andthe options it provides for BMW owners as well as techinformation to make BMW installs easier. There will be adrawing for free giveaways including a pair of speakers.Come join us!
AutoX SCCA Event #3June 18, 2006, Truman Sports Complex, Lot L
1St Annual KC BMW Club Golf OutingSunday, June 25, 2006, 9:45 AMIronhorse Golf CourseThe cost is $55 per person to participate and the formatwill be a 2-man scramble. Please RSVP to Chris Smith [email protected] before June 11, 2006.
BMW – AUDI Get TogetherSaturday July 1, 2006, 8:30AMPanera at Shawnee Mission Parkway near Goddard Street,west side of I-35
CLUB PICNIC AND SHOW & SHINESaturday July 22, 2006Shawnee Mission ParkShelter # 8A drive is in the works and will be announced in the July/August Milepost. Bring your own food for the grill or sidedish and the club will provide the drinks. Shine your carsand get ready for a great day at Shawnee Mission Park.
BMW CCA OktoberfestJuly 23-28, 2006Grand Rapids, MichiganSign up is available at www.bmwcca.org or in the Roun-del.
Return of Surface of the Sun!!!Kansas City BMW Chapter Driving School and ClubRaceAugust 18-20, 2006Heartland Park, TopekaRegistration is available on the KC BMW Club websiteand in the Milepost.
Contacting the BMW CCANational Office
To submit a change of address for the Roundel, or if it’sthe middle of the month and you haven’t received yourRoundel, or if you have any other membership questionsthat need to go to the National Office, the address is:
BMW CCA, Inc.640 South Main St. Suite 200
Greenville, SC 29601
You can also call at (864) 250-0022. The NationalOffice can be contacted Monday thru Friday, 8:00 AM
to 4:00 PM, Central Time.
May / June 2006
The President Speaksby Chuck Vossler
By the time you receive the Milepost we should have al-ready hosted our BMW CCA Street Survival. The BMWCCA Street Survival program is a driver’s education coursefor 16 to 21 year old drivers to help them learn how toavoid accidents. It is taught on aclosed, wet-down coursewhich helps ex-aggerate theirmistakes. Thisyears programwas spear-headed by BlakeHeinrich, whohas his own teendriver partici-pating and theW o o d l a n d sRacetrack al-lowed us use oftheir parking lot. Students drive their own “daily driver”cars and are taught in a very hand on approach what itfeels like to lose control of a car and how to hopefullyprevent it from occurring on the streets. Thanks Blake!
The weekend of May 20th, Greg Gelatka and Greg Lipperthave put together a fun family-oriented drive to EurekaSprings, Arkansas. I am bringing 3 generations ofmy family on this club event, including my wife, 4 yearold daughter, my stepfather, who is also a BMW M3 nut,and my mother! My daughter loves “snake” roads, as shecalls them and they just plain scare my mother. Hi Mom! Our May club meeting will be held at Baron’s ServiceDepartment by their Service Manager, Todd Hartje. Ev-ery time I go to Baron I could, and sometimes do, spendhours just looking at all the stuff. I go from the new cars tothe CPO’d cars, the giftshop, the Z cafe and if they’d let
me, the service bay too. If you think I am kidding, ask mywife! Come July, it will be time for our annual club picnic at
Shawnee MissionPark and a drive downKansas Highway 5. This year, we’ll beadding a Show &Shine in the parkinglot of our shelter. Lastyear was a success andthis year we hope tosee many more peopleshow up. In August, we willhost our first everClub Race togetherwith our summerDriving School. See
pages 17 and 18 for the information and application or justcome watch. We also need volunteers that weekend. Having met Chapter Presidents from all over the countrylast month at a recent National CCA event, Gateway Tech,I’ve realized just how lucky we are to have such a greatBMW Dealer that is so actively involved with this club. As club members, we get parts and service discounts and ifyou buy a new or CPO’d car and have had a BMW CCAmembership for at least a year, you can get from $500 to$1500 back from BMW of North America. They truly havehelped increase the overall level of club participationso when you stop by, don’t forget to thank them.
the Milepost
Black & Blueby Joshua Ramseyby Meg Vanderliest
We just finished our first DE on the new track at Heart-land Park. Wow. It’s a great track and everyone shouldhave a blast in August at our DE/Club Race. If youcan’t do the DE, at least stop by Topeka this Augustand check out the club racers. The capability and tal-ent they possess in handling our cars is simply amaz-ing to watch.
