I love it when people with OCD and four door cars roll down their windows.
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Last Call: Glass Half Full Edition
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It’s rare to see anyone with their windows down these days. Well, except teenagers who really want you to hear this tune.
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Or those with the misfortune of nonfunctional A/C.
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AC can’t replace the rush of fresh air, the smell of sea waves or forests or whatever that gets sucked in by open windows. I vastly prefer natural ventilation – obviously, I also live in a cold climate that rarely cooks cars.
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I blame the ubiquitousness of pillared 4-door vehicles (whether car, SUV or pickup). [And also those people who just have to publicly demonstrate their tastelessness in selecting “music”.]
Windows-down driving in my ’96 Thunderbird or my late-model Challenger isn’t bad, thanks to the length of the doors setting the B-pillars well behind me. (I’d rate the Challenger better for windows-down usage than the Thunderbird, possibly due to the retro overall shape being enough to invoke retro aerodynamics.) But in my Dakota, which shares its front doors with its crew-cab variant so the B-pillars are just barely aft of my head, it’s not much fun to drive windows-down because of all the buffeting from the pillar being right there.-
Rolling down the rear windows at least part way helps with the buffeting by relieving the pressure build up. At least in my last two 4 door cars it worked that way.
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This is true. Unfortunately, all the windows behind the B-pillar of my Dakota are glued into place. (I guess I could have opted for a sliding center section in the rear window, but I didn’t like the extra leak paths in a rainstorm or the security risk when parked in a more urban setting.)
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Rolling down the windows – all of them, all the way – is the easiest way to make a boring car just a little bit more fun.
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Dumb Things Kids Think About Motorsport
Growing up watching TV in Australia in the late 80s and early 90s, I thought:
* Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker were the world’s only tennis players – because their epic, sweaty matches filled the summer holiday nights.
* John Boorman’s “Excalibur” was on Channel 7 every weekend – because it very nearly was.
* All successful race cars were painted red and white – like the yellow jersey thing from the Tour De France.
That last one is relevant here. See, back then the the Australian Touring Car series and Formula 1 dominated motorsport on our antipodean tubes. And red and white cars dominated coverage of both.
Via Prost and Senna, red and white Marlboro cars won everything.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/claudcp/senna/Prost-Senna_1988_Portugal_01_PHC.jpg
Via Peter Brock’s star power, the cameras were always on his signature red and white “05” racers, even when he wasn’t winning.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/o0Qf3yuofVE/hqdefault.jpg
What dumb thing did you believe about cars when you were a wee tyke?-
Even the up and comers liked red and white, even Marlboro as well.
http://www.aronline.co.uk/images/msport_sd1_11.jpg
http://www.little-classics.com/News/Features/images/Race-Retro-2015-Rover-SD1.jpg -
Also, and roughly contemporaneous: Bill Elliott and the #9 Coors-sponsored Ford Thunderbird.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/nascar/2009/news/features/02/02/daytona.500.top.10.drivers/elliott.510.jpg
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Maybe they’re just slaves to symmetry. I’ve had days like that.
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Well, the other shoe has already dropped on the 318ti. The previous owner thought the clutch was going out because it was jerky at heavy throttle in 1st gear. Didn’t sound like a clutch to me, but I knew something was up.
Well, last night I was having some fun with the car, dropped it to second to accelerate through a light and there was a sound then there was a SOUND. It sounded like I blew the buffler out, but it only did it under load. It changed with the car speed and didn’t do it in neutral. I nursed it to my buddy’s house and back home and poked my head under the rear.
What I found was a broken rear differential cover at the mount and the differential is dropped 3″-4″. So, after less than 12 hours she’s out of commission. Hopefully the differential doesn’t have to come out to change the cover.-
Disqus and Flickr fighting to out easy each other in posting images. First a bunch of extra code, now I’ve got 2 and no idea how to remove one. Argh.
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What a mess.
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Yeah, but the fix seems simple. An eBay diff cover with a decent looking bushing is ~$50 shipped and it seems like an easy fix.
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The differential shouldn’t have to come out to solve the issue. Fortunately, a “small case” (BMW speak) differential cover should be easy to come by as those were used on both 318ti (E36), and 318i (both engines) in E30s. I’d recommend replacing the bushing too, as they frequently look good with no load and are rubbish once twisted with a screwdriver. As with most differentials, don’t bother with the stock gasket, just use RTV, and be aware that the speed sensor is prone to breaking, so be careful when removing it! One more thing of note, if the tag we can see in the pic has an “S” prefix then it’s a limited slip differential in case you didn’t already know one way or another.
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Do you know if the covers for the LSD and non-LSD are the same? I’ve found one on eBay from an LSD but I’m not sure what mine is.
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Yep, same cover. Take a look at the tabs the diff mounts to on the subframe and make sure those aren’t stressed or broken as can be the case when the diff case breaks.
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Thanks. Interestingly, an ebay seller with an LSD cover said they were not interchangeable. Said the depth of the speed sensor was different.
I was able to find a forum member with a new part with the bushing, so I’m picking it up this weekend. It’s actually less than the ebay part plus a new bushing. -
If that were to have been the case all you’d have to do would be swap the speed sensor. But from my understanding that’s only a worry if you are going from a small case to a medium case or v.v..
If you ever come out to a ChumpCar event on the East Coast look for a silver TI Clubsport and you will have found our teams main crew chief with his S52 swapped car.
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F1 Suzuka looks like a tepid return to form. Nice to see Williams and Lotus outperforming expectations, so far. McLaren’s backsliding to being the red headed stepchild is pretty damn harsh.
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I agree. Alonso’s quip about the engine in Honda’s house says a ton. He’s right. I’d go on and say it’s a lawnmower engine.
And I hate to see Button end a career like that. At least one more season with Marusa with an engine that -might- win points.
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