iX strut housing modification

[moatilliatta]

A lot of "racecar" parts use Standard hardware. But yes, if they are making them in house or whatever, it would be cool to have metric 12.9 hardware.

I don't know how many stripped camber plate bolts I've seen from metric tools...

I think also the anodizing causes more friction too..

[aaron325ix]

Yeah I've had to replace boots a few times for sure - never had an axle pop out though. For sure, if I dropped my adjusters all the way, that would probably be way too much angle for the CV shafts to handle. But even with just H&R sports, you only have like 1.5" of travel and it's not that low. You could shorten the housings 2", keep the H&R sports and same ride height, and stop bottoming out.

Since the set up you have seems to be working well, is there any chance you might be able to send me some measurements on where you cut and where you welded the spring perch? Maybe some pics? I was also wondering about the spacer you put in the bottom of the modified strut housing. Just a solid piece of steel will do at about 2 inches assuming I cut 2 inches out of my housings? I've seen some people put ATF fluid in there for heat dissipation as well.

[E30andy]

I was able to get the GC adjuster off of one of my front struts. Dremel cut off wheel, hammer and flat head screwdriver did the trick. No damage to the strut housing!

[aaron325ix]

I was able to get the GC adjuster off of one of my front struts. Dremel cut off wheel, hammer and flat head screwdriver did the trick. No damage to the strut housing!

jeez, that looks awful. I'm hoping enough lube and heat will do it once I get them out but it doesnt sound promising.

[E30andy]

jeez, that looks awful. I'm hoping enough lube and heat will do it once I get them out but it doesnt sound promising.

Texas chainsaw massacre for sure. Good stress reliever cutting and beating on it. No amount of heat or lube would have worked (on mine anyway).

[aaron325ix]

After looking at all of that I think I'm just going to send the strut housings into GC to get them modified. The local guy who was going to do it quoted me $400 which is the same as GC but they will also powder coat it. Not to mention, if getting those adjusters off is as difficult as it looks I can leave that up to them as well and hopefully they will replace them if need be and not charge me for it. Fingers crossed.

It could take 10-20 days for them to return them but its probably still better than the other options.

[moatilliatta]

Its hard to beat the price on some one who is setup to do the service.

What are you going to run for springs and ride height?

GC can also reinforce the knuckle part to the damper tube.

[moatilliatta]

I was able to get the GC adjuster off of one of my front struts. Dremel cut off wheel, hammer and flat head screwdriver did the trick. No damage to the strut housing!

I don't know why this picture is so satisfying.

[aaron325ix]

Its hard to beat the price on some one who is setup to do the service.

What are you going to run for springs and ride height?

GC can also reinforce the knuckle part to the damper tube.

I'll be running the same springs that are on there now. 600 front and 700 rear. The car is pretty slammed right now so I will probably bump it up a half inch or so.

[aaron325ix]

so now the guys at GC are saying they cant take 2 inches out of the strut housing as it will interfere with the side wall of the tire. Seems like most everyone of you who has done it has taken exactly that much out without problems.

[moatilliatta]

Coilovers been interfering with tire clearance since the beginning of coilovers.

Maybe you talked to a new guy?

[aaron325ix]

"We shorten them one inch.


To be honest, I have no idea how someone could shorten them two inches. If you do that, then the tire is in the way, and the adjustment cant be used anyways. My only thinking is that the people on the forums "shortened two Inches" are using VW struts (bad idea) and / or using a camber plate that takes up room at the top (so not GC plates)


As far as justifying leaving off the sway bar so you don't have to fabricate a sway bar bracket? Thats for other people, not GC. If someone thinks they are smarter or more clever than BMW engineers, then I disagree."

A guy from Ground Control

[nando]

1" isn't enough. I'm pretty sure my current housings are 3" shorter. 2" is definitely doable. I'm not using VW struts, lol.

They aren't going to hit unless you're running super high offset wheels anyway. I run stock ix wheels on my car all the time (with snow tires). I'm not even sure what you'd hit? the original strut hats are way bigger than GC adjusters.

Also, it's not hard to fab a new swaybar link out of some box tube. Or cut off the original one and reposition it.

[ForcedFirebird]

so now the guys at GC are saying they cant take 2 inches out of the strut housing as it will interfere with the side wall of the tire. Seems like most everyone of you who has done it has taken exactly that much out without problems.

2" is for RWD configurations. AWD is more like .5". If you dropped the IX 2" in the front, the axle boots will rub spindles.

[nando]

That response from GC irritated me so much I went out and got a picture. I have miles of clearance - you're not going to hit anything with shorter housings, unless they leave the stock perches on for some reason. I'll post up the pic later when I have time to upload it.

ForcedFirebird did my housings, and of course I documented it in the ix section of E30tech (which at the time, was the place to be if you had an ix). All of that is gone now but I'm pretty sure I did 3", but I also used a longer adjuster (no name brand chinesium from Ebay, which ironically, have held up better than my GC adjusters).