AutoX season is here and I am itching to get out to theWoodlands and Lot L this year. I haven’t killed any coneswith the 328 yet, so I’ll have to save a few Sundays thissummer for hanging out with the Bimmer Bros. Checkoutwww.kcrscca.org website for a list of all the upcomingSCCA and Crown events. These events are a great placeto get to know more people and see our cars in action.
Speaking of hanging out, if you haven’t come out to a Sat-urday morning Get-ToGether, I highly recommend it. Wehad 30 cars at the last gathering and there is room for plentymore at Panera. We talk about cars, events, tech stuff,cleaning tips, fun drives… everything. There is plenty ofparking, free wireless Internet, and a generous amount ofspace for us to stretch out.
Meg and I have been talking about having a general caremaintenance tech session for sometime now, but we needto know if you are interested. Send us an email [email protected] if you want to learn more aboutthe basics of that vehicle you drive. We could hold at goodsession going over how-to’s and general car care on a Sat-urday or Sunday.
I’ll be leaving soon, and I must say the Kansas City BMWClub will be one of the things I miss most about KansasCity. I have made lots of friends and I always look for-ward to each time we have an event. Impromptu tech ses-sions, Saturday night meets, DE’s, autoX’s – I will missall of it. I can only hope the First Coast BMW Club is asgood as our chapter. It’s too bad that I am going to missthe Eureka Springs trip, club picnic, and the August DE.They will be fantastic events and you really should comeout – I think you’ll be surprised by how many great peopleare in our club.
I love old Bimmers. The 2002 with round taillights is myfavorite. In high school, I almost acquired one but almostdoesn’t count. Since then, my love has grown. During theclub trip to Eureka Springs last year, it took all of me notto chase a pack of them driving the opposite direction andlast summer I chatted with a complete stranger at Chipotleabout his flawlessly restored Inka Orange 2002. Occasion-ally I see him driving around town and it always brings ahuge grin to my face. One of these days when it’s up forsale again, I will make it my own.
Always on the look out for the perfect 2002, I surprisedmyself and others when I almost purchased a 1977 630csi.It appeared to be a gem and though one friend thought Iwould be getting myself into trouble, I wanted it anyway.Her name is Stukka and it wasn’t really an issue of money…well not up front but more of an issue of what am I go-ing to do with this car, where will I store it, will it rust outfrom underneath me? Ah, the details. I figured what Ididn’t know I would learn and I would keep it out of therain or snow. In fact, I came so close to purchasing Stukka,I mapped out the perfect snowless-route and had a fewpeople vying to be my co-driver.
I emailed and called the gentleman but the more I asked,the less I found out. Supposedly he was friends with theoriginal owner and knew everything about the car yetcouldn’t seem to answer some basic maintenance ques-tions. There were discrepancies in the photos and when Iasked about them, he got quiet or tried to convince meotherwise. No paint under the hood? Now what respect-able bimmer has not been painted on the underside of itshood? I figured maybe my anxiety would ease if I spoketo the original owner. While waiting, I did some moreinvestigating. A good friend queried a few people and for-warded info to me. I called the President of the Chapter inthat area and he said he would go look at it for me butwarned me if it was the car he was thinking of, there was areason it hadn’t been snatched up already.
Sadly I knew my answer. Stukka was not a car I wantedanymore. Something was just not right with the sale so Icalled the seller and said no thanks. He made some ex-cuses as to why the original owners hadn’t called and saidhe had two other people interested but really wanted tosell to me. Occasionally I visit his website and you knowwhat? Poor Stukka is still there. Sad but really, what wouldI do with her and where would I store her? I have made a
promise to myself, when I have a garage, then I canhave a 2002. Until then, I have to wait…unless theperfect one comes along and then it’s negotiable.
May / June 2006
the Milepost
Little ObsessionsWhen my wife, Nancy, suggested an extended Martin LutherKing holiday trip to Kansas City to see Meg, my first reac-tion was parental and PC enough; it would be good to seeher again. We had not seen her since October when shedelivered home my2001 Miata SE, a re-placement for theoriginal claimed byHurricane Katrina. Itwas bought at FiveStar Motors in Olathe(nice people, by theway).
My second thoughtwas not “oooooh,shopping on the Plaza;Z Gallery, Sharper Im-age, the Cheesecake Factory.”
No, it was not.
