I distinctly remember reading on this board not too long ago, that all the M's that were recalled & bought back, would be fixed and then used as corporate leases.
you could spend hours at this site about automobiles and their quirks, history, trivia and other STUFF. Click on "automobile" link. Other links are equally interesting!
Thank you so much for looking. Then I am actually not missing anything there. I guess I never looked under there. It just seemed a bit naked :-) Of course one can't tell until you stick your head under the glove box. Now I wonder what part is actually missing since the service guy called me back confirming that I have to come back in one week once it is there. He didn't know though what part they ordered (on the invoice it just says "cap end"). Maybe this is my belated Easter egg hunt. Mike, thanks again for looking!
I've been off the board for a while due to my mom-in-law being here. She arrived a couple days ago and will be staying for a month. Needless to say, I have been quite busy entertaining and the like. I have been keeping up with the board for the most part though.
sdmike - congrats on the caliper painting; bet it looks great!
Anyone bought the billet grill yet? I would love to have one but need to know how it fits, quality, etc. Let me know
While at Sears getting the wife's Minivan fixed (no, I don't wear a paper bag over my head while driving it), I saw a set of 4 Michellin Z-rated Pilots on sale; I think 225/50/17 size for around $300 total. I inquired and was told they were "slightly used". Any interest, I can hook you up with the local Sears Auto phone number. As I normally don't drive over 140 :>) the regular Pilots are all I need.
A serious word here. The D/FW area has suffered the loss of 16 teenagers in car crashes this year, with speeding being the main cause. I try to set a good example when the kids are riding with me, saving my exuberance for solo efforts.
I wonder if they didn't damage one of the end caps of your dash when they took it out. You won't be able to see the open area with the doors closed, so open both front doors and look at the ends of the dash. If there's a basketball sized hole in the side you have your answer. lol! It might also be something for the hvac system, as I think some of the tubing has end caps to keep the air from flowing out the ends of the duct work instead of down. Those are my two guesses. I'm sure others will have better ones.
Nice to know you're still around. I thought maybe you bought an Acura and left the board. I understand on the mum-in-law thing. My computer is in the office / guest room, so when I have visitors not only am I in entertainment mode but I'm also mostly banished from my computer. BTW, thanks for the information and motivation on the caliper painting. I wouldn't have tried it if I hadn't seen how nice yours look.
If you take a picture of your car I can try to mock up different caliper color tests to see how they might look. I'm no artist, but I can give it a try.
Thanks for the offer and I'll take you up on that. I'll be videotaping all weekend (Fri-Sun) so I'll try to take a photo on Monday and email it to you.
Hey, I checked oem-car-parts.com in the instrument panel section and I found something "end caps" for about $15 each. They appear to be the items that I mentioned (the big end covers on the dash) as they make you specify a color and side. The left (drivers) side covers the fuse box. Not sure what the one on the right covers.
I just got back from doing some 0-60 times with the Tornado Air installed. I'm a little dissapointed but it might not be because of the Tornado.
The problem is that I didn't get a chance to run 0-60 times before I installed it so the only numbers I can compare my runs tonight with are from the magazines.
Here's some quick specs on my M. Year - 1999 Non-PHP 49,500 miles 89 Octain gasoline Gas tank almost full Traction Control On K&N Air Filter Tornado Air installed Outside Temp 75 degrees Color - Platinum (in case that makes a difference)
Accordning to Motortrend, their '99 300M went from 0-60 in 7.9 seconds. The best I could do was 8.75 seconds. I used a stop watch and started it when I floored the gas pedal and stopped it when I hit 60. Pretty scientific, heh? The terrain was relatively flat.
Here's the characteristics of what happened. I put the tranny in Autostick. From a complete stop I floored it. The tires did a little squeal but the engine seemed sluggish from 0 - 2000 RPMs. However, once I hit 2000 it seemed like the engine said "This guy is serious" and it quickly went to around 6,000 before I shifted into 2nd gear. About 2 seconds later I hit the 60 MPH mark and stopped the clock.
