E21 Project Thread - Part 2

[Daggerty]

That rear end looks insane. You need some 355s

[B C]

Throw some D's on it

[Bassboy3313]

Yup, just what I thought. Kicking myself for not welding in some camber adjustments when the subframe was out. Also, still notbaure about that wheel gap with the flares. [emoji53]

[Earl]

Probably should find some wheels that fill them out. You'll need some pretty gnarly negative offset and a little more width

[Bassboy3313]

I originally thought these would do the trick. They are 15x9 with -15 offset. I guess I just didn't take the excessive camber into account. I flipped the subframe mounts which brings it higher up into the chassis, helped the camber slightly. I just ordered some camber adjustments to weld in to dial out a little more. If I have to run a small spacer so be it. My motorsport hardware studs have the room for spacers so that wouldn't be an issue.

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[Jdesign]

Damn. Looks like you need 16x12's. What size wheels do other E21's use with that flare setup?

[Bassboy3313]

Yes professional race teams with group 2 e21's use wide ass wheels, but majority of people just run 7-9" wide wheels with spacers. Some I have seen use 16s and others ive seen use even 13s, so its a horse a piece really.

[straight6pwr]

camber adjustment, spacers and some wider rubber? 275s? 285s? the stretchy tire is killin the race car vibe.

those wheels are going to look so nice, it would be a shame to change them.

[Bassboy3313]

I agree, the tire stretch is a little more than I wanted, but there just isn't much out there in a wide performance tire for a 15" wheel without spending a shit ton. Didn't want to break the bank when there is still plenty left to pay for on this car.

[KaiserRolls]

225s on a 9" is a quite common setup for autox... slight stretch can help with sidewall deflection as well

http://blog.tirerack.com/blog/letters-from-luke/wider-is-better-some-of-the-time

Looks will always be subjective though

[KaiserRolls]

Bassface sell the 225s and buy the RS4 245s if you're worried about the look

[Bassboy3313]

Now for the tricky part. Welding these bad boys on with the subframe still on the car. Can it be done? Stay tuned for a gripping update....

[Jdesign]

You are a God if you can make that happen. BRB Im getting some popcorn.

[Bassboy3313]

Jdesign said:

You are a God if you can make that happen. BRB Im getting some popcorn.

I gave up, you win!

[B C]

Do you need help putting that back in?

[Bassboy3313]

We shall see after I weld in the adjustments tomorrow morning

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[Bassboy3313]

Finally got everything welded and the holes slotted after some tool banging, swearing and too many trips to northern tool.

[Jdesign]

uggghhh that looks annoying. Mostly because mine is all painted and its seems yours is too.. Please get someone to help you put it back in the car. I know all to well how annoying it is by yourself on the ground. 

[Bassboy3313]

Jdesign said:

uggghhh that looks annoying. Mostly because mine is all painted and its seems yours is too.. Please get someone to help you put it back in the car. I know all to well how annoying it is by yourself on the ground. [emoji20]

It wasn't that bad at all. The nice thing about the e21 is that the subframe mounts unbolt from the subframe. So I install the mounts on the frame studs loosely. Then roll assembly underneath, jack it up and bolt the subframe to the mounts after getting them lined up.

The thing I'm running into now tho is that with the subframe mounted, jacking up the diff puts it at an angle that the mount arms I welded on the car doesn't like. Somehow I need to pull the rear side of mounts towards rear of car about an 1/8th for the diff cover to clear them. I'm thinking maybe rent a slide hammer from AAP and give it a few whacks. That's my best idea.

[Bassboy3313]

rear end is back in the car, camber adjustments arbitrarily set to the middle and is already way better than before. I'm in the process of torquing all bolts to spec and just have the driveshaft to diff, axle castle nuts and toe adjustments bolts to torque down. I need to do either some clearancing to the subframe mount plate or make a custom wrench in order to tighten/adjust the tow bolt. Between the subframe bushing mount bolt and the mounting plate, makes it impossible to get a normal wrench on the bolt. Once that's all done, just gotta fill diff with fluid and *crossing fingers* everything should finally be done and I can move onto engine stuff.