I’m sure my fascination with small and bizarre forms oftransportation started with my Dad’s affinity for VWBeetles, tracing back almost to the split rear window days.I learned to drive on one, may even have fogged the win-dows on one occasionally during my formative years. But,the smaller, and more bizarre the better – the VW, (with nogas gauge, one turn signal indicator, and windshield washerfluid powered by the spare tire, how much more bizarrecould it have been?), a Morris Minor, a Vespa, they’re allgood. The more ‘the-result-of- the-post-WWII-eco-nomic-crisis’, the better I likea vehicle. Even my Miata,while not bizarre by anystretch of the imagination,harkens back to at least thesize of post-War Britishsportscars. When people askhow I get my 6’1, 227 lb selfin and out of the car, I tellthem I don’t; I put it on andtake it off, like a finely tai-lored suit, albeit one with a Nardi steering wheel and a 6-speed manual.
And what vehicle exemplifies the tiny-and-crazed genremore than the Isetta? My love affair has always been at
a distance; pictures, that moronic TV show of a decade orso ago, and the occasional sad case suffering the indignityof an eBay auction. Meg indicated some time ago that sheknew of a woman who actually had an Isetta, and had of-fered to show it to me when we returned next to KansasCity.
So my second thought was, “ISETTA LADY!” Now, Iknow she has a name, and I’m somewhat embarrassed thatin my excitement, it didn’t register (Meg’s note: NancyMalone), but my mind stores information by interest andrelevance, so, in my mind, she is, and always will be, TheIsetta Lady.
An e-mail and a phone call or two later, there it was, in allit’s miniscule glory, resplendent in an immaculate red-and-white paint job, shiny chrome bumpers, jauntily carryingawww.isettaracing.combanner across thewindshield and aMissouri ISETTApersonalized tag.And so ugly, it was,um, well, terminallycute.
A gracious string ofanswers followed a string of blithering idiot questions; oneprevious owner, less than 800 pounds, 11 horsepower bol-stered by the propulsion geniuses at Cosworth to a pave-
ment-threatening 13 horsepower, marginal brakes,terror-inducing handling when gravity and atailwind combined for better than 50 miles an hour.“Can I sit in it?” “Why, sure.” It was a revealingexperience – this suit was at least two sizes too small,with the steering wheel folding indelicately into theribcage, legs caught firmly between the wheel andthe floor with no hope of utilizing the Latin Ameri-can postage stamp-sized pedals without painful con-tortion. What were they thinking?
But I quickly reviewed my fantasy plan anyway–with some imaginative repacking, surely this gem
would fit in the trusty Samsonite for the trip back to Choco-late City, and a new life of amazing and amusing the neigh-bors during milk runs to the grocery store.
Fortunately, ‘Isabelle’ had been sold to a BMW aficio-
by Tom Gould
May / June 2006
nado to round out his collection. Fortunate, because itavoided the marital disharmony of 3 days of pouting, beg-ging and pleading, as well as the physical discomfort ofholding my breath until blue. I would really like to takehome a car just like Isabelle. If there’s no room in thegarage, there’s space in the living room, next to the fire-place, on the other side from the television, I’m sure itwould fit. But Nancy is unlikely to donate the house in-surance checks to acquiring yet another impractical car.
So I settled for a pair of new shoes from Banana Republic,a meander through Sharper Image, and a wonderful lunchat the Cheesecake Factory.
But I still have eBay Motors:BMW:Isetta as a Favorite inmy browser. Let’s see, Wheel Brake Cylinder and HoseKit “NEW”, Tail Light Set “NEW.” In 5 days, 17 hoursand 4 minutes, I could be on my way.
Racer’s Cornerby Scott Goodwin
I still haven’t raced my car and won’t now until the end ofMay when I will compete in a premier event at BarberMotor Sports Park. However I did take it out on Friday toour DE event at Hartland Park in March to heat cycle sometires, bed brake pads, and size up the course for our clubrace there in August of this year. In the process of heatcycling tires, I managed to flat spot a brand new KumoV710 on the right front going into turn one. That is $168including shipping down the drain in the blink of an eyeon the third lap of the first session in the morning. Racingcompound tires just don’t like 40 degree weather and Icould never get enough heat in them to get my brakingright for that turn. Why not adjust you say? After fourmore run offs on to the escape road I finally got it throughmy head that I had to start braking a little sooner than whatI would like. As a matter of fact, I ran off sideways intothe mud through turn 8 as well missing my braking byabout 10 feet at 120 mph. I did promise my driving in-structor that I would try to go faster this year. In five yearsof racing, I have only crashed once and been off two othertimes. In just one day of testing I went off 6 times so Iguess that is progress.