Like I said, the best time I could get was 8.75. I assume the tire squeal and sluggishnesh up to the 2000 RPM mark is the reason for the slower time. So how do these magazines get the times under 8 seconds? Maybe I'm doing something wrong and there's a way to stop the squealing and sluggishness. You tell me.
Next week, I'll take the Tornado out and do some more runs. Heck, maybe it will be worse and the Tornado actually does do something.
On a side note, it does seem that I'm getting a little better gas milage according to the overhead computer, but it's too early to offically tell. One thing's for sure, though. The 300M may not be the fastest car around, but it sure looks damn good.
"Repair rattle in lt side of dash area; Fuse cover is broken; Ordered trim"
So you are right with what you found. I didn't see a basketball size hole though. Guess I need to check again. Maybe they used the broken one for now. Or I might need new glasses :-) Thanks again for checking that.
no problem! Just open your driver's side door and look at the end of the dash that is hidden by the door when closed. If you can see fuses, you've found where the missing part goes.
Hey guys, if anyone wants my leftover Joshua Tree trim pieces he/she can have them for $10 shipping/handling. The kit is the factory match burlwood for the luxury group. I have the three AC vent trim pieces (two rings, and one three ring piece for the center), the glove box handle pieces, and a shift console piece that has a small flaw. The two strips in this picture have been cut up and sent out as samples to people who requested them before. I'll also send the "prep stick" that came with it. Just email me at mritchi1@san.rr.com if interested.
That 8.75 is over a second slower then my 99 non php did. Mine did 7.7 average of 3 runs. I did exactly the same as you, except for the stop watch, part. Most timings start when the car moves. I have a gtech meter that I test with. The mag guys have the brakes on while upping the revs then release the brakes. It does decrease 0-60 times. Tires are a factor too.
Besides the 300m has a hood (that covers the lamp)that helps control the light pattern, By changing this you can also control the light pattern. I'd have to disagree. The low beam hood prevents light from radiating directly from the lamp towards oncoming drivers, since it can't be controlled. The contour of the reflector and the prism effect of some headlight lenses decide what the pattern will be. The Special doesn't use a hood, but instead uses a metal mask in front of the reflector with the desired pattern cut out. The actual slot is approx. ½" high x 3¼ wide, and is placed between the lampamp. I agree with almost all you say. I am saying that if you prevent the light from reaching the reflecting serface, the light will not be projected out. Case in point is the 300M's fog lamps. They have to top mask only to restrict the light above a certian height I am thinking on the same level. The 300m bulb's cap is not restrictive enough as it is for the HID's but this could be changed. I have a couple of assemblys to play around with and will try it. The LHS projector 9006 lamps have the same mask that the 300M's HID has so the lamp conversion should do just fine on them. If push comes to shove I will incorperate them into my 300M (I have a couple of them laying around here.
BlueBaron here... I'm going to cover all the topics I read about regarding HID lights. Temperature: I don't know what a Halogen (55watt) bulb would do, but I was playing with the light pattern of the HID using paper in place of the metal "mask" located inside the lamp assembly. The paper started to smoke and smolder.
The crisp projected beam pattern is created by the "bulb", "mask", reflector, lens, and the position of all the above. I took a HID assembly apart and found if you moved the lens toward or away from the "bulb", the projection went fuzzy. It works the same as an office overhead projector. It needs to be focused. Using the stock reflector, but different lens had the same effect, fuzzy.
LHS retrofit: The projector assembly for the LHS makes a regular "splash" beam pattern like the standard 300M does. So it is the same as installing a HID lamp inside the standard 300M housing.
standard retrofit: This is the same as installing a 100Watt or higher halogen. It's the same (crudy in my opinion) "splash" pattern whether you use a HID lamp or standard.
Just because it's a projector, doesn't mean it's a Euro beam pattern. Same for DOT sealed beams. I have euro 4"x6" housings in my cars. They take an H4 bulb.
