broken shock tower

[kman_e30]

im not sure how this happened, what would you guys do in this situation? cut out a section from another car and have it welded in, or swap to another chassis? btw its my buddys car
thanks guys

[Ceeker]

Regardless whether you cut and weld a replacement in, or simply cut and weld you have to cut and weld..lol.

How that happened? not replacing the shock mount that was bad to begin with. So your shock tower was taking the beating instead of the shock mount. Once the shock mount failed as it is designed to do after miles of use, the shock tower is the next thing to take the road force. This is simply neglect. The only other thing is rusting out -which doesn't seem like the case here.

[kman_e30]

Regardless whether you cut and weld a replacement in, or simply cut and weld you have to cut and weld..lol.

How that happened? not replacing the shock mount that was bad to begin with. So your shock tower was taking the beating instead of the shock mount. Once the shock mount failed as it is designed to do after miles of use, the shock tower is the next thing to take the road force. This is simply neglect. The only other thing is rusting out -which doesn't seem like the case here.

so what would you do in this situation?

[whodwho]

Possible the shock was seizing up and worked the tower metal.

I think this is a semi common issue on e36s and there are replacement sections available, not sure for an e30 tho...

[nrubenstein]

so what would you do in this situation?

I would just fab up a sheet metal replacement.

[E30SPDFRK]

As you can see that piece is spot welded to the chassis then sealed. I would take all the sealant off, drill out the welds then do the same to another vehicle and swap.

Either his car is slammed and was bottoming out the shock or the shock was siezed. I'm betting on the latter.

[Ceeker]

so what would you do in this situation?

Remove the section and weld in a new section, if you want to do this properly. Band aiding it will only end up failing again down the road. So I would suggest cutting out where the spot welds are as suggested and replacing it with a good one. I would do this from the exposed side rather then the interior of the trunk. Keep in mind that if you re-enforce this area you are going to have one shock mount sitting lower as the metal thickness may be different. If you do this to one it is best to do this to the other. I would also check the other side for fatigue. Granted it will be stronger afterward.

[Hellabad]

You can buy a piece from BMW to repair this.

I cannot find the part number right now, maybe your dealer can figure it out.

I think the repair piece is listed for an e36, but it fits

[dude8383]

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...28&hg=41&fg=25

#4 or #5, not sure which side that is..

[Hellabad]

Number 16 and 17 in this pic

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...41&fg=25&hl=52

Attached pic of another previous repair. Note the bottoming out Bilstein in the pic.

[jlevie]

The cause of that failure is bottoming out of the shocks, not from a failed shock mount. And the cause of the shocks bottoming out is the wrong shocks used or spring rates too low for the degree of lowering.

[reelizmpro]

Number 16 and 17 in this pic

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...41&fg=25&hl=52

Attached pic of another previous repair. Note the bottoming out Bilstein in the pic.

Let me take this opportunity to ask Jay since he posted the picture...Is the rear shock mount in this picture assembled correctly? I have the same mount and noticed the bushing diameter is smaller than the stock mounts so that bottom washer is larger than the bushing and will bottom out on the mount itself on shock compression. There's maybe 1/8" gap between the mount and the bottom washer. After that, the bushing is taken out of the equation and it's just a solid mount. So i'm curious if there's a smaller washer used or a dished washer?