During the weekend, I drove my 2003 330ci and gavepeople rides when they were foolish enough to want to gofor a little spin. Get it? Actually, I didn’t spin out or miss
any braking points as that would be bad form for the in-structor to show his derriere. My car is completely stockand it showed itself by Sunday afternoon when I had toturn down rides regrettably. I managed to boil the fluid,glaze the stock pads, and turn the rotors a real pretty shadeof blue. Ray Spitzer pointed it out and I said that wasprobably the reflection of his beautiful blue Corvette parkednext to me. When we looked at the other side which had awhite car parked next to me, the rotors were still blue. Iconcluded the rotors were probably blue from a little toomuch heat. I’m guessing that is why the fluid boiled andthe pads glazed. Ya think? I don’t want anyone to thinktheir stock BMWs aren’t up to the task of DEs becausethey are under normal circumstances. Most of you will notdrive your car nearly as hard as I drove mine.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun while it lasted. One of myvictims, Ben Tseng, mentioned that he was having prob-lems with early apexing, which means you turn too soonfor a corner and then run out of real estate coming out ofthe turn. After a couple of turns I asked him if he thoughtI might be early apexing because he felt he was turningabout where I was. The difference is that when I turned,my car began an immediate four- wheel drift and was slip-ping to the correct point on the track at the right time. Weare only talking a matter of inches or a foot here and therebut it makes a difference. I hope everyone that rode withme had as much fun as I did. Next time I will have betterbrakes and we can step it up a little bit more.
I want to thank my student, Joseph Winklemann, for a greatweekend in a very fast M5. He was kind enough to holdoff to only 110 or so on the front straight, which he reachedby the way, well before Alpha Zero. What a rocket! Talkabout acceleration and brakes, what a magnificent car.
Drive safely and give the one you love a hug just be-cause they are special to you.
Continued from previous page...
the Milepost
Gateway Tech was created some twenty years ago by theSt Louis BMW CCA chapter as a get together for BMWgear-heads who like to tinker on and learn more about their
cars. I have wanted to go for years and finally after beingheld out east for awhile, it was coming back to St Louis.Friday morning I got off work at 7am and was packed andon the road by 10am. The trip out to St Louis was un-eventful except for a phone call around Columbia fromOne Lap of America. They were calling to ask if we weregoing again. It was fun but hard to take so much time fromfamily and work, so “thanks but not thisyear.”
After checking into the event hotel, abeautiful Embassy Suites, I was rollingmy luggage towards the elevators whenI hear “HEY VOSSLER.” I looked andsaw Satch Carlson, the editor of Roun-del. I went over and spent a good dealof time talking to him and Bailey, aJudge from Kentucky. I met Satch backduring Oktoberfest 2000 in Spartanburg,SC while at dinner with my wife andthe Blazey’s. Satch always tells thegreatest stories. Chris Wright also cameup and started talking with us. He is awriter for Roundel and a big time track
junkie in his e39 M5 or his new911 GT3, which he bought himself for his 40th birth-
day! He’s originally from South Africa and now works inHollywood and was at some of the Oscar’s parties.
Gateway Tech is attended by about 275 people and is anall day Friday and Saturday event. There are multiple smallgroup lectures held both days and a large group dinner inthe evening with a keynote speaker. During the day, therewere four lecture rooms that featured broad topics of BMWBasics, clubr a c i n g ,m a i n t e -nance, andupgrade foryour BMW.The foursmall grouplectures wererun simultaneously thus offering eight lectures each day!After registering, I couldn’t help myself, instead of beingstudious and heading to a lecture, I marched right in theexhibit area and promptly sat in a brand new M6. Wow.Carbon fiber roof, deep candy apple red color, black leatherinterior, huge tires and seven speed SMG. If only I had$95k to burn. Next, I found myself sitting in a new Z4 MRoadster with an M3 motor that puts out 330 hp and weighs200lbs less than the current M3. If only they would havelet me start it and rap it out. It is supposed to have a lowergrowl instead of the metallic raspy exhaust note of the M3.
Where to go next? Mark John Calabrese’s Warsteiner look-a-like e30race car orthe e46 M3race car forsale by TCKline?
The TCKline e46M3 isyours foronly $63kand it’s noteven fin-ished! Ip o p p e dopen thedoor and
squeezed myself through the roll cage into the BMW
by Chuck Vossler
Gateway Tech in Saint Louis
My favorite comment fromthe German engineer was hisreference to all season tiresas “no season” tires.
May / June 2006
Motorsport chassis and the TC Kline guy didn’t yell atme! In fact, he came over and started telling me allabout the car. Wow. Just bare gray metal, a normallooking dashboard, roll cage, shifter, 18” magnesium17lbs wheels and narrow racing seat. I can’t imaginebeing garbed up in a nomex suit, a 6-point harness, anda Hans device and firing this no sound insulation trackpipe baby up. Well, yes I can. It involves Ned Smithbuying this car and Patrick and I somehow crammingourselves into it and doing One Lap again!
