Bronzit E30 - OBDII S52 shaved bay - weekend/autox toy - Journey

[Northern]

Only benefit for me is the adjustability. I doubt there's any steering feel change given that I went from a fresh ball joint to a heim joint. My entire suspension setup is very stiff with poly/ball/heim joints everywhere.

Also the bumpsteer correction right?
Are you running an e36 rack? If so- what's your spacer positioning? I've been messing around with them, but still have a ton of bumpsteer... might jump on some of these GC or MRT tie rod ends.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I love clecos, Does your buddy have a build thread for the Porsche?

I've been finding more and more use for them. Definitely a good tool in the arsenal.

I'm not sure if he has a build thread, I'll ask. His IG is @everythingcrafted if you want to follow there!

[2mAn]

Theres the Avocado thread, but I dont know if he has one on the bean...

Charlie, absolutely love the updates. Car is truly a monster now. C&C Sunday and drive after? My buddy from Seattle will be here with his 964

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Also the bumpsteer correction right?
Are you running an e36 rack? If so- what's your spacer positioning? I've been messing around with them, but still have a ton of bumpsteer... might jump on some of these GC or MRT tie rod ends.

Yes. Bumpsteer correction was my primary goal. And I am running an e46 ZHP rack. Spacer positioning as in on the actual bumpsteer kit? Or on the rack? Rack is installed with he spacers on top pushing it down. Bumpsteer kit (both tie rod and control arm) are spaced to the lowest configuration that doesn't foul the heim joint and bottom nut. Honestly I was not happy with the GC tie rod kit. The control arm piece was better, but still not what I'd expect from GC. They clearly took off the shelf allstar brand universal bump steer tapered bolt and modified it slightly to fit the E30 knuckle. The problem with this is that there are many design compromises. The usable articulation of the joints are not great, and placing them at full end of the adjustment range results in the nut fouling the inside edge of the heim joint, robbing more usable articulation. Furthermore, because of the length of the adjuster used, the end result is not much offset compared to the OEM joints. To be fair, on the tie rod piece, you can't go much longer with a 15" wheel because you run out of tie-rod-to-barrel clearance, but there is still more space, and a 16" or 17" wheel would have plenty. If I were to do it again I'd either use the VAC tie rod kit (which addresses all of the noted flaws) or I'd go with the MRT/SLR kit - and I still might do this as I still have a bit of unwanted bumpsteer too.

Oh and the customer service from GC was crap. Between not answering phonecalls/voicemails/emails and then when they did - promising to ship in "a week" and then blowing that several times, I ended up cancelling the tie rod portion of my order after waiting 10 weeks of getting the run around. Insult to injury was the "we're waiting on outside shops and have no control" comment. I work with large and small suppliers/vendors of all sorts professionally (including machine shops, surface processing, heat treat etc.) with the aerospace manufacturing that I'm involved in..... That is an excuse I have never given and would never give to a customer, nor is it really an acceptable situation that I'd tolerate from a vendor. Sure I may not know all the details behind the scenes here but I think I was FAR more than patient and was honestly willing to accept quite a bit of delay to support a small local vendor who supports such a niche market.

[Digitalwave]

I like the quality at which you executed it, but I can't say as though I like the cone filter sticking out of the empty headlight bucket there.

FWIW I have an E36 rack with the spacers on top (so the rack is towards the bottom of the subframe) and I have 13mm roll center spacers, and I have never had issues with bump steer. And my home track is Sebring, probably the bumpiest track in the country, lol! I really like what MRT is doing. They seem to have some very well made and well engineered solutions for this chassis. Ground Control has never impressed me, neither quality wise or their gritty support. I think they tend to take the default stance that there could not be any problems with their product, anything wrong has to be user error. I've had issues with their camber plates and ultimately just went with Vorshlag, as their design solved all the issues I was having. I also waited the better part of a year for them to release their supposed E30 M3 custom aftermarket spindle/coilover setup, that they kept assuring me was just around the corner (I checked in monthly). It's now been another year past that, and they never ended up releasing it for whatever reason. Glad I went with something else.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Theres the Avocado thread, but I dont know if he has one on the bean...

Charlie, absolutely love the updates. Car is truly a monster now. C&C Sunday and drive after? My buddy from Seattle will be here with his 964

Thanks my man, definitely leveled up over the past few months. I'm enjoying a nice slew of smaller simpler detail projects that are far less strenuous and do not stop me from driving. Yea I am up for C&C sunday. Gabe and I are trying to get in on the SCCA autox practice on Saturday at autoclub speedway. If we don't get in, we might sign up for the Sunday event instead. I am just about done swapping springs between my E36 and the E30... going from 8kg/10kg to 9kg/11kg

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I like the quality at which you executed it, but I can't say as though I like the cone filter sticking out of the empty headlight bucket there.

