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

[Northern]

I think the true coils in the rear checks out, just not sure how the tire clearance works as iansane pointed out.

[econti]

Good to see people also getting on the E36 diff hat swap band wagon. About to finish welding mine up this weekend hopefully

[iansane]

Seems light-years easier. Does that restrict tires size/offset?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Alright here's something new jumping ahead... I have had issues with the lower adjustable spring perch contacting the upper spring perch on the trailing arms. Also coil bind. In other words, there isn't enough space between upper/lower perches to allow full compression/travel of the trailing arm before they interfere. It also seems I need a longer spring to distribute the compression more evenly. My plans have been to modify the trailing arm to accept one of these slick ground control adjustable articulated spring perches (these are from an e46) and pocket them into the control arm. I'd gain overall clearance between upper/lower perches and effectively have more travel available (I'd also use a longer spring).

As I was planning this out in my head it occurred to me that maybe a true real coilover conversion would be more appropriate. Initially, I dismissed the idea as being expensive and unnecessary but after further thought maybe it makes more sense after all, and wouldn't be too expensive either. I need a sanity check on my thinking please...

Am I crazy to theorize that as far as rear coilover, it's as easy as adding perches to my existing shocks and appropriate spring? If I remember correctly, I'd need roughly 30% softer spring to make up for the lever arm change (I'll measure and do the math later to confirm) and it'd need to be a longer spring considering travel at the outer strut mount would be greater. And yes I know I'd need to reinforce the shock towers... kinda feels like this will be less work and ultimately a better solution.


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[Sh3rpak!ng]

lol dammit now that I'm viewing on a browser I see that I nearly posted the same update as before... but added a few more photos. Good thing my updates are behind reality. Might post some more later.

Looks like the car is getting prepped for more power and abuse :) Im going to be running around today, will you be home? Text me homey

yea I'll be home later. I text you

[2mAn]

Looks like the car is getting prepped for more power and abuse :) Im going to be running around today, will you be home? Text me homey

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I think this is where I left off... tapatalk being weird and cant see the last photos I posted. So I hope these aren't repeats. Anyway, did some more CAD to make reinforcement templates for the diff case mounts in the subframe. They came out well. Next I carefully notched some tube to reinforce the trailing arms in the typical places. That also came out nice. I noticed a crack at the base of one of the trailing arm joints onnthe subframe... not sure if it happened before or after the arm came loose, but I could definitely imagine it might be the result of a loose outer adjuster allowing too much pivot on that joint. Anyway, drilled it out and welded it. Also added some reinforcement to the upper portion of each trailing arm mount off the subframe. After the subframe mods, I started mocking up the "rised"? "risen"? subframe. I'm using 12mm riser bushings. There was interference between the floor, gas tank lip, and floor reinforcement in several places. Nothing a BFH cant fix. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Welded most of the reinforcements into the subframe and trailing arms after a bout of CAD. Randomly stopped before doing the passenger TA and am glad I did because it looks like the cross tube may interfere with the fuel filler hose. Found a crack at the base of one of the adjusters. Probably because the outer adjuster came loose and may have allowed the arm to pivot around too much while driving? idk but its repaired now.

Also had a Nankang AR-1 245/40 mounted on one of the new wheels for the hell of it. Might be a better solution than the 235/50 R888s. It's a significantly smaller diameter but far more square tread. About half an inch more tread than the toyos. Idk what to do. These will be much easier to fit and sound like a great autox tire. Apparently Nankang is coming out with a 275 AR1 too.





























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[Sh3rpak!ng]

That's a good idea. Spherical/threaded links are surprisingly expensive.

That's exactly why I did it, overall about $120 cheaper. I've spent $95 between the endlinks and the threaded tube. I needed a custom size too, and no one was willing to make them. Not sure which will last longer, but at least the ball joints have a boot on them, and they're heavy duty OEM quality. Whenever they do need replacing, I'll just replace the end links for another $50. Oh and this configuration gives much more adjustment range.

The threaded tube can be bought from steinjager in case anyone wants to do the same. m10x1.5 is the correct thread size for the endlinks to get tapped to (the shaft is 10mm)

[Digitalwave]

That's a good idea. Spherical/threaded links are surprisingly expensive.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Looks close enough to me. The sphericals or ball joints (depending on what links you have) offer a ton of movement without binding.

yea that's what I figured. I'm using a set of E36 M3 lemforder end links cut in half and threaded for a hex sleeve in the middle.

[Digitalwave]

Looks close enough to me. The sphericals or ball joints (depending on what links you have) offer a ton of movement without binding.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

How did you determine the clocking of the endlink brackets?

I eyeballed it based on looking at numerous photos of e30 m3 coilovers, and mocking up on the car putting the tab as parallel to the centerline of the car as possible. Probably should've also checked lock to lock movement too, but comparing photos it looks like I've got it right.

[Chilezen]

How did you determine the clocking of the endlink brackets?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Nice welds! Wheeling the car out of the garage like that looks sketchy as hell.

Thanks!

Yes, It was. I leveled the car out after that photo which helped quite a bit. Only needed to go a few feet. The front was fairly solid planted, but some imperfections in the concrete made it tough to roll. Never doing that again without at least one end of the car on wheels/tires. Better yet, I'll plan ahead and just get the damn undercarriage steam cleaned and save myself ALL the headache.