The first session I attended once I pulled myself awayfrom the cars was on Active Steering in the BMW Ba-sics room. It was presented by a BMW engineer fromGermany with impeccable English. I am not yet soldon this technology as Active Steering in a car willcounter steer without any input from the driver. Spooky.My favorite comment from the German engineer washis reference to all season tires as “no season” tires.
There were so many good lectures and I can’t describethem all but some of my favorites were on differentials,Club Racing Safety and BMW’s Performance DrivingSchool in South Carolina. Steve Dinan’s lecture wasby far the best I attended. He was so thorough in hisengineering and testing and at the end of his lecture heopened it up to questions and stayed well beyond hisallotted time.
The amount of support from BMW NA for this eventwas OUTSTANDING! I met Larry Koch, who is the Mbrand manager for BMW and provided M cars not yeton the market as well as several speakers. Boris Said, aprofessional racer of BMW was Saturday night’sspeaker. I met him before the dinner and he is like a 13year old trapped in a 43 year olds body. He is singleand takes his dates to McDonald’s despite being well
off. You don’t ever want to let him drive your car! Hedidn’t follow BMW’s break-in procedure forhis brand new M5 and it had to be flat beddedout of a McDonald’s parking lot.
I’ve met the most fascinating people at nationalBMW CCA events and found them all to betrue car enthusiasts and very receptive to peoplelike me walking right up to them and talking.If you can make time to attend one of theseevents, I recommend you do. Who knows,maybe someday the BMW CCA Oktoberfestwill held here in Kansas City and you won’thave any excuses not to go.
Continued from previous page...
the Milepost
Grease Talkby Josh Ramsey
Let’er rip, don’t let’er slip!
After driving my E36 328is for many many moons, I de-cided to drop in the bigger, better, meaner E46 330i brakes,just to fill up the space between the Kosei K1 rim’s 6 spokes.All the research and planning were going well until a fel-low club member pointed out that my car didn’t even gofast enough todeserve thosebig brakes.
Within min-utes, he con-vinced me toshift my atten-tion and in-vestment tosomething thatwould allowme to put morepower down tothe ground anda c c e l e r a t emore aggres-sively throughcorners. I realized that this was a fairly educated sugges-tion (very rare coming from that certain individual) sincemy 328is only came with a 2.93 open diff and no ASC orDSC and decided to give my car a little twist in the rearend. All of a sudden, I was in the market for a reasonably-priced Limit Slip Differential (LSD) and there I started myquest to hunt down a decent unit of pre-owned E36 M3LSD.
Much like everything else, price is usually determined bysupply and demand. Depending on the ratio of a unit, LSDcan range from $300 up to thousands with custom-madelock-up rates. Since this is still my daily driver (for now),I thought a 3.15 or 3.23 LSD would be appropriate formy engine speed on the highway yet fun to drive on thetrack and autocross. During the search, I came acrossquite a few “fishy” deals from bimmerforums.com andEbay. Some had broken backcover tabs (where it bolts tothe diff housing), no back cover at all (and wasn’t upfrontwith it), some were simply ridiculously priced ($700 for3.15 LSD) and others were too aggressive (3.91 ratio,which makes the 2nd gear go no more than 50mph @
6750rpm, also makes the engine rev at 4250rpmwhen traveling at 80mph in 5th gear, which makes
highway driving less than “cruising” and can becomeslightly annoying). I finally found a clean 3.23 unit withan unreal price from a reliable source. One of those some-body who knows somebody who knows…etc… isn’t it al-ways? As a matter of fact, our friend Robert Mosley had afirst-person encounter with the original owner of this LSDbefore he sold it to my seller. Complicated? Nah…just
think of one big happy Bimmer family withhand-me-down parts as clothing to siblings!
When the LSD arrived, the UPS guy was sur-prised to see Brady Kessler and I alreadywaiting in front of my house ready to acceptthis shipment. He obviously had a heck oftime loading the diff into the UPS truck (diffweighs about 80lbs) and we could tell fromthe UPS guy’s face that he wasn’t much intolifting it again. Brady and I decided to makehis life easier and helped him unload this goodchunk of metal. At first glance the unit lookedextremely clean (SoCal seller). Then I manu-ally turned the output flange on one side andguess what?!? The other side turned with it.Bingo, we got ourselves a LSD!