The H4 bulb itself has a shade or shroud covering half of the low beam element. The shade is inside the glass. This gives a sharp cuttoff. The lens of the housing gives the 45* flare to illuminate roadsigns to the right of the vehicle.
Standard 9006 etc bulbs, do not have this shade which means they will cause glare for oncoming cars. DOT spec makes no sense in my mind. Take for example the original headlights on the '93 Intrepid. They were so bad they offered a voluntary recall. Yet DOT approved them originally.
unless you're going to install true complete Chrylser HID headlights, why bother trying to adapt other HID retrofits which probably will not light the road safely.
The 300M has one of the most efficient non-HID headlights I have seen. My last car was a Lincoln MarkVIII and that had one of the worst headlight efficiency I have seen--little slits which barely lit up the road. The M has large very bright headlights and the styling is a bonus.
Like 300michael said the mag testers launch the car by holding the brakes and building up RPM's. They probably also let the car shift from 1st to 2nd gear on its own at 6600 revs. Even with the tranny in auto-stick it will shift into 2nd gear at engine redline.
I agree with easyrider300m. I find the lights on my 99' to be very satisfactory. 50% of my driving is at night since I work 2nd shift. They are the brightest lights I have had on a vehicle. No plans here for any light mods.
Ok...I got my digital camera back, but now my wife took my car to a dental appointment. Maybe sometime today me, the camera and car will be at the same place at the same time.
Well the blackish grey/silver color is the exact same color as my slate M. Thanks for the offer on the paint, but I want to keep the complete black/gray and chrome look I've got going now -- aside from the license plate, all other colors have been banished from my M.
Videoman - Do you think maybe your M's computer hasn't had a chance to adjust to the Tornado Air?
I have to say, now that my tranny has schooled itself again (since I disconnected the battery to install the K&N Charger) I definitely can tell the difference in performance with the duals and charger. I had driven my '99 M for more than 31K miles before making these mods so I was very familiar with the way it performed. I felt a slight difference with the K&N stock replacement filter, a little more with the duals, then with adding the charger, even more. I definitely feel more torque when giving it the gas. I haven't tried timing it from 0-60 yet officially, but just by counting off seconds using the one-one thousand method, it's definitely not much more than 7 secs. (I haven't tried it w/o the traction control yet and my rear tires are a little worn). Just a few days after installing the duals I put it in autostick and floored it and let it shift at redline....it got all the way to 90 in 2nd before it hit 6500 rpms. I think prior to that it shifted around 85mph.
Next step are the Bosch plugs which my father is going to put in for me this weekend.
ok...finally got the camera and car in the same place! Here are some pictures of the completed job. Sorry, I didn't have the camera during the process, so I don't have any "in the works" pics. If anyone really wants me to pull a wheel and take a picture let me know. Also, I mistakenly painted the metal clips on the front wheels. In hindsight I shouldn't have done it, since they're part of the pads. Doesn't look bad though. I didn't make that mistake on the rear.
Those calipers look really good -- nice match. I think especialy with the 01' rims it's a good look. The razorstars on the 99/00's don't show as much of the calipers anyway.
SDMike-- very nice on the calipers. I will have to put that down for a future possible project. I am still trying to decide on whether to get some Applied Rotor Technology slotted, and/and maybe not, cross-drilled rotors and pads. The guys who got the cross-drilled KVRs kind of scared me on cross-drilling. But my computer still can't get me into their site ["this page won't open," etc.]to look at the options again, and I hate to order blind. May have to call them. But if I go with their product-maybe slotted only, I plan on going for the gold color rotors and painting the calipers black would work nice. It is unclear at this point if I am also "chemically challenged" as far as mixing and painting go. Odds are, however, that I am.
