Lifted E30 V2

[Jdesign]

GunMetalGrey said:

I also made a bit of a sketch for my fender flare idea. I had the idea in my head, and it looked okay there, but it looks a lot better than expected on paper! I could only find a sketch of a lowered e30 and I didn't feel like messing with it that much, so it is just to demonstrate the flare idea . It is kind of what GMC/Chevy (?) use for their flares, the square style fender cutouts. I am going to see if I can find some measurements for the size of what comes off those trucks and see if I can just use a trimmed set. I suppose a junkyard browse wouldn't hurt either, as I think jeeps may use a similar style.

I am curious to see what you use. I have had the thought of just using truck flares or something similar on my E36 but I cant find anything that I wont have to cut into 6 parts to make it fit. I was thinking small trucks like an S10 or ranger, also suzuki samurai would be a good one. I only managed to go to one yard to look and came up empty handed.

[GunMetalGrey]

I have a few ideas in mind, but a junkyard run will let me confirm some dimensions and maybe pick something up that will work. 
You are going on an e36, so the sizing is a bit different but I'll keep an eye out. 
I'm not opposed to cutting stuff apart for this, so that does open up my options a bit.

[Jdesign]

GunMetalGrey said:

I have a few ideas in mind, but a junkyard run will let me confirm some dimensions and maybe pick something up that will work. 
You are going on an e36, so the sizing is a bit different but I'll keep an eye out. 
I'm not opposed to cutting stuff apart for this, so that does open up my options a bit. 

Same. I like getting creative with parts from other cars. Let me know if you find something worthwhile.

[Bassboy3313]

Your secondary diff mount drawn up, my friend! Jut have to determine how long the 3 bolt spacers need to be to offset the mount the correct distance from the cover.

[GunMetalGrey]

Bassboy3313 said:

Your secondary diff mount drawn up, my friend! Jut have to determine how long the 3 bolt spacers need to be to offset the mount the correct distance from the cover.

Did you have a diff cover laying next to you? That was quick if those are true dimensions! 
I am thinking I should go dual ear in both e30's, so I will be using the lifted one as the test bed for parts.

[Bassboy3313]

Yes I did. I had an e30 diff cover in the car, so during my lunch break I grabbed it, scanned it into the computer and drew it up quick.

[GunMetalGrey]

I wish we had a small scale 3d scanner at work. We use a scanner to scan paper mills through multiple scans and targets which is really cool and useful for work, but we have no use for a smaller scanner ;/

[Bassboy3313]

I just used a regular office scanner to scan the bolt pattern on the diff cover, lol

[GunMetalGrey]

Ha, I have totally done that with things before!

[GunMetalGrey]

I am annoyed. 
I just typed out a whole update and instead of switching tabs I closed the tab. The last saved draft was a response to something else.
Well, update later I guess! 

[KaiserRolls]

GunMetalGrey said:

I am annoyed. 

I just typed out a whole update and instead of switching tabs I closed the tab. The last saved draft was a response to something else.

Well, update later I guess! 

 

Google chrome: ctrl+shift+t

Reopens previously closed tabs

[GunMetalGrey]

Correct, but it pulled up a response that I didn't send for another thread.

[Earl]

It better be a good one since you missed the cruise for it

[KaiserRolls]

GunMetalGrey said:

Correct, but it pulled up a response that I didn't send for another thread. 

Aka pornhub

[GunMetalGrey]

Very late compared to when I said it would happen, but oh well! 
I got some new shocks in the E V2, and these ones appear to have a bit more stroke than the old ones! 
While installing the new shocks I was also switching over to vert springs and e46 control arms. 
Getting the control arms ground down enough was fun, so was using some ratchet straps and 2x4's to get the CAB's on lol.

I got the cheapest shocks available, and as it turns out they don't have enough dampening. They seem to be a lot better than the old ones, but not quite what I need them to be. I will address this issue later. 

A blurry picture of the arm set up, and you can't really tell from the photo but it pushed the hub out 10mm

So now the tire is actually sitting outside of the flare. This is with a 10mm spacer, which is required for the tire to not hit the spring perch. I may actually be going with bigger spacers soon because the tires are VERY close to the spring perch.
I also need to find longer tie rod ends, as moving the knuckle out 10mm was more than the current tie rod setup can accommodate. I think I will go e90 inner and e36 outer, but am unsure what boot I can use for this setup. If anyone could measure the rough diameter of an e90 steering rack where the boot attaches that would be excellent. I can also be the boot diameter, just so I have some idea as to what I need!

So with that being noted, I got some flares that I think will work alright and shall be trying to fit those as time permits.
 