Due to the substantial weight of the unit, it would be smartto have it installed on a lift. Thanks to our friends at Imag-ine Auto and the Kansas City AUDI Club, a pre-DE in-spection & tech session was granted. I prepared and ar-ranged all the essentials before the tech session day (write-ups, torque specs, loaner tools, fluids, and hardware) onlyto learn that there will always be surprises waiting to cap-ture you during a tech session.
Photo 2
Photo 3
May / June 2006
After putting my car on the lift, I started to swap the difffluid in the new LSD whileit was still uninstalled (SeePhoto 1). All I had to dowas to remove the drain-plug, pick up the diff, flipit up-side-down, pour theold fluid out, sit it back upright, add new fluid, thentorque the drain-plug backto spec. What could gowrong? I had a curiousgallery gathered sincemost people have neverwitnessed the ease ofswapping diff fluid in suchfashion without a pump.Some spectators also com-mented that it was the easi-est diff fluid swap, EVER!I jokingly replied that ev-eryone should take theirdiff off to swap the fluid;it makes your life a loteasier. After enjoying mylittle tech junkie’s triumph moment, the unthinkable hap-pened. When a fellow club member and I tried to torquethe draining-plug to spec, we noticed the washer seemedslightly concaved but decided it was no big deal. Wecouldn’t have been more wrong. The washer kept slippingand the torque wrench never “clicked.” The diff back covercracked (See Photo 2)!
It was the darkest moment of the day. Thanks to that fel-low member’s quick thinking (the same guy who told meto get the LSD and helped me crack the back cover), wedecided to remove my open diff from the car and “trans-planted” the salvaged back cover on to the new LSD. Luck-ily, E36 328’s share many factory parts with E36 M3’s andthe back cover fit flawlessly with the new LSD.
The removal of the old diff involved the removal of themuffler, the driveshaft from the diff input flange, the diffoutput flanges from drive axels, the speedo sensor fromthe diff, and the diff itself from the housing. It was labor-intense but nothing tricky. During the process, a specialkind of “inverted/female torx socket” was required to re-move the drive axels from the output flanges. Our MickeyMackay was kind enough to bring his to aid, but I meanseriously… how often do you really use this obscure toolanyway?
Photo 1
After some elbow grease of a small task force (Josh Ramsey,Meg Vanderliest, Randy Michelson, thetech junkie himself), it was fun to see a bigempty space in the diff housing when theold diff was removed (See photo 3). Theinstallation wasn’t bad either. After all, itwas of course, according to Bentley’smanual, the “reverse of removal.” The en-tire swap took exactly 3 hours, with a un-expected broken part, I’d say that’s not toobad.
The before-and-after difference is obvious.The car feels a lot more in control throughcorners, the throttle works with the car in-stead of against when cornering, it revscloser to the power band, and 600rpmhigher at 80mph in 5th gear on highway(3700rpm).
After all, I’m glad that certain fellow mem-ber (ok, you’ve guessed it; it was all JoshRamsey) talked me into this mod insteadof anything else. It has been a long gruel-ing process from the start to the end, but it
was well worth it. I couldn’t have nearly as much fun onthe “Carousel” at the HPT DE if it wasn’t for the LSD.
Club Members - New andOld:
Do you want to learn more about your car?Want to know how to change your oil?
How about those Control Arms? Need toreplace your brakes? Have you been
wondering just what goes on under thehood, but too afraid to ask?
Well now your chance has arrived.Throughout the summer BMW Club mem-bers will be hosting tech sessions at theirhouses. We’ll be doing all kinds of fun
things to our cars AND YOU ARE WEL-COME TO JOIN US! Sign up for the
Yahoo Announcement Group or give us acall for all the latest tech session events.
Continued from previous page...
the Milepost
by Larry Blunk
Springfield BMW CCA News
We had a great time in the Ozarks this past month. Weorganized our first ever detailing clinic, hosted by Motor-cars International. The team there really took the time tomake us feel welcome and show us what a clean car is allabout (they even found a weathered, one owner 850 to detailfor us). I think everybody that showed up for the clinictook something away, and we had a great flurry of ques-tions and answers being thrown throughout the entire event.
I do want to remind everybody that we will be having atech session at Reliable BMW on May 27th. As ususual, Iwill be sending out a reminder mailing to those in theSWMO area a couple weeks in advance.
And there does appear to be some people coming downfrom the Kansas City area on the morning of Saturday,May 20th for the Eureka Springs trip, so we are planning arendezvous point in Springfield for anybody that is inter-ested. Just check the trip thread on the KCBMW forum.
