After a year of searching, an Alpineweiß story

[iwantspeed]

Damn those times are so much faster than what people were running on Saturday... crazy

yep pretty fast

[iwantspeed]

I had problem with my struts.
The welds penetrated the inside of the struts
Thanks to Ross for letting me use his bilsteins to test
fit my strut tubes and Tyler and roland for helping me grind down the welds.
Ended up using a dremel with a sanding drum and an extension.
Also used a half moon file

Finally it fits!


Installed new hubs.
Tightened down to the proper torque with the parts not on the car was a challenge.
I bolts the struts into a bench vice. Had a friend push on the strut while i turned the torque wrench towards him. It would litteraly
Move the vice and the whole bench.




Wearing my SoCal e30 shirt
Had a hard time holding
The strut to
Install
The new shock glad nut.
It's just awkward the strut wants to rotate.
So I bolted the strut to my spare wheel that keeps it from rotating.
Soo much better

Thank you to Richard at michaelgelos for letting me use the bilstein tool for the gland nut.
So much easier to Use than channel locks.


Almost done.
E30 strut
Stock backing plates cut out
Lower spring perch cut off
Coilover ring welded on to support the sleeve
M3 sway bar bracket welded on
Gusset welded on from. Knuckle to strut tube
New wheel bearings.
Carbon fiber brake ducts



Comparing the old strut to the new strut
No gusset and a heavy backing plate


Comparing lower spring perch


Comparing backing plate

[iwantspeed]

With the new struts on the car I ran into an issue with the sway bar end links.

They were too long.
They have a wrench flat machined into it and it was close to the edge of the end link. It was to close to the right hand thread side of the link. And since I didn't have a left hand tap in a 3/8-24 i had to cut the links shorter on the right hand thread side and I lost the wrench flat.

Garagistic adjustable end links.
I was given these and was aware that they were long that's what I wanted, so I can cut them down to the size I wanted.



I cut an inch off the links.
And retapped a new thread into it.


Holding the end links in the cnc indexer to machine new wrench flats for a 13mm wrench.


Woo hoo one side rotate it 180 degrees at the same height and do the other side.


Finished product. You can see the little black piece of the endlink that's how much I cut off.
And the wrench fits the wrench flats I machined.

[2mAn]

I wish I had access to those toys. Lucky guy... Nice work

[iwantspeed]

I wish I had access to those toys. Lucky guy... Nice work

I love having access to all of these machines and tools. I don't take it for granted.

[nyy e90]

I had problem with my struts.
The welds penetrated the inside of the struts
Thanks to Ross for letting me use his bilsteins to test
fit my strut tubes and Tyler and roland for helping me grind down the welds.
Ended up using a dremel with a sanding drum and an extension.
Also used a half moon file

Finally it fits!

:up:

[iwantspeed]

I got some media ballast to help setup the ride height of the car.


got a baseline ride height
can't get too crazy with this since i will be corner balancing the car.


scored some free sway bar end links that are in better shape than mine.


soo excited that i found some scales to use.

[iwantspeed]

drove over to richards shop
put the ballast in the driver seat




on the scales





work smarter not harder.
have a software setup for corner balancing the car it helps tell you what corner to adjust




make one change at a time
make notes

[iwantspeed]

race skids cross brace to m3 offset control arm bushing clearance





e30 motorworks skid plate



condor speed shop motor mounts





i made this oil distribution block

the adjustable end links before i cut them would hit the control arms

gusset to abs sensor clearance

[iwantspeed]

After changed the height on coilovers and making the sway bar end links shorter I needed an alignment.
This was also done with a full tank of gas, spare tire and the 150lb ballast

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Looking so good dude!

[TeXJ]

nice and detailed, great job.

[Bullwings]

Nice work, easily one of my favorite e30 build threads if not my favorite.

And holy crap on the caster!!! that's a lot of caster!

[iwantspeed]

:hitler:

Looking so good dude!

Thanks

nice and detailed, great job.

Thanks

Nice work, easily one of my favorite e30 build threads if not my favorite.

And holy crap on the caster!!! that's a lot of caster!

Thanks
I love caster.
If I get camber plates in the future I can dial in the caster and camber and get them even on both sides
I love how she drives right now

[iwantspeed]

Update
Autocross with the bmwcca.
Changing wheels






Sexy m coupe as my pit neighbor.


First autocross with the new seats.


Instructors sexy estroli blue m3


Ready to drive.



This engine helped get my first trophy.



First in class.
4th overall.

All the late nights wrenching make it all worth it.