You may be wondering why that tire is all cut up, and I shall share with you. The seam and pinch weld area of the wheel well proved to be a bit of an issue on the last shell and the tire found itself hitting it plenty. This was very evident once I looked up under there!

I will grind down this area on the new chassis, and probably weld the seam to ensure that it doesn't split. This should prevent any further tire wear..... though it only happened on the side that lacked the vert springs. 
This new build is way more legitimate than the last already, as what is being done to one side is being done to the other lol.

I played around a bit with the rear travel potential for the car, and found that with the current flares and offsets that I am able to shove the wheel way up into the chassis, and still rotate the wheel.

I also found that at full droop I am very close the rocker panel!
 

If the springs would allow it (which they wont) I could get about 13" of travel out of the rear. I am not sure what true travel is, but I should measure the springs to find out!

I have been struggling to fit the strut top spacers in the car, and even putting the vert springs in the strut assemblies made getting the knuckle onto the control arm difficult. I have started thinking more about spacing the front subframe down, and adding the spacers to the strut assemblies. I know some v8 guys run subframe spacers to get more clearance for "things" and I may just do the same, but for much different reasons. 
I think bringing the front subframe down 1" would be excellent, and I would then get rear subframe bushings made to match, and create a new subframe support plate under the bushings. I think I could make a heavily offset diff bushing and still use the same chassis mounting point for it, and the shocks should have a long enough extended length to comply with the increased distance in the rear. 
This would certainly be a reasonable undertaking, but I am questioning if it would be worth all the time and money for 1 - 1.5" of lift. I am leaning towards it being worthwhile, as even 1" of lift is adding about 10% more height. This would also clear up some of my tire rubbing issues when turning. 
The only question that I have about subframe spacing is what I need to do with the front control arm bushings, can I leave them in stock position?

The geometry on this suspension is going to be wildly f*ed by the time I am done with this....

[GunMetalGrey]

I didn't take any pictures of it yet, but I swapped the E cluster into the car, and also put the tan door cards from the previous car into this one. It is very colorful in there now!

[suspenceful]

GunMetalGrey said:

I have started thinking more about spacing the front subframe down, and adding the spacers to the strut assemblies. I know some v8 guys run subframe spacers to get more clearance for "things" and I may just do the same, but for much different reasons. 
I think bringing the front subframe down 1" would be excellent, and I would then get rear subframe bushings made to match, and create a new subframe support plate under the bushings.

In other words, body lift?

Obviously you're going to want as much ground clearance as possible for this car. I wouldn't make anything closer to the ground. Unless by lowering the subframe, you won't lose clearance because you'll just be raising the body.

[GunMetalGrey]

suspenceful said:

In other words, body lift?

Obviously you're going to want as much ground clearance as possible for this car. I wouldn't make anything closer to the ground. Unless by lowering the subframe, you won't lose clearance because you'll just be raising the body.

Yes, a body lift. 

I would not change the ground clearance of the subframe, but it would increase the distance to the rockers and underside of the body. Generally it would be done to fit larger tires, but I would benefit from the height with the current tire size. 

The only part I am trying to figure out is if I would lower the motor down with the subframe, or attempt to keep it at the stock height which would allow me to build the skid plate 3/4" higher than last time and increasing the ground clearance of the lowest part of the car. The only reason I question this is because I would be lowering the rear subframe, and I am not sure how the driveshaft would like the angle that would be created. I will have to measure the length that the rear shaft would be and see what kind of driveshaft angle I would be running. 

Lowering the rear subframe would also help correct some of the camber and other weird things I have going on back there.

[Jdesign]

Awesome update. I would say space out the subframe.  I would assume that you could always just space out the CSB from the chasis to make the diveshaft happy again. I also want to know what flares you are going to use!

[GunMetalGrey]

Jdesign said:

Awesome update. I would say space out the subframe.  I would assume that you could always just space out the CSB from the chasis to make the diveshaft happy again. I also want to know what flares you are going to use!

I knew that I would be able to space the chassis up from the entire driveline, but ideally I would change the motor mounts to keep the motor at the same height relative to the chassis. This would get the oil pan up higher in the car and my skid plate could be brought up 3/4". The skid plate will be the lowest point on the car, so if I can bring it up .75" and bring the body up 1" I would be in a very good place for ground clearance. It would put me at either 12 or 13 inches from the ground to the lowest point of the rocker panels. 

I wish they would have put the other U joint behind the CSB (towards the diff) instead of being in the front of the CSB! I may start by spacing the rear down and seeing how the driveshaft likes it! 

As far as flares go, I will probably keep that one under wraps until I have one side done. 

If anyone wants a free shell, come bring a trailer to Appleton! I will need to get the E out of the shop soon