Drop me a line if you have any ideas, input, or sugges-tions for our area.
Corner Stations at Heartland Park
A huge thank you goes out to all the BMW and AUDI Clubmembers that volunteered their time and expertise at Heart-land Park to rehab and build corner stations. There wereover twenty volunteers on Saturday, March 11 and aboutfive on Sunday, March 12, even despite the rain and hail.
Fifteen existing corner stations were strengthened with ex-tra nails and new boards and three new corner stationswere constructed.
We traded all this hard work for great advertising spacefor both clubs. With all the renovations and improve-ments made over the last year at Heartland Park, the ad-vertising space is a great way to spread the word aboutthe BMW and AUDI Clubs at the variety of national andlocal events held at Heartland Park.
Thank you Greg Gelatka for the great pictures.
Wichita BMW CCA Newsby Mike Shaw
May / June 2006
Talk about bad planning. I’ve done it again. It is MarchMadness time, and I’ve blindly forged ahead with my ownselfish plans for a BMW Club drive. The NCAA Basket-ball Tournament is on and I’ve inflexibly scheduled a con-flicting drive on the usual 3rd Saturday of the month. Whata dope. Nobody is going to come today because everyonewill gather in front of the TV and watch the WSUShockers go on to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 25years.
“It was a dark and stormy night.”
Nah, but themorning suredawned gray andwet. My “Givea Dern Gauge”was bottomingout. What alousy day for ascenic drive.Nobody is goingto show. Andnothing is greenyet. Well, thisway I can comeback to light the fireplace and cheer on the Shocks. She-Who-Puts-Up-With-My-Many, Many-Faults was comingdown with the sniffles, declined to accompany me andpointed out my gross stupidity for even thinking anyoneelse would show.
All the way across town I thought what a waste of gas thislittle jaunt was, but I caused this mess and I had to atleast show up. “Hey, I was there, where were you?!” Theheart wasn’t in it at all.
I pulled into the departure point just as a ray of sunlightburned through the clouds and shown boldly around Ed
Koser’s green E36 325is.
“Huh. Well at least I get to talk to Ed for a while before weboth turn around to go back home. It’s not a total loss afterall!”
We stood jawing, me shivering in the drizzle and wind,when James drove up in his “new” beautiful black E30325is. I covet his new beautiful black E30 325is. His wifeSheila arrived in her burgundy Dinan E34 withthe supercharged S50 engine under the hood. Truth is, I
covet that car too.Matt, the newbepulled in with histricked green E34540i 6-speedwhich I mistookfor another M5(which I wouldcovet if it had a 6in it). Peter andhis wifebrought that gor-geous black E36325i.
The day seemedto be warming.
We drove east to the Chautauqua Hills and then south hop-ing for some spring color to go with our hills and curves.A silver Ford SUV wanted to play but Sheila showed ei-ther pity or restraint. The world was once again spinningin greased grooves. South to Latham, curvy road south toCambridge, hilly and curvy road south to Dexter; wefollowed Grouse Creek Road. At Dexter, we saw wherethe new Ford Thunderbirds go to die and be re-born, andparked for a group picture at the building where Pete knewthat Helium was first discovered. I kept wondering, “Howdo you do that...discover Helium?” I got lost on the wayto drive Brad Mehlinger’s old route to work at the GE en-gine facility at Strother Field but eventually found it andenjoyed the canyons and the road. I can just imagine himdecompressing on the way home from work in that E30M3.
Lunch was at the golf course in Winfield, where we couldsee the games on TV. For dessert we explored the obscurecurves of hidden Old Highway 77 on the way hometo victorious Shockerland where the universe is nolonger spinning out of control.
the Milepost
Classified AdsAUTOMOBILES - BMW
BMW PARTS
1985 745i turbo Diamantschwarz,leather, automatic, 265K miles. EPA/DOT, good TRX’s, doesn’t burn oil,HVAC works, R-134a converted, manynew parts including turbo and cv joints.Transmission shifts hard but doesn’tslip. Faded Texas car with many dents,drive as is or restore. $2,000 ContactCharles at 4 17..255.0920 [email protected]
2003 330i Silver Gray Metallic, blackleather, silver cube, 42.3k miles, Perfor-mance Package (ZHP), 6-Speed,moonroof, xenon, H/K sound, powerseats, <500 miles/brand new MichelinPilot PS2s, Garaged, non-smoker, nowinters, dealer maintained, photos avail-able, warranty until 6-07. $32,500Contact 816.756.3079 or [email protected]
1973 2002tii Black, black interior, 120Kmiles, factory sunroof. Originally Cali-fornia car. Not rusty, engine rebuilt byHafkemeyer 2K miles ago, stock exceptfor Panasports. Looks great - drivesbetter. $12,950 Contact Jack at800.886.2701 [email protected] 530i Sterling grey metallic, black
leather, automatic, premium and coldweather packages, 6-disc CD changer,non-smoker, no accidents, 46K miles, oilchanged at ½ factory recommended in-tervals, original owner. $30,000Contact Stan at 913.451.0616or [email protected]
Miscellaneous parts: Sparco 330mmsteering wheel, $100.
