Front strut housing ? when doing 5 lug conversion on E30

[E30 Devil]

Okay, need someone to clear my confusion when doing the front struts. So, I have all front component parts off 96+ M3 (CAs, hub, knuckle, calipers, carriers) minus struts. Can I use regular E36 strut housing to do the mod. so that it uses E30 struts OR does it HAVE to be the strut housing from an E36 M3? Does it have to be struts from 96+ M3 or does it not matter what strut it come from on any E36 M3s? Can I run brand new E36 front struts (or E36 M3 struts) as my front suspension set up using my stock E30 springs?

Sorry for so many ? but I can not find answers to this on threads anywhere in here. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

[psyber_0ptix]

I believe you need the later e36 m3 front strut housings for caster reasons

this seems to have some good info (especially about rear conversion)

http://www.torque-bound.com/5-lug.htm

I'm wondering if there are other Koni alternatives to the Bilstein Corrado/Camero/ix inserts

[HellzMindPlaya]

The e36 M3 front struts are needed because the diameter of the springs for the e36 M3 and an e30 are the same. This allows the springs to sit correctly.

I picked my front struts up brand new for $480 for the set... Well I guess that wasn't that great a deal. I reused my rear Bilstein sports and the front were brand new e36 M3 Bilstein sports. Then I just reused my H&R Sports all around.

[peerless]

You can also use standard E36 strut housings as well. Read- A whole hell of a lot less expensive.

Yes they have the wide spring base, but you use Z3 springs and they have the proper E30 top diameter.

A note of caution, you will need camber plates to tilt the strut housing in as the wider lower spring lip can hit the body on a good bump.

[E30 Devil]

So just because the '92 year only E36 strut housing came with the sway bar bracket does not necessarily mean that they can be assumed to be same set up as the E36 M3 struts, correct? Can someone verify that?

[bimmer630]

92 only Non-m struts are only similar to M3 struts in the swaybar bracket. the spring diameter is different than an M car.

E30 springs fit on E36 M struts and vice versa.
You need new front springs for a non M e36 if you wanna use non M struts. or just chop off the perches and go with coil overs

[funcrew]

Originally Posted by peerless

You can also use standard E36 strut housings as well. Read- A whole hell of a lot less expensive.

Yes they have the wide spring base, but you use Z3 springs and they have the proper E30 top diameter.

A note of caution, you will need camber plates to tilt the strut housing in as the wider lower spring lip can hit the body on a good bump.

Bumping this thread:

I have '97 M3 struts with bilsteins on an all-E36 M3 front suspension, and they are WAY too stiff for my street-only convertible. I also have a set of brand new, nice soft KYB non-M E36 struts with the giant diameter bottom spring perch. Peerless is banned, so could somebody tell me if all I need to do is buy stock Z3/2.8L springs and go with the KYB's? I'm running OEM top strut mounts with fixed camber plates. 8.5-inch or so 17-inch E36-offset wheels.

Going by memory, I don't think my swaybar is connected to the strut.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[rkettner]

my e36 bilstiens are too stiff as well so i'm working on putting a threaded section onto the m3 strut. then i can put in a regular e30 insert.

my worn out e36 m3 boge suspesion was much better

[bimmer630]

I bought billy sports for a 92 325i because I wanted the M3 style swaybar bracket.. and cut the hats off and installed a ground control coilover coversion. Cheaper way to get the same setup as an M3 If youre gonna do coil overs anyway.. but watch out cause the top of the shaft is a different size on the 92 E36.. I had to have GC make custom bearings for the Camber Caster plates

[IronFreak]

I'd like to add a question to this thread. After buying everything to rebuild my 4-lug.....I think I have decided to do a 5 lug swap. If I have everything already to go full coilover in the front, it there any point to buying M3 E36 struts if I'm going to cut the perches off anyways? I just want to verify some of the statements made above.

Are the bolt locations correct for bolting to an M3 spindle? I almost tempted to buy a set just to see if they'll work, but I figured if I could get an answer I'd wait a little but. I have some Koni adjustables for an e30 that I would use after modifying the E36 strut tubes to except them.

Thank for the replies in advance.