e36 coilovers

[Aptyp]

Um...all e36 housings are sealed, and cannot be taken apart except by cutting them, (and then you cant measure them anymore).

e36 does not have an insert that can be photographed.

I cut off the top ring of the e36 strut housing. The squeezed part holds a spacer and a seal to hold the pressurized assembly in. Then I pull out the shock/strut-like insert out. That measures to be one inch shorter, than e30 insert.

I make a spacer for a short Bilstein and weld on the threaded part. This way I run e30 Springs on e36 spring perch, drops front end about 15mm.

Bumpsteer and King Pin Inclination are two of them.

Thats been very helpful I'm sure, but bumpsteer is not part of a regular old alignment. Recording and correcting bumpsteer is perfected in the worlds of OE suspension design, and race car setup, which is a level above camber caster and toe.

When you swap the e36 parts on, and then move the bottom forward, the e30 tie rod shifts to different angle. This inarguably promotes bumpsteer. Its actually pretty simple, you just have to pay attention to where (and how far) everything is moving to.

I am running e36 rack and e36 tie-rods. I ran e30 tie-rods for a while, but had a slight bumpsteer problem, and tie-rods were screwed in almost to the max to align. Now, it's not half as bad. Feels about the same as any other lowered e30.

When will someone make tie-rods to combat this issue? I was thinking of fabricating some brackets that would move the tie-rod back to original locations. What do you have cooking?

Respectfully,
Jay

and this is why I buy GC parts, when doing coilovers. You're so damn professional.

[Hellabad]

Jay, can you get away with moving the rack forward to the other holes in the subframe or is it not that simple? (That's probably a stupid question that could be answered if I had a tape measure handy...)

Actually you are better off not too.

This would be in the "ackerman" chapter of Carroll Smiths second (?not sure) book.

Only from memory, but the reason why is in there, not sure exactly which of his books, but the chapter is about ackerman in a Formula Atlantic car.

[Fidhle007]

Jay, can you get away with moving the rack forward to the other holes in the subframe or is it not that simple? (That's probably a stupid question that could be answered if I had a tape measure handy...)

[Hellabad]

I think my latest picture, and others in my gallery are helpful. Almost half of them have nothing to do with our company. (The washer that everybody leaves out but they don't know what to look for, how to tell when your Bilsteins are bottomed out, etc.)

yes, you took a pic of the e36 housing...now take it apart.

Um...all e36 housings are sealed, and cannot be taken apart except by cutting them, (and then you cant measure them anymore).

Take both inserts out and snap a pic.

e36 does not have an insert that can be photographed.

Also, and I'm sorry if you're not shamelessly plugging your product,

If I was, I would have put a picture of the GC parts next to the stock parts.

But instead, I went and assembled a stock e30 strut (see the brand new oem gland nut in the pic?) and a stock e36 M3 strut, and took a picture of them next to each other.

but I don't know where your special efforts to correct geometry are.

Bumpsteer and King Pin Inclination are two of them.

I aligned my front within specs and posted results for a reason.

Thats been very helpful I'm sure, but bumpsteer is not part of a regular old alignment. Recording and correcting bumpsteer is perfected in the worlds of OE suspension design, and race car setup, which is a level above camber caster and toe.

When you swap the e36 parts on, and then move the bottom forward, the e30 tie rod shifts to different angle. This inarguably promotes bumpsteer. Its actually pretty simple, you just have to pay attention to where (and how far) everything is moving to.

Respectfully,
Jay

[Stephen]

yes, you took a pic of the e36 housing... now take it apart. Take both inserts out and snap a pic.

Also, and I'm sorry if you're not shamelessly plugging your product, but I don't know where your special efforts to correct geometry are. I aligned my front within specs and posted results for a reason.

But where the bumpstop is, which could vary even inside the shock, is what really matters travel wise. Not to mention a really long housing, even if in theory the bumpstop was way down, would still cause travel issues because of the housings physical hieght..

[Aptyp]

Another note to add, for $400 you do not get struts... So you'd have to modify e36 housing you got. So if you DO have e36m housings, you may as well get the e30 kit, because you won't need to mix and match sets. That's what I ran for 5 months without any issues.

GC setup is amazing, but it's not that amazing at $400. You'll have to spend $1800-$2000 and piece together a kit then.

For $400 however, you can't even buy sport billies, so right there, you'll be spending a pretty penny to run e36 GC "conversion" kit. You may as well buy ebay coilover kit. You'll have a ton of fun for a while, til they seize.

[Aptyp]

yes, you took a pic of the e36 housing... now take it apart. Take both inserts out and snap a pic.

Also, and I'm sorry if you're not shamelessly plugging your product, but I don't know where your special efforts to correct geometry are. I aligned my front within specs and posted results for a reason.

[Hellabad]

Just to reinforce it:

YOU MAY HAVE MADE A MISTAKE

e30 insert is 17" long, while e36 incased insert is only 16". If you consider the way both mount, e36 strut still sits lower than the e30 one for a little extra shock travel.

I just went and took a picture of an e30 strut next to an e36 strut, and posted it in the gallery thats in my sig.

[Fidhle007]

I would propose that you just call Ground Control, and ask them to sell you a Front e36M kit, and a rear Z3 kit, and ask if they could juggle the price to be the same as a regular e30 which is $399. This would certainly be better than calling all over trying to get used parts, and imho better than Taiwan parts. You can even ask for me if you want. (Jay)

What he said. :-)

[Hellabad]

are those GC coilovers from an e30 kit? I have a e36m front and a z3 rear and trying to find the most cost effective solution for coils thanks

sorry for the thread revival just got this car and trying to get things sorted out

I would propose that you just call Ground Control, and ask them to sell you a Front e36M kit, and a rear Z3 kit, and ask if they could juggle the price to be the same as a regular e30 which is $399. This would certainly be better than calling all over trying to get used parts, and imho better than Taiwan parts. You can even ask for me if you want. (Jay)

[Aptyp]

just to reinforce it...e36 struts are taller than e30, don't forget to address that during your swap.

Just to reinforce it:

YOU ARE WRONG

e30 insert is 17" long, while e36 incased insert is only 16". If you consider the way both mount, e36 strut still sits lower than the e30 one for a little extra shock travel.

[mcr_driver]

are those GC coilovers from an e30 kit? I have a e36m front and a z3 rear and trying to find the most cost effective solution for coils thanks

sorry for the thread revival just got this car and trying to get things sorted out

[Fidhle007]

Raceland is complete shit. Same as Ebay Generic but with a "Raceland" nameplate and a few extra bucks for prestige.

[bimmer630]

The Ground control parts arived today. They boxed the wrong sleeves but I got on the phone with them and they're shipping the correct ones out asap.
I put the adjusters on the struts without the threaded sleeves to show whats gonna happen. I thought bright green would look cool too

[bimmer630]

Heres what i came up with to solve my whacky strut tube dillema. These split collars were pretty cheap and they will provide the "shelf" needed to rest the threaded GC coilover sleeve on. the welds left over from the original perches will hold the sleeves up.
plenty of loctite on the threads and maybe even a few welds to hold the two halves together will keep everything safe