Koni externally single adjustable shocksfront and rear for E30, $200.Solid motor and transmission mounts,$100 (transmission mounts will fit allBMWs).
Tubular rear sway bar for E30, $150.
Will consider any reasonable offers. Contact Scott at 913.727.1998 or emailat [email protected].
AUTOMOBILES - BMW
1995 M3 Avus Blue, 100k miles, 5-Speed, sport package except for luxseats, hr sport springs/bilstein shocks,Conforti Chip, K & N intake, 20% tint,UUC short shift kit not installed, 18x8.5Roja Powdercated wheels with newNitto 555. Pioneer head unit and speak-ers throughout new with in last year.
$12,500. Contact Jason at913.284.6965 or email [email protected].
1999 M3 Cosmos Black, black powerVaders, 78k miles, 5 speed, heated seats,HK audio with 6 disc CD changer, fullOBC, new floor mats, all stock exceptPower Flex RTABs, new rear shockmounts, Contour wheels are in excellentshape. A few small dings and minorscratches on the exterior but nothingmajor. $17,995. Contact Matt at913.669.0321 or [email protected].
TIRES AND WHEELS
Tires Two Bridgestone Potenza S-02 205/55/R16 with 1/2 tread; and, twovery low mileage Pirelli Zero NeroP225/50/ZR16 M+S. All from a HondaS2000. The S-02’s are stock tires forthe car, and the Pirelli’s are good tire,just not for the S2000. $125 OBO.Contact Stuart at 816.455.2782 or [email protected].
2003 330Ci Alpine white with blackleather sport seats, 5 speed, B&M shortshifter, Bilstein sport and H&R sportsuspension with TMS sway bars, and aBorla muffler. The car is certified pre-owned. Only $29,250. Contact Scott at913.727.1998 or email at .
Classified Ad Policy: Non-commer-cial classified ads may be placed atno charge by Kansas City BMW Clubmembers. Ads will run for twomonths unless the member whoplaced that ad notifies one or both ofthe newsletter editors (Meg or Josh)that it needs to be contines month tomonth. If notifcation is not recievedby the issue deadline date, the ad willbe dropped. Non-members mayplace classified ads, maximum 50words per ad, to run for two issuesfor $10. Please e-mail ads to [email protected] [email protected], or if payingfor an ad, make check payable to“Kansas City BMW Club” and mailto 4555 Main Street, Unit 404, Kan-sas City, MO 64111. The Milepostreserves the right to edit or reject anyad.
Questions for National BMWCCA? 864.250.0022 or http://
www.bmwcca.org
Check out our chapter website at:http://www.kcbmwclub.org
and sign up for the email list to getthe latest club announcements!!!
Contact our chapter at:Kansas City BMW Club
P.O. Box 4832Overland Park, KS 66204
BMW CCA MembershipRewards Program
BMW of North America has extended theBMW CCA Membership Reward Program
through 2006.
BMW CCA members in good standing forat least one continuous year at the time ofpurchase may be eligible for a substantialallowance on the purchase or lease of a
new or Certified Pre-Owned BMWthrough an authorized BMW center.
Kansas City BMW ClubP.O. Box 4832Overland Park, KS 66204(913) 383-7084
Presorted StandardU.S. Postage
PAIDPermit No. 4693Kansas City, MO
KC BMW CCA CalendarMay / June
To catch the latest in club events, sign up for the announcment emails on ourwebsite at: www.kcbmwclub.org. If you have any questions please feel free to
contact me at [email protected] or 785.550.6342.
5.18.2006 Thursday: 6:30pmClub MeetingBaron BMW; Merriam, KS
5.20-21.06 All WeekendFun Drive in the WoodsEureka Springs, Arkansas
6.15.2006 Thursday: 6:30pmClub MeetingSanta Fe Auto Sounds; Overland Park, KS
6.25.2006 Sunday: 9:45amGolf OutingIronhorse Golf Course
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