FWIW I have an E36 rack with the spacers on top (so the rack is towards the bottom of the subframe) and I have 13mm roll center spacers, and I have never had issues with bump steer. And my home track is Sebring, probably the bumpiest track in the country, lol! I really like what MRT is doing. They seem to have some very well made and well engineered solutions for this chassis. Ground Control has never impressed me, neither quality wise or their gritty support. I think they tend to take the default stance that there could not be any problems with their product, anything wrong has to be user error. I've had issues with their camber plates and ultimately just went with Vorshlag, as their design solved all the issues I was having. I also waited the better part of a year for them to release their supposed E30 M3 custom aftermarket spindle/coilover setup, that they kept assuring me was just around the corner (I checked in monthly). It's now been another year past that, and they never ended up releasing it for whatever reason. Glad I went with something else.

Hahaha fair enough. It's definitely a bit ostentatious, but at least totally functional. Might ultimately just bring more unwanted attention.... I have a V2 in mind to pull the filter inwards and box out an inner portion of the behind headlight space, but dunno if/when I'd ever get to it unless I have to.

Thanks for the bumpsteer observation - could be that what I think is bumpsteer is just some other adjustment that I've made/need to make to correct it. I'm still a noob when it comes to suspension geometry and knowing how to adjust and characterize what I feel when driving the car at an event. Really I need seat time and opportunities to do more adjustments and testing to gain experience.

Your thoughts on GC seem to be on point. Disappointing to say the least... I've definitely noticed a higher grade of engineering/design/quality from some other vendors that I think I'll stick with going forward. Big fan of Bimmerworld.

[Digitalwave]

I forgot to add in my post that despite all of those things, I am just glad companies make anything for this old ass platform anymore. I am glad that GC is at least an option for us at all!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I forgot to add in my post that despite all of those things, I am just glad companies make anything for this old ass platform anymore. I am glad that GC is at least an option for us at all!

I suppose that is also a fair point. You'd just think that being such a niche market, customer service would be better.... anyway, I really never intended to air this, I just got reminded of what a fiasco it was and how much it interrupted my plans/schedule.

Hoping to test the car with new spring rates this weekend!

[Northern]

[snip]

Yeah thanks, I meant on the rack.

I was running it that way for years, and from what I remember I had bad bumpsteer issues.
At some point, I saw the video that Pasi made with a laser level showing suspension travel, and that seemed pretty definitive that the spacers should go on the bottom of the rack...
When I tried to mimic that, my rack ended up fouling on the (rear sump) oil pan, so my rack is now somewhere upper middle of the height range and I still have bad bump steer.
I'm going to need to replicate the laser pointer plot he did of various positions and figure out which is best, because I really don't think it improved (my alignment changed for the better between rack heights as well)

If I knew there was a definitive solution, I would spring for it, but I too have a bad taste left in my mouth from the last time I dealt with GC for something and they sent me 3 different emails back essentially asking for photos to prove that I owned the stuff I was trying to buy replacement bits for. Some of that had to do with the fact I was trying to buy short inserts for an existing full length GC kit I'm sure, but eventually they just didn't respond anymore.

Other than that, I find Garagistic quality is always a bit suspect, and MRT doesn't sell the tie rod ends yet? Only the full kit, which like you said might not/does not fit 15's (and I want to go back to 15's)
What is it about the VAC kit that you like? It's not adjustable or anything, and also a little skeptical of VAC after stories of their 24v turbo cams and not being able to provide specs or any installation information for them.

[Northern]

I've had issues with their camber plates and ultimately just went with Vorshlag, as their design solved all the issues I was having.

What issues did you have with their plates? I have an old version and I like them, other than needing to grease the thrust bearings a few times a year.

Edit: The bearings are probably 8-10 years old at this point, so I should just replace them. I am a fan of the two bearing setup instead of everything going through the spherical.

[Digitalwave]

Their plates don't work well with Bilsteins because the thread is much shorter than Konis. You have to remove the top portion of the centering spool and run loctite on the nut because there is only a few turns of engagement. It was sketchy. Vorshlag designed a spool that double as the nut (it's internally threaded) which beautifully solves that problem.

[Northern]

Ok yeah I've been through that one before. I shortened the bushings and ran a low profile nut, eventually ordered new bushings from GC when I switched to the short koni race inserts.

Also MRT says some 15's work with the bumpsteer kit, so I'm trying to find info on WHICH 15's would clear. Apparently 370mm ID is what is needed. I'm running fairly heavy 16's right now and would love to switch to something 15x8 with a higher offset, like a TRM C1 or whatever that Sparco wheel is that Tire Rack carries.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Flame suit on. Good thing its made from leftover heat shield tape




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[2mAn]

Looks functional