UGH... Need so help from the 5 lug gurus!

[rneedham1979]

I just finished up my 5 lug swap on my E30. Here's the set up...



There's no interior or top end/ turbo on the motor. The ride height will be adjusted when it's all back together.

Here's the set up...

Rear:
-E30 Subframe
-Mcoupe 3.23 Diff
-Mcoupe trailing arms
-Mcoupe brakes
-Ground control E30 coil conversion
-E30 Bilstiens

Front
-96+ Control arms
-M3 Brakes
-Tree House FCAB
-M3 Strut tubes
-E30 Bilstien Inserts
-E30 Ground Control coil conversion
-Ground control race camber plates

I had to make a set of short, 12" brake lines and I cut the brake line guide/holder off my E30 dust covers. I then welded them onto the trailing arms.





I really wanted to retain my ground control stuff and really didn't want to buy an E36 set up so... I cut the E36M3 strut apart, removed the guts. I cut 4.5" off the E30 strut, to include the threaded portion and fitted them together. I added 3" section of flt stock to help strengthen the strut tube and then I welded on the lower spring perch.







So now onto my issue...

The Passenger side wheel is not centered. I readjusted the caster and it did nothing. The drivers side sits centered, which is confusing me.

Also, the car has an incredible amount of toe... I adjusted the tie rods all the way in and there is still about an 1" of toe out.

The only thing I can think is the passenger side control arm isn't an 96+ or it's bent. Any ideas?

[IronFreak]

I would check the control arms....I just finished getting all my parts.....you won't believe how many people don't realize there is a difference between the 95 and 96+ control arms....I ended up buy 4 different ones before I got two that matched. pull them off and lay them back to back, line up the stud the CAB holds on too and then look at the outter ball joints. if they don't line up you have a 95. the 95 will be the arm where the outter ball joint is closer the the rear stud, almost 3/4"-1" further back.

[rneedham1979]

Hmmm I wonder if the wrong control arm would jack up the toe too. Maybe is one control arm is correct and other is not... ya know

[IronFreak]

It could possibly I don't know.....Are you still running the e30 rack? I'm not sure but maybe it has to do with the tie rods being to long?? I don't know because I run a 95M rack...

[rneedham1979]

I'm not sure what rack I have. It was in the car when I bought it. I do have a manual rack that's going in on the next sunny day...

[IronFreak]

I would start with the control arms. When I get home I'll put the 95 I have against the 98 going on the car and snap a picture and see. BTW........impressive numbers man....

[rneedham1979]

Thanks man. I'm hoping for 900whp on 110 and 155+ in the 1/4... Just need to get this thing set up correctly and I thought I had all the parts.

[IronFreak]

Are you running a stock diff and half shafts? How's your hookup off the line. I'm building a track car with a built 302 induced with a Garrett tp38 turbo. I don't need anything with numbers that high for twisties but a lot of people keep saying the rearend is gunna take a crap.....

[rneedham1979]

On a road race car, stock diff is fine. My 150k+ diff handled 600whp/550wtq fine for a long time. I done countless 1/4 and road course events with no issues... half shafts, well, now that's a different story. That's the only reason I went 5 lug. The Mcoupe axles are nice and beefy.

food for thought... the mcouope diff is the same diff as in the E30, so... you'll be fine. There are plenty of turbo mcoupes tracking without any issues.

[IronFreak]

isn't the additional offset of the mcoupe arms pretty gnarly? like another 41mm a side or something?

[rneedham1979]

It's no more than the 318 stuff, so I've read. It did force me to buy higher offset wheels too, which I'm OK with. My priority is getting back to the track. I'll find the ideal wheels at a later date.

For now, gotta figure out the caster/ toe issue.

[IronFreak]

I went with the z3 hubs to retain the bigger bearing. it was 23mm wider haha. thats ok because my track rat is getting kamotors ultrawide flares. down side is I have to run the z3 tiny brakes.........for now. next winter I will be making custom brackets to run wilwood brain smashing brake power.

[rneedham1979]

I think the Mcoupe is the same as the Z3. To answer your question, I believe your halfshafts and Diff will be fine. I only broke half-shafts when I tried to launch to a sub 1.8-1.960ft.

[IronFreak]

yeah, and my suspension won't even be close to drag friendly....Did you do anything additional to brace your diff? like a e36 dual eared cover or something? I was thinking about fabricating something along those lines.

I'll try and get those pictures of the control arms up tonight for you.

[rneedham1979]

I haven't. I considered it when I put the diff in Saturday but, I didn't have enough material. I have the Mcoupe covers, which also has two ears. I will most likely do it in the future although I haven't had any failures or even cracks in the area. That said, my best 60ft was a 1.7, so not really leaving too hard yet.