The build thread in which I learn what an E30 is... '91 318is

[Nate37]

This is a bit late, but an easy way to keep the struts from turning when you're undoing the damper nut is to bolt it to a spare wheel - saves a lot of hassle.

I didn't read the whole thing in huge detail, but the issue with the damper fitting would appear to be a slightly kinked strut. Looks like you got them in. Good luck on the project!

Thanks! Yeah I would think that a bent strut housing would be the cause. However, TC Kline sent me a new set of strut housings, which he confirmed fit using the same model dampers that he sold me. But then the same set of strut housings didn't fit with my dampers when I received them. It was very strange.

[Gus]

This is a bit late, but an easy way to keep the struts from turning when you're undoing the damper nut is to bolt it to a spare wheel - saves a lot of hassle.

I didn't read the whole thing in huge detail, but the issue with the damper fitting would appear to be a slightly kinked strut. Looks like you got them in. Good luck on the project!

[Nate37]

Time for another update... the good news is that the car is back on the ground and has been driving great for a month or so. The bad news is that I have been so busy that the updates are lagging a bit. I'll try to get caught up over the next couple of days.

The rear suspension and subframe posed their own set of challenges, but overall went better than the front of the car. My plan was to pull the trailing arms and subframe, replace all the bushings, replace all the brake parts, and install the new springs and shocks. Once I got in there, I found more rust on some of the parts than I expected, so I had to do a little cleanup.

The subframe was a royal pain to get out - I first had to chisel out the factory body glue that was filling the subframe bolt holes under the rear seat, then also had to tap and thread a bolt into the subframe bushings to whack it free:



The rear suspension finally free:


After pulling apart the trailing arms and diff, I found quite a bit of surface rust on the subframe, that I figured I should clean up. I really wish I had just taken this to be sandblasted and powdercoated, but I had already installed the new bushings, which meant that any cleanup had to be done the hard way. Here it is partway through sanding/grinding off the paint and rust:


The rubberized coating on the bottom side was very time consuming to grind off. I repainted it with a few coats of Rustoleum and then several coats of Plasti-Dip on the bottom side to replicate the factory rubber coating. Looks OK now, but I had reservations about how well the paint would hold up to rocks and general wear and tear:



Reassembly of the rear was pretty straightforward - I installed one component at a time (subframe, then diff, then trailing arms, etc.) because I had doubts about my ability to guide the fully reassembled rear back onto the body by myself. It actually went much more smoothly than I expected - access to the diff mounting bolts was pretty clear with no trailing arms in the way. Unfortunately my fears about the subframe paint durability were confirmed when one of the new brake lines leaked at the fitting (didn't tighten it enough) and the brake fluid pretty quickly stripped the paint all the way back to the bare metal:


Since the car was basically done at this point (bleeding the brakes was the last thing I did), I had no choice but to mask off the area and respray this section from underneath the car. It actually turned out halfway decent:


Regardless, I have the feeling I will be pulling that subframe again someday to properly refinish it. But at least the rear was finally reassembled. Here are a few shots of the completed underside. Note the re-booted CV axles, refinished exhaust heat shields (which I yellow zinc plated at the same time as the brake calipers) and new Stromung catback courtesy of the group buy:



In the next post I'll cover the brake caliper refinishing and finally getting the car back on the ground...

[mjweimer]

Glad to hear you got the strut situation sorted. Looking forward to your updates.


MJ

[Nate37]

Alright, well it's been a few months, but I've actually managed to make some progress. First of all, the front strut problem is finally solved, after about two months of going back and forth between the local BMW mechanic and TC Kline. Quick summary, just for funsies:

1. BMW mechanic said they could get the struts installed "no problem", then called back a week later and said, "there's something wrong with these strut housings, they won't work"
2. Talked to TC Kline and re-measured to confirm that I have 51mm strut housings and the correct struts. Concluded there must be some problem (bent, out-of-round) with my factory strut housings
3. TC Kline sold me a set of used 51mm strut housings and test fit them with the same Koni struts before shipping. He confirmed that they fit the same model struts that I have.
4. I hand off the new housings to the mechanic, get a call two days later saying, "these don't fit either, we don't know what's wrong"
5. I took everything back from the mechanic (they mercifully did not charge me for whatever labor they had into it) and called TC Kline again, we again confirmed I had the right struts and housings.
6. TC suggests that I grind the paint off the struts, or offers to take back the struts and housings and return them to me re-assembled. I told him I would try grinding paint first.

