re-using e30 suspension on e36 5 lug swap

[bimmer630]

Hi, Im new to the forum
I'm getting a set of E36 front strut housings with rotors and brakes from a guy in trade for some other parts I had laying around.. Im thinking of piecing together everything i need for a 5 lug conversion.
1)I've read that the spring diameters on the front are the same for E30 and E36. Is this true? if thats the case i can re-use my H&R sport springs. what about strut inserts?
2)I have upgraded shocks/struts too. they are bilstiens and i would like to reuse the fronts if possible. if not its no big deal to spend the $$ for front bilstiens.
3)Do i need to re-use the upper E30 strut bearing or should i get an aftermarket one to give additional camber adjustment? (ive heard that these e36 parts cause bad camber angles)

4)do i need e36 tierod ends? I know the lower control arms are the same.

5)for the rear I know i dont need complete trailing arms and i can get z3 hubs and rotors, and caliper brackets from either a 318ti or z3. I need the larger parts from 6cyl z3's too, right? (my car is an '89) apparantly you can use any e36 caliper out back. does that include 318ti calipers? or just regular E36's?

6)any other small items i will need? what about brake lines? do they all match up? some people online are swapping to a larger master cylinder. is that really necessary?

I work at a BMW dealer so i can get good deals on new and used parts. this swap could end up costing me less than 400 bucks (plus wheels) if i plan it out right.

I have checked out most of the other threads on this subject, I know this is kinda repetetive but my main question is about the front struts and swapping over the e30 parts. that subject doesnt seem to be mentioned, besides on one post where a guy swaps over his front coil-overs from e30 strut housings to e36 housings.

[Aptyp]

there should be no fucking reason why people would retype all that information and answer all your questions, when top 2 threads in this section have all those answers in them.


Unplug your keyboard and read through forum first. :blowup:

[asubimmer]

This is one reason why I don't waste time doing step by step write-ups anymore.

[bimmer630]

sorry guys.. i did get a little in depth with the question when all i really was asking was can the front springs from e30s be used on an e36 strut.

i looked up a complete bilstein front and rear strut/shock kit online and they are only 300 bucks for the 318ti. I can just use those parts but i dunno if the front struts will work good since they're made for a 4 cyl car

again sorry for the huge post, but like i said i didnt seem to come across anything about re-using e30 springs or struts

[asubimmer]

The e36 uses a larger spring than the e36 m3. The m3 shares the same size as the e30.

[bimmer630]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=92256&page=5

this dude did a swap and said the spring buckets on the front struts were the same on the e30 as the e36. he says he ended up with good alignment angles too by using offset control arm bushings and 97-up m3 control arms.

seems to have a problem with the abs though.. the e36 sensors in the front are reading diff. wheel speed than the rear is. anybody dealt with this issue here?

[asubimmer]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...t=92256&page=5

this dude did a swap and said the spring buckets on the front struts were the same on the e30 as the e36. he says he ended up with good alignment angles too by using offset control arm bushings and 97-up m3 control arms.

seems to have a problem with the abs though.. the e36 sensors in the front are reading diff. wheel speed than the rear is. anybody dealt with this issue here?

don't believe me then. I have both e36 and e36 m3 struts in my garage. If you look at his first post it even says that he used e36 m3 struts...

[bimmer630]

ok ok i thought when you wrote M3 you were refrring to the E30 M3. I wasnt thinkin that the E36 M and non-M cars had different sized spring buckets. I was reading your post too fast i guess.
So can the M3 strut be bolted onto a non-M knuckle/spindle? if so i can just order front bilsteins for an M3 and still re-use my springs. I have heard that you cant swap M3 brakes onto a non M e36 so the spindle setup is probably different.

[Aptyp]

yes, m3 struts bolt on to standard e36 spindles.


e36 M3 Bilsteins are expensive as hell though.

[bimmer630]

yes, m3 struts bolt on to standard e36 spindles.


e36 M3 Bilsteins are expensive as hell though.

Wow you are right, its like 650 bucks for the set of 4 bilsteins for an e36 m3!. I wouldnt mind using a stock set of struts for an m3 and im sure i can find a set out there that somebody took off for an upgrade... i was looking at a set on ebay for 100 bucks but they have springs on them so the seller cant tell if they are ok struts or not. i was looking at the way the swaybar link attaches to the strut on an e36. can the e30 be attached to the links on the e36 struts with no problems?

[Aptyp]

yup, use e30 m3 links.

[bimmer630]

Do the m3 E30 links attach to the control arms or the strut? on ClavinZeros swap it looks like the swapybar is attached to the E36 control arms the same way that the stock e30 stuff mounts up. its hard to tell though cause he doesnt say anything about the sway links. I got my E36 front brakes/hubs/kingpins tonight, mounted on 325i struts. Im gonna get rid of these struts and get used factory M3 struts, use the non-M brakes which are already larger than the E30 stuff. found a guy online with factory front control arms and struts for e36 m3, 250 bucks for everything. so that will take care of the front, and then i have to find rear hub flanges, rotors , and caliper brackets (oh yeah i got e36 rear calipers tonight too)

[Aptyp]

96+ m3 control arms have provisions for sway bar attachment to the control arm, but e30 and e36 m3s have links attached to struts. All depends on which way you're headed. I will be doing "Front 5-lug Swap" thread going up with next few weeks, similarly with multiple options and cheapest options.

ClavinZero should have done a more detailed write-up, because a lot of info that I sourced out of his thread, had to be scrapped. That's how I've put up my thread and offer to answer all questions, because on two cars I've run into plenty of complications, which I don't wish on every one else. I am not bashing his his thread, just saying that I personally didn't appreciate bragging and gloating, just to find misinformation in his thread and having to do my own write up. Properly informed, 5-lug swap can be done in 1 day.

[bimmer630]

cool i look forward to reading your thread.
is the swaybar attachment the only difference in the 96-up control arms, or is there an alignment angle issue as well? I just bought M roadster control arms and struts which i dont know the build date on but i do know that M roadsters started in like 98, right?

[Aptyp]

M-roadster control arms are the same as 96+ m3 control arms. Struts aren't, but I don't know for sure what differences are. If you want, you can post pics of struts, so I can look at them. They may be right dimensions and all, but I just have no experience with those.