Hello. My name is Dan, and today I doomsday prepped
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thanks guys, can't wait to have it driving around. it needs a couple things before I will be comfortable on Milwaukee streets (skid plate, quieter exhaust) but hopefully that can happen before snow hits.
the coilovers are BC. 6k/8k. it rides nice, but I need to tinker with heights, dampening, and I think it needs some shorter springs or better arrangement of all the strut components for better tire clearance (some rubbing presently with stock wheels/tires).
Dan
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parts starting to roll in, and found a parts car on craigslist with a nice seller who pulled some of the small bits for me.
brand new BMW front valance, can't believe the cheap price on these things ($200)
some of the random crap - most of this is actually completely missing on my car
oh, and in case you ever have the urge, yes an e30 hood will fit entirely inside the back of an e34 touring.
also scored a non-damaged alpine rear bumper (seen barely here)
Dan
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For serious those are $200?! I need a new one as mine is dented and rusted.
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a half day at work killed my fall drive today, but i was able to get a few things done on the car anyhow.
the front coil springs were rubbing all over the tire (stock weaves + 185 tires) so i knew something was wrong. turns out the spring perches were set wrong, or just spun down over time as they were just hand tight. well, there was a lot of crud there so I clean it up and spun the perches up another 1.5". i need to find out if BC offers the same spring with a shorter length, that would give even more tire clearance.
after
P.O. had some interesting taste....i pulled off a little on my road trip so I could actually see the trip meter, but had to finish this asap
much better!
The hood has been replaced/painted at some point, and I think without either version of the hood insulation it just looks unfinished. the guy parting an e30 that i bought some stuff from had a damaged hood so I was able to salvage the liner from it and amazingly not break any clips in the process. Before:
After:
The rear bumper had some damage, and I wasn't planning on addressing this till later on, but again the parts guy also had a alpine rear bumper so I jumped on it. The offensive bumper:
Nice and fresh bumper:
Lastly, I got rid of the 'is' skirts. I'm just not a fan on e30s. I like that the black rocker panels match the rear valance with the black on the bottom as well as the front 'is' lip which I will leave black. Now i just have to find a good shop to fill the holes for me.
Dan
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What I am seeing is you basically raised the front about an inch and a half to stop the perch from contacting the tires correct? Most coilovers make it almost impossibly to run stock wheels while being lowered so you need to slip a small spacer in to give the tire some breathing room.
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Shorter springs would most likely mean stiffer rates as well (?) I believe moving the perch also changes the preload on the fronts
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the BC coilovers have separate adjustment for the spring perch and the ride height. the spring perch should be set in one place based on the length of the spring and then left alone. in my case, someone had set it too low meaning the spring was loose between the upper mount and the perch.
if you look at the picture there is a collar on the bottom against the strut tube - you loosen this collar then you can spin the entire upper portion of the unit (spring, strut, perch) either in or out of the strut tube to lengthen or shorten the entire strut assembly, which raises or lowers the car. you get to keep full suspension travel and not add or remove preload no matter how high or low you are.
now, the lower you go you end up moving the spring and perch closer and closer to the hub, meaning possibly contacting the wheel/tire. to combat this, getting a shorter spring will let you lower the car more but keep the same clearances. the spring rates would be the same, but i would lose a little travel. i don't know if I will need to do this until I pick a wheel/tire combo. my goal is to plan the wheel/tire combo so I don't have any problems in the first place, but who knows.
Dan
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I know how it works as my airlift struts are the same concept
It just seems like someone had the car lowered by lowering the spring on the body instead of shortening the length of the assembly. Did you snug up the spring to the upper mount and then shorten the body to match the height it was at before?
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the BC coilovers have separate adjustment for the spring perch and the ride height. the spring perch should be set in one place based on the length of the spring and then left alone. in my case, someone had set it too low meaning the spring was loose between the upper mount and the perch.
if you look at the picture there is a collar on the bottom against the strut tube - you loosen this collar then you can spin the entire upper portion of the unit (spring, strut, perch) either in or out of the strut tube to lengthen or shorten the entire strut assembly, which raises or lowers the car. you get to keep full suspension travel and not add or remove preload no matter how high or low you are.
now, the lower you go you end up moving the spring and perch closer and closer to the hub, meaning possibly contacting the wheel/tire. to combat this, getting a shorter spring will let you lower the car more but keep the same clearances. the spring rates would be the same, but i would lose a little travel. i don't know if I will need to do this until I pick a wheel/tire combo. my goal is to plan the wheel/tire combo so I don't have any problems in the first place, but who knows.
