Someone help me out with my planning

[acolella76]

So I never really thought of doing a 5-lug swap until now. Basically what I plan on doing is E36 M up front, E30 M out back. Just a few questions about it! I plan on using either tckline or gc coilover conversion kits w/ bilsteins or konis, so do i need to do anything different because of that? BTW, the car is a 1985 325e, no ABS so that makes things a liiiittle easier i hope.

This is what I've been going off of: http://www.extradrei.com/5lug.html but there are a few holes.

Front:
E36 M3 front spindle
E36 M3 front wheel bearing and hub
Do I need the E36 M strut, or can i use non-M e36?
E36 M3 front brakes will be used, but do i need new calipers?

Rear:
E30 M3 TMS cross drilled rotors
E30 M3 rear hubs? I was looking on Turner and Bavarian Autosport, but I can't find them.
Again, do I need new calipers?

Couldn't I just use an E30 M wheel bearing and hub and brakes for the front also? If the rear splines are the same, shouldn't the front be the same?

[flyboyx]

no, you can not use the front hubs from an e30 m3 on a standard e30 strut housing. spindles are different. that has actually been tried and disproved many times here on this forum. it is a shame but the front struts/spindle of the m3 is pretty well akin to an e28 instead.

for the e36 fronts, any e36 strut will fit, but the m parts have different dampening and there is a special bracket on the side of the strut to attach the m sway bar link.

not sure what you are asking about the front "new calipers"? if you are using e36 m3 front rotors, you will need e36 m3 front calipers and carriers, not to mention spindles, lower control arms, and offset control arm bushings. all of that stuff has to match and has been spelled out in more detail if you want to do a search for it.

also for the rears you will need the correct e30m3 calipers with e30 m3 rotors. that stuff is pretty expensive. i recommend you use the complete e36 318ti or z3 rear swing arm assemblies. they should cost a lot less.

this stuff is not as cheap and easy as you may think. if it was everyone would be doing it. it is going to require lots of research and planning to get it right. it is ok to ask questions, but check out the search engine, because it will so a 10x better job of explaining this than i would.

[Gooch]

flyboy pretty much nailed everything, but also, if you do end up using a mix of e36 parts in the front and e30 parts in the rear, you're going to have two completely different offsets, so you're going to need some spacers.

[acolella76]

Thanks guys! I am pretty much set on not going 5 lug anymore. The cost of brakes + suspension + new wheels and tires was just too much.