5-lug with E36 bilstiens/ground control coilovers

[bimmer630]

Finally got some pics of my completed suspension. It turned out kinda a headache, since I bought early production 325 bilstiens, in the thoughts of cutting the perches off and putting coil overs on. I cut the perches off then realized the strut tube diameter is larger at the top of the strut then tapers down. you cant see that in the pic but you can see the shaft collars I used to give the threaded sleeves a place to "rest". sofar ive put about 1000 miles on it all and everything is still tight. the ride is rough of course but she handles great. also i had to have the upper GC plates fitted with custom sized bearings since these early production E36 front struts use a whacky upper shaft setup.

[flyboyx]

nice job. how did you solve the larger diameter problem at the top? tell me about that collar you welded on just below the threaded adjuster. also why did you paint them green?

[bimmer630]

I didn't weld those collars on. If welding was safe on a strut I would have, but these are just resting on the welds left over from when I hacked off the original spring buckets. I painted them green cause all my hack work messed up the yellow paint, and I thought green looked cool

[bimmer630]

Oh and the threaded sleeve is large enough to fit over the top section of strut, but has nothing to 'catch' on, that's why I have these shaft collars on there (with loads of loctite on the bolts!!) Nothing has loosened up yet, I've driven the car from cleveland to chicago and from cleveland to long island.. no issues, and I don't think its ever bottomed out, despite what people say (the e36 tubes are taller tthan e30 ones)