Right. This is exactly how my fortune autos operate, with the bottom collar for adjusting ride height. The top two collars adjust pre load on the springs I believe, i understand those are not for ride height.
I think BCs awful translated crap wants like a 4-5mm preload on them so the spring doesn't flop around .
As far as different length springs, a higher spring rate will raise the maximum low ride height. I had this issue when trying to source a 12k option for the rear. I forget what your rates are but I'd keep it in mind so the car doesn't end up riding like crap if you change the rates and stuff
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I know how it works as my airlift struts are the same conceptB)
It just seems like someone had the car lowered by lowering the spring on the body instead of shortening the length of the assembly. Did you snug up the spring to the upper mount and then shorten the body to match the height it was at before?
This what you're referring to?
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good information there, thanks. i was getting a binding 'pop' sometimes so the loose spring was probably it!
so yes, I snugged to the springs to the upper mount, and gave it maybe 1/16" of preload (however tight I could do with my hand, as the PO did not have the coilover wrench with the car when I bought it). before i did this there was a gap of 1.5" between the spring and the perch. the picture doesn't show it because the spring falls down to the perch with the car lifted.
i didn't notice the car sitting higher due to giant snow tire sidewalls, but i guess this would have raised it.
Dan
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I thought the skirts looked good on there. I would have just painted the IS lip white to match VS. the other way around. To each their own. It looks like you are getting alot of things sorted out though, and thats great to see!!!
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got more done with another great weather weekend.
got some great deals on some parts from wibimmer's members
switched out euro check panel. 1) can't read german. 2)hate broken stuff
that's better.
when the swap was done, the glovebox trim panel was never put back. 1)unsightly 2)lets more noise into the cabin
the placement of the new ecu makes fitting the original panel impossible, so a quick trimming and all is well. (i forgot the after photo)
this montage is for Snap. these cheap-ass autozone tuner lugs are the worst thing ever freaking made by man.
Installed a trunk spoiler. Here's a quick write-up.
the BMW measurement doc is 100% awesome, use it.
goodbye perfect decklid
blue painters tape for drawing your measurements on
measurements in place. note: the two center-most holes are NOT equidistant from the centerline.
dun dun dun dun dun
the instructions call for 7.5mm holes but who the hell has metric drill bits?? 5/16" is the closest size in SAE
test fit before removing tape in case a correction is needed
boom, nailed it!
ready for the spoiler!
i will now have less drag on the freeway, and also the ladies can't resist a good decklid spoiler.
i also installed a euro analog clock, the front fender liners, and did a power steering fluid flush
i also DROVE THE CAR a bit, and many big, stupid grins were had.
Dan
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^^^ I second that. I need a ride as well
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Car has a skid plate as of yesterday so free rides between now and snow!
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I've also started a small project to remove the HAI (hot air filter) already installed on the car. I have another, more fun, idea in the works, but just wanted to get something on the car in the mean time. Ben had an extra m20 air box lying around, and I have seen a picture of this on an s50 swap car before so it shouldnt be too hard.
Currently, the car has no heatshield and a disintegrating Autozone cone filter
the box doesn't quite fit, but there is room for it. It hits the alternator and the power steering fluid res on the bottom, the throttle cable on the inside, and is pushing against the coolant hose.
Before anything, gotta make a circle peg fit a square hole. Got a basic placement from the mock up on the car and marked it with tape.
The box has a reinforcing metal plate molded into the face fore the original afm to bolt to. I figured to just cut through it, but it is pretty thick, relatively hard steel so after looking how it was assembled I decided I should be able to separate it first. Apply a heat gun to the backside and you can slowly pry the metal plate from the plastic
With the plate removed, dremeling out the opening is cake.
The MAF itself needs one mounting tab cut off to fit on top of the box.
Boom! Tough actin' Tenactin
Also shown in this picture are the other mods to the box for fitment. The lower mount needs to be cut (left), the rubber/mounting stud near the MAF needs to be cut shorter (middle), and the vertical plastic mount for the original AFM was removed (right)
Got a good basic fit of the upper part of the box
Also got a start on the lower box. Here you can see some holes cut for clearance of the alternator and power steering res. The holes are from some PO who did the 'want more sound from my airbox mod'
All that's left is to seal up the lower box openings, seal the upper box holes near the MAF opening, and get a small duct to run behind the headlight to draw cold air.
The big question is whether the m20 filter is big enough to support the induction needs of the 3.0. Anyone have a clue on that? I'd guess from photos that the m20 filter is probably 75% the size of an s50 filter.
Dan
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