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

[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]

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

[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]

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

[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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[iansane]

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

[econti]

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

[Northern]

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

[Sh3rpak!ng]

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

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

Thanks for the sanity check. Yes it'll rob some wheel/tire clearance. I'll need to carefully measure for sure. But with the flares (and larger flares coming) I've got quite a lot of space in the rear. If I remember correctly there was over an inch with the bronze rotas. I need to check witht he new joengbloeds but I also recall having ample space with them too.

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

I'll post up my finished product soon. It's rock solid. And honestly not that tough to do if you're handy with a welder and angle grinder.

[Digitalwave]

My E36 has true coilover rears, they run very small springs. 2" ID I believe. Most run a helper spring as well to keep the spring from uncoupling with the mount at full droop. Besides the obvious need to reinforce the shock tower and making sure you have a very strong bottom bolt (I'd go grade 12.9 personally) there isn't much to it other than the lost wheel/tire clearance.

You'll want to calculate the spring rate change carefully. This article has good information about the motion ratios on an E30. Read the whole thing, it's two pages, and the correct motion ratios are on page 2.

http://e30sport.net/tech_articles/su...e/eff_rate.htm

I don't know what the rear wheel rate would be after making the conversion, though.

[The Dark Side of Will]

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What brand springs do you have?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

My E36 has true coilover rears, they run very small springs. 2" ID I believe. Most run a helper spring as well to keep the spring from uncoupling with the mount at full droop. Besides the obvious need to reinforce the shock tower and making sure you have a very strong bottom bolt (I'd go grade 12.9 personally) there isn't much to it other than the lost wheel/tire clearance.

You'll want to calculate the spring rate change carefully. This article has good information about the motion ratios on an E30. Read the whole thing, it's two pages, and the correct motion ratios are on page 2.

http://e30sport.net/tech_articles/su...e/eff_rate.htm

I don't know what the rear wheel rate would be after making the conversion, though.

Awesome! Thank you for that article. I was going to attempt the rough calculation myself (I still remember a decent amount of highschool physics) but I'm definitely out of practice. This makes it easier!

What brand springs do you have?

Swift

[Sh3rpak!ng]

More progress. Some steps forward and backward. Got the massive m50x1.5 tap from China to chase threads in the front coilover housings. Did that and everything threads nice and smoothly again.





CAD templated the brackets for the double ear diff mount and transferred from cardboard, to metal, to cut, to welded. Not by best welding work but had a hell of a time with the angle and my mig welder slipping while feeding the .024 wire.






Then I broke the fresh diff cover while pressing out the bushings... I was rushing and working in the dark (late after work, too lazy to drag the press into the garage light) the edge of the cover caught a bolt on the press... oh well. Already bought another off ebay.



Went to thread the swaybar end links and realized these lemforder brand ones have a 9mm shaft vs the 10mm shaft of the meyle HD brand... ordered a set of meyle HD and confirmed they're 10mm. That should solve that dilemma.









I also cut out the sheet disk for the spare tire delete. Prepped and welded it in along with a cross bar for support.



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[ForcedFirebird]

50mm tap? I want to say it's 48mm. The OD is 51mm, then adding 1.5 threads puts the wall thickness pretty thin on the thread majors. I have one at the shop, but already left for the day. :(

[Sh3rpak!ng]

50mm tap? I want to say it's 48mm. The OD is 51mm, then adding 1.5 threads puts the wall thickness pretty thin on the thread majors. I have one at the shop, but already left for the day. :(

I think you may be confusing my usage for it. Were you thinking I was straight up tapping the OE front spindle sleeve? I needed to chase threads in the front spindle coilover sleeves (that were welded on) after I unscrewed the shock cartridge and had some galled threads due to a bit of rust. I am runnign megan coilovers, and the front shock cartridge is 100% an M50x1.5 thread. Otherwise this wouldn't have worked :D