Thanks for the compliment. I'm not sure if all of the different caliper paint manufacturers use a similar process of combining paint with a reactor, but even if you have to do it it's VERY easy. If you can do all of your calipers in a 5-6 hour window just dump the whole jar of reactor into the can of paint and stir. Doesn't get any easier than that. If you need to do it in steps, just take something like an old teaspoon and measure the stuff out 4 parts paint to one part reactor. I used my wife's 1/2 tsp. measuring spoon (shhhh...don't tell her) and did things like 8 of paint and 2 of reactor (4:1) into a piece of disposable tupperware. It's really very simple. What color is your M again? I think black will work well with any color M, but having something that stands out is also nice. I really like yellow calipers too. Kind of the porsche look. I think yellow would look great with a black or silver M
One key to caliper painting is to make sure the calipers are completely free of dirt and oil. The G2 kit includes brake cleaner spray (that you shouldn't get on any painted or rubber components), but you should still use a wire brush and a rag to clean it as much as possible. Any residue, especially oil, makes it difficult for the paint to stick and will require more coats. I could really tell the difference on the calipers I cleaned well and the ones I did a half-assed job on.
I think the best "secret hiding place" is the air filter box that 300michael left in place when he hooked up his scoop intake. Big enough to keep a 3 piece KFC meal warm for a long drive home.
Thanks for telling the world of my secret hiding place Actually the the few I have used in the past are the passanger side dash panel, the Air box, under the rubber cubby hole mat, as well as the spare tire area (lots of stuff there). There are so many good hiding places on this car, and I tend to find more everytime I take it apart.
Check out my "edged" 300M photos. It's done with my digital camera software, first changing the photo to sepia (that's the trick). Most pictures don't turn out well, but the 300M seems to be a good subject
I do agree with you on the DOT a European light standards. DOT is really behind the times. It seems to me it would also be cheaper to go for example the H4 instead of the 9006 plus having to add the cap over the bulb. I really like the idea of an HID hi beam (for desert driving) because of the lack of traffic and the roads that go stright for miles. The 300M does have excellent Lo beams already. As for the blurry pattern I kind of like it over the deffinate cut off.
>...Tornado Air installed. I'm a little disappointed...
Although I've had no experience with this particular device, I can't help but wonder how it can improve flow. From a purely logical standpoint, you're introducing an obstruction into a passageway that was engineered and sized for a specific maximum flow. Any object inserted, no matter what shape, will reduce the cross sectional area.
I just talked to Dillon about his Dyno testing. He has finished the Exhaust (with an interesting twist), and K&N filter. He will be sending you the findings this weekend. He is going to do a few more Dyno runs for the last Mods (TB and intake tube). So I will let him spring the news to you. By the way heard anything on the lights yet?
Yeah, we're wondering a little about it too since my mother works in a bank here in Delaware. Before I turned on the TV this afternoon, she called me and read the letter they got from the CEO about taking extra precautions. I really don't think anything's going to happpen, as these terrorists are trained to lie if captured, but you never do know for sure. I told her she just needs to look out for 1)strange envelopes or packages and 2)any odd vehicles or people that might come into the bank.
Just last week, there was an FBI warning in the paper that in the area, 4 middle eastern men driving a white Ford Excursion and pulling a black trailor had been enquiring about a fuel refinery plant and buying a casket. This is one very strange combination, and sure doesn't sound too good. I guess you just have to keep a watchful eye.
on another note, the Av is still doing great with about 1,400 miles on it already. Silky smooth, silent, and powerful, not to mention just so cool looking. Matter of fact, we of Chevy Avalanche Fan Club who live in this area, are having a club meet on the 28th. Av's have an owner following much like that of you M guys, believe or not.
Happy M'ing!! I just can't wait to see the first 300N disguised test mules in spy photos, let alone the actual car. I hope it doesn't get too cold and German-like, and that they actually give it some power and not just good numbers. Greatly improved quiet, built in from the beginning would be great too!
Just got my shirt and hat this week...Also got my Birthday Card! Yup, I'll be an ancient 47 on Saturday (but you know what they say...the "old" guys are the ones that choose the LHS over the 300M!!)
Brought my car in for routine service this morning (I'm at 39K...had the tranny fluid changed at 30K, but decided now was the time to change the differential fluid as well...) and wore both the shirt and hat...got many looks and compliments from the folks at the dealership!
