New Suspension Installation

[AndrewBird]

Any welding required on the fronts?

I'm pretty sure you have to weld the spring perches back on after you cut them off and shorten the strut housings. Correct me if I am wrong.

[Dave]

I'm pretty sure you have to weld the spring perches back on after you cut them off and shorten the strut housings. Correct me if I am wrong.

You are wrong.

You do not put those big stock spring perches back on.

And it does not appear Tom shortened his strut housings - which is not a requirement. In fact you cant do that if you have the konis that are speced for e30s as they are the same length as stock strut inserts.

Hell, you dont even have to cut the strut housings with the "shortened" ones - you can run a spacer in the housing.

[BimmerTom]

I have not shortened the housing since I have the E30 spec Konis. This is because I originally was pairing them with the IE Stage III springs. This works fine for me since I'm not looking for the lowest car around. I just want a good set of springs for auto-x and track use. This be one of the options... :)

I'll weld the steel "donut" that is sitting between the old spring perch weld and the GC adjuster, but I don't even think that's a requirement. The weight of the car will hold that in place just fine.

Tom

[JRKOUPE]

You are wrong.

You do not put those big stock spring perches back on.

And it does not appear Tom shortened his strut housings - which is not a requirement. In fact you cant do that if you have the konis that are speced for e30s as they are the same length as stock strut inserts.

Hell, you dont even have to cut the strut housings with the "shortened" ones - you can run a spacer in the housing.

true...
I run the shorter frt insert w/ the spacer...in a stock housing......no prob.

oh, and Im jealous..sounds like you made a score! Youll love the GC's

[BimmerTom]

I don't really look at it as a "score". Daniel got the runaround from IE and he was mearly taking care of a customer. We hopefully worked something out in the situation.

He mentioned he is trying to do more "in-stock" parts so he doesn't have to fool around with drop shipping and depending on another company for stock. I'll let him comment more if he'd like.

Regardless, his follow-thru and keeping on top of orders is much appreciated.

Tom

[JRKOUPE]

when u had mentioned " you struck a deal"...I just assumed it was a very attractive price you could not pass up.......just a congrats overall....enjoy.

[DEV0 E30]

You are wrong.

You do not put those big stock spring perches back on.

And it does not appear Tom shortened his strut housings - which is not a requirement. In fact you cant do that if you have the konis that are speced for e30s as they are the same length as stock strut inserts.

Hell, you dont even have to cut the strut housings with the "shortened" ones - you can run a spacer in the housing.

Correct.

Because think, not everyone with Konis have GCs. Regular konis were meant for any springs (the stock coil sizes-ish atleast) so after you cut off the stock spring perch you are basically done.

[BimmerTom]

when u had mentioned " you struck a deal"...I just assumed it was a very attractive price you could not pass up.......just a
congrats overall....enjoy.

Understood - thanks for the congrats!

Tom

[modifiede30]

Tom - I'm glad everything worked out with the setup.

In terms of the "deal" we struck on the GC's, we did what was needed to resolve our own company failure and to make things right.

[BimmerTom]

Thanks again Dan, you rock!


Got a little more work done today. This past week was a bust due to I was majorly sick and stuck to the couch for most of the time.

Anyways, on to the pictures:



New control arms, M3 CAB's, and tie rods. I have the IE 25mm sways hooked up as well. I liberally lubed up the CAB with lithium greese and the sway bar with the supplied greese packet. Everything moves nice and smooth. It is awesome to move one control arm up and see the other side move as well.



Rear suspension is pretty much done. I have to weld in the sway bar tab reinforcement, but the IE sway bar mounts are in along with the GC's and the Koni's. Everything went together smoothly.



Here are the IE sway bar mount reinforcements for the rear mounts. These plate support the extra body pickup points that come with the IE mounts. It's an easy but smart setup. It should work well. I made sure to paint the drilled holes to prohibit rust. As you can see the rear trunk tar is gone as well. I'll need to get in there with some laquer thinner and clean up the sticky left behind. As a note, beware of the spare tire hold-down stud. It can get you when you least expect it....:roll:



Here is a closer shot of the modified E30 strut. I cut off the spring perch with the cutoff wheel and then trimmed it more closely down to the weld line. This is a good point of reference to get a perpendicular point for the GC supplied "donut" to sit on. Now, I just need to weld that one and paint it for rust prevention.

As a sidenote, my wife and I are expecting our baby girl anytime now. The due date is 5 days away and my plan was to have the car together before then. I'll be close, if not there (if she's late :) ) Wish us luck!!

Tom

[1991 318is]

Strut setup.

On my own car, I cut the spring perch off but left just enough to support the coil-over sleeve. I used adjusters from a stock car and a 6" 400# spring. In retrospect, I would go softer on the spring for the street. 275-300# seems a good compromise. 400+ is a good track setup but I don't track the car. Of course it's personal preference. I have a friend that is a fanatic for a stiff brake pedal with .5" travel. I just love those adjustible sway bars.

[BimmerTom]

A little more progress. I welded the spring perch on, cleaned the struts and spritzed some paint on. Nothing terribly special, but they look good (for now) and I am ready to start assembly.



One question... Do I need the bump stops installed? Or, trim them down an inch or so?

Tom

[2002maniac]

The Falkens are 195/55R-14's (as I recall) on the stock rims.

195/60/14

Nice thread!

[wazzu70]

I would leave the bump stops installed to prevent you from bottoming out your strut. If you are hitting it often you might want to shorten it up like mentioned so you can get more travel. I would test it out first before trimming though.

[MikesJo]

I know the bilsteins have built in bump stops, don't know about the Konis.