Video Tutorial for shortening strut housings and installing Ground Control kit

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • squidrope
    Wrencher
    • Dec 2012
    • 291

    #16
    Great job on the video and all the work on the suspension. Where did you get the springs and adjusters?

    Comment

    • CubbyChowder
      E30 Fanatic
      • Mar 2012
      • 1488

      #17
      Originally posted by squidrope
      Great job on the video and all the work on the suspension. Where did you get the springs and adjusters?
      Thank you. I was referred to Mark at Ground Control by a few forum members to set up my spring rates. He is the go-to E30 guy at GC. Give him a call and he will set you up with the right spring rates for your model/usage. The coilover conversion kit costs $399 and you get to pick your preferred spring rates.


      --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
      --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

      Comment

      • Dalejandrino
        Grease Monkey
        • Feb 2012
        • 307

        #18
        How do you tighten the the top hat? When I go to tighten mine the shock just spins and the nut doesn't go anywhere. And how tight should the nut be?
        -1987 325is coupe(SOLD)
        -1990 325i sedan

        Comment

        • IronFreak
          No R3VLimiter
          • Dec 2012
          • 3702

          #19
          Step 12: The next step depends on how much you shortened your housings by and your strut insert choice. You want to be able to tighten the insert down snugly with the collar nut. In my case, I had to make a 1.25" spacer out of metal tubing to achieve this.

          How did you know how big to make the spacer, was this based off the 2" you cut from the strut tube, minus the thickness of the collar nut?
          sigpic

          Rebellion Forge Custom Fabrication

          1988 325is - TrackRat in progress

          Instagram @rebellionforge

          Comment

          • CubbyChowder
            E30 Fanatic
            • Mar 2012
            • 1488

            #20
            Originally posted by Dalejandrino
            How do you tighten the the top hat? When I go to tighten mine the shock just spins and the nut doesn't go anywhere. And how tight should the nut be?
            If you look in the very top of the threaded shaft of the shock, there is an input for an allen wrench. You need to find the right size (don't know exact size off the top of my head) and figure out a way to tighten the nut while keeping the shaft in place with the allen wrench. In my case, I took a vise-grip, locked it tightly to the correct size socket and used that to tighten it while I held the shaft in place by putting the allen wrench through the hole of the socket. Hope that makes sense, kind of hard to explain through text.

            As for tightness, I just did it until it felt nice and tight, I didn't follow any torque specs or anything. I think I need to go back and retighten it a bit though, I'm hearing a bit of a clunk from the front end on bumps.

            Originally posted by IronFreak
            Step 12: The next step depends on how much you shortened your housings by and your strut insert choice. You want to be able to tighten the insert down snugly with the collar nut. In my case, I had to make a 1.25" spacer out of metal tubing to achieve this.

            How did you know how big to make the spacer, was this based off the 2" you cut from the strut tube, minus the thickness of the collar nut?
            This is kind of hard to explain, but I figured out how big to make the spacer by figuring out where the strut had to sit in order for the collar nut to thread all the way in and keep the strut insert really snug in there.

            This is what I did:
            Clean all the threads in the strut housing really well and cover all the threads in anti-sieze lubricant. Then, without the strut insert in place, just try threading the collar nut as far down as you can go to make sure that it will smoothly tighten all the way down. Then I noted where the collar nut sits on the strut insert, and then basically measured where the strut insert would need to sit in order for the collar nut to be able to thread all the way into the strut housing and keep the insert tight in there at the same time.

            That might be really confusing, I hope that makes some amount of sense.


            --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
            --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

            Comment

            • CubbyChowder
              E30 Fanatic
              • Mar 2012
              • 1488

              #21
              Also, here is pretty helpful picture which someone sent to me in a private message to help them figure out where to make the cuts in the strut housing for the shortening process. In his case, he wanted to shorten the housings by 1.5".

              In case you can't read the text well or are still confused, do the steps in this order:
              1) Yellow line - represents where the original spring perch is cut off. Just above the weld
              2) Red line - the first cut made to separate the housing. Just under the weld of the original spring perch
              3) White line - the second cut made to determine how much you are sectioning out of the housing. This is up to you, just don't cut more than 2".



              --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
              --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

              Comment

              • IronFreak
                No R3VLimiter
                • Dec 2012
                • 3702

                #22
                DUDE........So awesome, VERY HELPFUL!