Billet grill came today. Painting the boat's bottom gets put off tomorrow. It is hefty and well made; we'll see how well it fits and looks. A report as soon as I'm done - pics if I can figure out how.
Comments
Enjoy: http://www.snopes2.com/
caution: enter at your own risk ;-)
Easyrider300M
sdmike - congrats on the caliper painting; bet it looks great!
Anyone bought the billet grill yet? I would love to have one but need to know how it fits, quality, etc. Let me know
A serious word here. The D/FW area has suffered the loss of 16 teenagers in car crashes this year, with speeding being the main cause. I try to set a good example when the kids are riding with me, saving my exuberance for solo efforts.
Silver
M
;-)
The problem is that I didn't get a chance to run 0-60 times before I installed it so the only numbers I can compare my runs tonight with are from the magazines.
Here's some quick specs on my M.
Year - 1999
Non-PHP
49,500 miles
89 Octain gasoline
Gas tank almost full
Traction Control On
K&N Air Filter
Tornado Air installed
Outside Temp 75 degrees
Color - Platinum (in case that makes a difference)
Accordning to Motortrend, their '99 300M went from 0-60 in 7.9 seconds. The best I could do was 8.75 seconds. I used a stop watch and started it when I floored the gas pedal and stopped it when I hit 60. Pretty scientific, heh? The terrain was relatively flat.
Here's the characteristics of what happened.
I put the tranny in Autostick. From a complete stop I floored it. The tires did a little squeal but the engine seemed sluggish from 0 - 2000 RPMs. However, once I hit 2000 it seemed like the engine said "This guy is serious" and it quickly went to around 6,000 before I shifted into 2nd gear. About 2 seconds later I hit the 60 MPH mark and stopped the clock.
Like I said, the best time I could get was 8.75. I assume the tire squeal and sluggishnesh up to the 2000 RPM mark is the reason for the slower time. So how do these magazines get the times under 8 seconds? Maybe I'm doing something wrong and there's a way to stop the squealing and sluggishness. You tell me.
Next week, I'll take the Tornado out and do some more runs. Heck, maybe it will be worse and the Tornado actually does do something.
On a side note, it does seem that I'm getting a little better gas milage according to the overhead computer, but it's too early to offically tell. One thing's for sure, though. The 300M may not be the fastest car around, but it sure looks damn good.
"Repair rattle in lt side of dash area; Fuse cover is broken; Ordered trim"
So you are right with what you found. I didn't see a basketball size hole though. Guess I need to check again. Maybe they used the broken one for now. Or I might need new glasses :-) Thanks again for checking that.
Here is a picture of the leftover parts (remember, the two pieces on the left are gone). http://www.ritchiefamily.com/car/woodtrim/36-leftovers.jpg
Pat, I hope you can leave this post up. The $10 only covers the shipment of an oversized box. I have no plans to make money at this.
I'd have to disagree.
The low beam hood prevents light from radiating directly from the lamp towards oncoming drivers, since it can't be controlled. The contour of the reflector and the prism effect of some headlight lenses decide what the pattern will be.
The Special doesn't use a hood, but instead uses a metal mask in front of the reflector with the desired pattern cut out. The actual slot is approx. ½" high x 3¼ wide, and is placed between the lampamp.
I agree with almost all you say. I am saying that if you prevent the light from reaching the reflecting serface, the light will not be projected out. Case in point is the 300M's fog lamps. They have to top mask only to restrict the light above a certian height I am thinking on the same level. The 300m bulb's cap is not restrictive enough as it is for the HID's but this could be changed. I have a couple of assemblys to play around with and will try it.
The LHS projector 9006 lamps have the same mask that the 300M's HID has so the lamp conversion should do just fine on them.
If push comes to shove I will incorperate them into my 300M (I have a couple of them laying around here.
I'm going to cover all the topics I read about regarding HID lights.
Temperature: I don't know what a Halogen (55watt) bulb would do, but I was playing with the light pattern of the HID using paper in place of the metal "mask" located inside the lamp assembly. The paper started to smoke and smolder.
