Jason C
10-24-2005, 06:19 PM
It's been a fun (though busy) commitment.
The facility:
It's cramped as hell. On a regular basis, we squeeze 17 cars in a space meant for maybe 4-8. Parking at the end of the day can get quite *creative*. PDC, as well as a spotter comes in handy. But it's very very clean, organized, and overall well maintained. There's lots of computers off to the side, about 10 with internet access (for TIS/Centernet useage, mostly). We have 2 DISplus machines and 2 GT1s, although we can sometimes pull a third GT1 from dealer training. There's also 4 big toolboxes on our side, all well stocked with Snapon/Bluepoint/other stuff, like Vantage DSOs and some BMW Special tools. Most of the BMW Special Tools are up on the wall as some of you may recall from photos posted.
On the little workbenches under the tools hanging on the wall, there's an abundance of battery chargers, some Snapon but mostly BMW, latter consisting of older style as well as a couple of the newest Deutronic chargers. Plenty of nice magnetized fender covers with the roundel too.
The complaints about the slow DIS/GT1 loadtimes has been more than verified. BMW should just issue an SIB and get some new processors (or whatever the hell they need) to speed up the operation of these computers. It's costing a lot of downtime.
Cars:
I have to say, my overall impression of some of the cars (especially the newer ones) have been more favorable as of late. Some of the styling details will always be crass to me, such as the 60s headlights or the 83 overall. But I'm mostly past the "wouldn't-be-seen-in-one" stance. The 64 (that would be 645Ci convertible to you) was said by C&D to be a rich mans IROC vert, a description that I found apt. It sounds like it, is bulky on the outside and small on the inside. Sadly, I have noticed that some of the complaints about electronic throttle weren't just talk. It's quite noticeable to me when a third of an inch of foot movement doesn't even disturb the tach.
Some of the cars we have:
38 750iL (going away soon, what's taking its place? E60 M5?)
36/7 Z3, the yellow car
39 540i touring, M5
46 330Ci convertible, 325Xi touring, M3 cab SMG
53 X5 4.4, 4.8is (the latter supposedly has an S54-like problem with spun bearings)
60 525i, 530i SMG, 530i sport, 550i
61 530i 6-speed
64 645Ci convertible
66 745Li, 760Li
83 X3 2.5, 3.0
85 Z4 (the one with a nice dent in the front left panel, a close encounter with a yellow pole)
Assorted 90/91, mostly dealer side.
That's more than 17 cars, but they rotate cars back and forth between dealer and STEP. Of course dealer training usually gets the newer stuff first.
Classes:
I don't think it is quite rocket science, but then again this is quite basic so far - relatively speaking. Some of the classes we don't get (Body Electronics II and III) are way the hell out there.
So far we've had 50 (Intro BMWs) 51 (Basic Electricity) and 406 (Coding & Programming). I'm actually going to be starting 55 (Engine Electronics) today.
The class keeps you quite busy, a workshop objectives completion of 100% and SIP completion is required for any one class before awarding any training pass will be even considered. SIPs btw are the CD-based training that supplements the class material.
Overall, I've done more than I thought I would these last few weeks - window regulator on a 46 and a 39, DME 134 pinout, convertible top emergency close on a few cars, RPS deployment on a 46 vert, and various other tasks. Some more mundane, like looking up shit on TIS/Centernet, and ETM schematics. The STEP guys are doing stuff like MOST BUS ringbreak on the 61 and 64, which is way the fuck beyond us. Overall about 100 or so tasks. Has it already been a month and a half? Feels like a very long week.
I'll upload some of the old pics to this thread, when I get around to it. I would have some very nice photos by now if ayn ever gets away from work long enough to visit. :toetap: ;)
The facility:
It's cramped as hell. On a regular basis, we squeeze 17 cars in a space meant for maybe 4-8. Parking at the end of the day can get quite *creative*. PDC, as well as a spotter comes in handy. But it's very very clean, organized, and overall well maintained. There's lots of computers off to the side, about 10 with internet access (for TIS/Centernet useage, mostly). We have 2 DISplus machines and 2 GT1s, although we can sometimes pull a third GT1 from dealer training. There's also 4 big toolboxes on our side, all well stocked with Snapon/Bluepoint/other stuff, like Vantage DSOs and some BMW Special tools. Most of the BMW Special Tools are up on the wall as some of you may recall from photos posted.
On the little workbenches under the tools hanging on the wall, there's an abundance of battery chargers, some Snapon but mostly BMW, latter consisting of older style as well as a couple of the newest Deutronic chargers. Plenty of nice magnetized fender covers with the roundel too.
The complaints about the slow DIS/GT1 loadtimes has been more than verified. BMW should just issue an SIB and get some new processors (or whatever the hell they need) to speed up the operation of these computers. It's costing a lot of downtime.
Cars:
I have to say, my overall impression of some of the cars (especially the newer ones) have been more favorable as of late. Some of the styling details will always be crass to me, such as the 60s headlights or the 83 overall. But I'm mostly past the "wouldn't-be-seen-in-one" stance. The 64 (that would be 645Ci convertible to you) was said by C&D to be a rich mans IROC vert, a description that I found apt. It sounds like it, is bulky on the outside and small on the inside. Sadly, I have noticed that some of the complaints about electronic throttle weren't just talk. It's quite noticeable to me when a third of an inch of foot movement doesn't even disturb the tach.
Some of the cars we have:
38 750iL (going away soon, what's taking its place? E60 M5?)
36/7 Z3, the yellow car
39 540i touring, M5
46 330Ci convertible, 325Xi touring, M3 cab SMG
53 X5 4.4, 4.8is (the latter supposedly has an S54-like problem with spun bearings)
60 525i, 530i SMG, 530i sport, 550i
61 530i 6-speed
64 645Ci convertible
66 745Li, 760Li
83 X3 2.5, 3.0
85 Z4 (the one with a nice dent in the front left panel, a close encounter with a yellow pole)
Assorted 90/91, mostly dealer side.
That's more than 17 cars, but they rotate cars back and forth between dealer and STEP. Of course dealer training usually gets the newer stuff first.
Classes:
I don't think it is quite rocket science, but then again this is quite basic so far - relatively speaking. Some of the classes we don't get (Body Electronics II and III) are way the hell out there.
So far we've had 50 (Intro BMWs) 51 (Basic Electricity) and 406 (Coding & Programming). I'm actually going to be starting 55 (Engine Electronics) today.
The class keeps you quite busy, a workshop objectives completion of 100% and SIP completion is required for any one class before awarding any training pass will be even considered. SIPs btw are the CD-based training that supplements the class material.
Overall, I've done more than I thought I would these last few weeks - window regulator on a 46 and a 39, DME 134 pinout, convertible top emergency close on a few cars, RPS deployment on a 46 vert, and various other tasks. Some more mundane, like looking up shit on TIS/Centernet, and ETM schematics. The STEP guys are doing stuff like MOST BUS ringbreak on the 61 and 64, which is way the fuck beyond us. Overall about 100 or so tasks. Has it already been a month and a half? Feels like a very long week.
I'll upload some of the old pics to this thread, when I get around to it. I would have some very nice photos by now if ayn ever gets away from work long enough to visit. :toetap: ;)