                Is there an off chance you remember how long the coil springs in the front are? I have a wild hair brain idea to build my own.

                Great thread man, awesome information!
                sigpic

                Rebellion Forge Custom Fabrication

                1988 325is - TrackRat in progress

                Instagram @rebellionforge

                Comment

                • CubbyChowder
                  E30 Fanatic
                  • Mar 2012
                  • 1488

                  #23
                  Originally posted by IronFreak
                  DUDE........So awesome, VERY HELPFUL!

                  Is there an off chance you remember how long the coil springs in the front are? I have a wild hair brain idea to build my own.

                  Great thread man, awesome information!
                  Thank you, do you mean the ground control springs for the front? They are 6" with a 440 spring rate.


                  --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
                  --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

                  Comment

                  • IronFreak
                    No R3VLimiter
                    • Dec 2012
                    • 3702

                    #24
                    Yup thats what I needed

                    How do you like those spring rates? With your front shock inserts you used the Billie HD's. Is taht why you shortened the sleeve, to compensate for the stock length shock? I know the sports are like 2" shorter, would there be a need to remove that much material from the sleeve if they were used?
                    sigpic

                    Rebellion Forge Custom Fabrication

                    1988 325is - TrackRat in progress

                    Instagram @rebellionforge

                    Comment

                    • CubbyChowder
                      E30 Fanatic
                      • Mar 2012
                      • 1488

                      #25
                      Originally posted by IronFreak
                      Yup thats what I needed

                      How do you like those spring rates? With your front shock inserts you used the Billie HD's. Is taht why you shortened the sleeve, to compensate for the stock length shock? I know the sports are like 2" shorter, would there be a need to remove that much material from the sleeve if they were used?
                      I used Bilstein HD's from a 325IX model E30, which are shorter than a Bilstein HD for any other E30 model. I believe they are roughly 3" shorter than any non-IX E30 model front shock insert. This is why I needed to shorten the strut housing. Without the spacer, I would've needed to shorten the housing by 3-3.25" which would've been way too much.

                      It's hard to compare because I've never driven an E30 with a different coilover setup. On the freeway it feels really nice, on crappy roads it feels pretty crappy, but that is to be expected with a stiff coilover system. Having owned 5 or 6 cars in the past equipped with coilovers, I'd say the ride quality is pretty average. It works well for me, and I can comfortably daily drive the car at this height. Cornering feels super solid to me, but then again I don't have much experience with performance oriented modifications. All my cars are daily drivers and that's all I really use them for with a bit of spirited driving on the back roads. Overall I'm happy with it.


                      --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
                      --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

                      Comment

                      • IronFreak
                        No R3VLimiter
                        • Dec 2012
                        • 3702

                        #26
                        Thanks for all the info man. Great looking car too.
                        sigpic

                        Rebellion Forge Custom Fabrication

                        1988 325is - TrackRat in progress

                        Instagram @rebellionforge

                        Comment

                        • CubbyChowder
                          E30 Fanatic
                          • Mar 2012
                          • 1488

                          #27
                          Originally posted by IronFreak
                          Thanks for all the info man. Great looking car too.
                          No problem, and thank you! Can't wait til it has fresh paint.


                          --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
                          --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

                          Comment

                          • mbonanni
                            R3V OG
                            • Sep 2011
                            • 6236

                            #28
                            Did you have to sand/file down the inside of your housing to get the shock to slide in.

                            Comment

                            • CubbyChowder
                              E30 Fanatic
                              • Mar 2012
                              • 1488

                              #29
                              Originally posted by mbonanni
                              Did you have to sand/file down the inside of your housing to get the shock to slide in.
                              Barely, there were a few small spots where too much metal filled the gap and caused some to stick out on the inside.


                              --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
                              --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

                              Comment

                              • CubbyChowder
                                E30 Fanatic
                                • Mar 2012
                                • 1488

                                #30
                                Just commenting to let everyone know that I edited the original post with some helpful and important information regarding this setup. If you plan on running 325IX model Bilstein HD's for your front shock inserts, please read what I wrote in the first post regarding cutting the internal bump stop in half before installing the inserts.


                                --Roundie Revival 2.0 - 1973 BMW 2002 Build Thread--
                                --Golden Boy E30 Build Thread-- (sold)

                                Comment

                                Working...