The crisp projected beam pattern is created by the "bulb", "mask", reflector, lens, and the position of all the above. I took a HID assembly apart and found if you moved the lens toward or away from the "bulb", the projection went fuzzy. It works the same as an office overhead projector. It needs to be focused. Using the stock reflector, but different lens had the same effect, fuzzy.
LHS retrofit: The projector assembly for the LHS makes a regular "splash" beam pattern like the standard 300M does. So it is the same as installing a HID lamp inside the standard 300M housing.
standard retrofit: This is the same as installing a 100Watt or higher halogen. It's the same (crudy in my opinion) "splash" pattern whether you use a HID lamp or standard.
Just because it's a projector, doesn't mean it's a Euro beam pattern. Same for DOT sealed beams. I have euro 4"x6" housings in my cars. They take an H4 bulb.
The H4 bulb itself has a shade or shroud covering half of the low beam element. The shade is inside the glass. This gives a sharp cuttoff. The lens of the housing gives the 45* flare to illuminate roadsigns to the right of the vehicle.
Standard 9006 etc bulbs, do not have this shade which means they will cause glare for oncoming cars. DOT spec makes no sense in my mind. Take for example the original headlights on the '93 Intrepid. They were so bad they offered a voluntary recall. Yet DOT approved them originally.
The 300M has one of the most efficient non-HID headlights I have seen. My last car was a Lincoln MarkVIII and that had one of the worst headlight efficiency I have seen--little slits which barely lit up the road. The M has large very bright headlights and the styling is a bonus.
I have to say, now that my tranny has schooled itself again (since I disconnected the battery to install the K&N Charger) I definitely can tell the difference in performance with the duals and charger. I had driven my '99 M for more than 31K miles before making these mods so I was very familiar with the way it performed. I felt a slight difference with the K&N stock replacement filter, a little more with the duals, then with adding the charger, even more. I definitely feel more torque when giving it the gas. I haven't tried timing it from 0-60 yet officially, but just by counting off seconds using the one-one thousand method, it's definitely not much more than 7 secs. (I haven't tried it w/o the traction control yet and my rear tires are a little worn). Just a few days after installing the duals I put it in autostick and floored it and let it shift at redline....it got all the way to 90 in 2nd before it hit 6500 rpms. I think prior to that it shifted around 85mph.
Next step are the Bosch plugs which my father is going to put in for me this weekend.
http://www.ritchiefamily.com/car/calipers/
All of my car stuff:
http://www.ritchiefamily.com/300m.htm
One key to caliper painting is to make sure the calipers are completely free of dirt and oil. The G2 kit includes brake cleaner spray (that you shouldn't get on any painted or rubber components), but you should still use a wire brush and a rag to clean it as much as possible. Any residue, especially oil, makes it difficult for the paint to stick and will require more coats. I could really tell the difference on the calipers I cleaned well and the ones I did a half-assed job on.
http://community.webshots.com/user/brendalf
As for the blurry pattern I kind of like it over the deffinate cut off.
Although I've had no experience with this particular device, I can't help but wonder how it can improve flow.
From a purely logical standpoint, you're introducing an obstruction into a passageway that was engineered and sized for a specific maximum flow.
Any object inserted, no matter what shape, will reduce the cross sectional area.
M
By the way heard anything on the lights yet?
Just last week, there was an FBI warning in the paper that in the area, 4 middle eastern men driving a white Ford Excursion and pulling a black trailor had been enquiring about a fuel refinery plant and buying a casket. This is one very strange combination, and sure doesn't sound too good. I guess you just have to keep a watchful eye.
Happy M'ing!! I just can't wait to see the first 300N disguised test mules in spy photos, let alone the actual car. I hope it doesn't get too cold and German-like, and that they actually give it some power and not just good numbers. Greatly improved quiet, built in from the beginning would be great too!
Brought my car in for routine service this morning (I'm at 39K...had the tranny fluid changed at 30K, but decided now was the time to change the differential fluid as well...) and wore both the shirt and hat...got many looks and compliments from the folks at the dealership!