Struts partway through the grinding process - at this point the bottom strut in the pic could now drop straight into the housings with zero resistance:



Even though the struts would get a coating of oil going into the housings, I still wanted more corrosion protection. So I decided to spray them with a LIGHT coat of paint and hope they would still fit. Masked off for paint:



And my new Koni "blacks" ready for install:


Even with a single light coat of paint, they barely slid into the housings, requiring just the slightest push to get them fully seated. My guess is either the paint was too thick on this batch of struts or the housings were slightly larger O.D. than normal. Either way, it turned a 5 minute step in this install into a 3 month step. But at least now I'm making progress on the front:



So that problem is now solved, at least. I will say that TC Kline provided great customer customer service throughout - he sold me the strut housings at a generous discount, and when the new housings didn't work, TC offered to ship everything (housings and struts) back to him, at his expense, so he could solve the problem and send me back assembled struts. It was a strange issue and definitely very frustrating, but I would definitely buy from TC Kline again, given how helpful he was in solving the problem.

Anyway, stay tuned (hopefully tomorrow) for another post with updates on the progress disassembling the rear, plus brake caliper drama...

[Nate37]

for the second one, I've had luck mounting the brake caliper mounting ears in the vise to twist the gland nut off with a full size pipe wrench. Might not be feasible if the vise jaws are larger than mine.
Honestly no clue what would be wrong with that housing, maybe bent or some sort of magical strut housing that shrinks to 45mm whenever you aren't measuring? lol

Beats me. I'm taking the parts over to the local independent BMW shop tomorrow, I'll see if they can solve either one. I'm ready to pay for progress, lol.

[Northern]

for the second one, I've had luck mounting the brake caliper mounting ears in the vise to twist the gland nut off with a full size pipe wrench. Might not be feasible if the vise jaws are larger than mine.
Honestly no clue what would be wrong with that housing, maybe bent or some sort of magical strut housing that shrinks to 45mm whenever you aren't measuring? lol

[Nate37]

Thanks MJ, no offense taken and I really appreciate all the creative suggestions I'm getting here. I'm going to go look at a local shop that has some used housings today. Depending on how much they want for them, I may just go for the nuclear option. Definitely going to bring a Koni to test fit though!

[mjweimer]

Thanks, really appreciate all the ideas. I did buy a big pipe wrench and as you said, the biggest problem is holding the strut. I have it in a bench vise as tight as I can get it, but twisting hard with the pipe wrench is just causing the strut to rotate. That nut is REALLY on there.

On the stuck strut, I did try the strap wrench and that didn't get me anywhere. I may try drilling a small hole this weekend, but since it seems like I can get ATF to run in and out of the housing, there should be enough of a gap for the air to escape.

Didn't try anything on the tie rods yet, but thanks again for the suggestions. Yes, I did unbend the locking washers.

Yeah I figured you dealt with the locking tabs but had to mention it just to be thorough...hope you didn't take that the wrong way.


Have you tried adding any heat to the strut body around the threaded area and then trying to turn with the pipe wrench? I can't imagine there would be a lot of rust considering your dry climate but maybe someone used thread locker...though I would guess the other strut would have had some as well. In extreme cases have had to remove the wheel bearing and dust shields in order to brace the spindle against pieces of wood/the workbench to prevent the strut from rotating in the vice...might not be something you want to consider but it is an additional option.


Too bad the strap wrench didn't help, I was hopeful....and yes, if you are getting ATF running out from the housing you are probably not air-locked. The only other thing I can think of is trying to adapt a slide hammer to the threads on the top of the rod and gently trying to extract the insert. This might not be an option for fear of damaging the internals...maybe Koni would be able to answer that question, I have had great luck calling their tech support in the past (they are located in Kentucky).


Fingers crossed you can make some progress...I'm sure this is frustrating.


MJ

[Nate37]

What's the part number on the konis?

8641-1021 (F) and 8041-1186 (R)

[Northern]

What's the part number on the konis?

[Nate37]

Just found a thread that says the B30 nuts come on bilstein non-sport/HD so maybe I'm wrong or there are a few different part numbers, but it's worth checking if if's that tight.

OK I just did some more reading and understand what you are saying. I just measured the OD of my strut housings with calipers and they are both 51mm.

I measure the OD as shown in the pic here: https://clickableautomotive.com.au/n...30-strut-size/

[Nate37]

Old cars are fun! I'll share a few ideas from my past experience.

This is my go to procedure for removing the stubborn inserts....the hardest part is holding the strut in place when you put so much force on it. You will need a vice or a helper or both....


MJ

Thanks, really appreciate all the ideas. I did buy a big pipe wrench and as you said, the biggest problem is holding the strut. I have it in a bench vise as tight as I can get it, but twisting hard with the pipe wrench is just causing the strut to rotate. That nut is REALLY on there.

On the stuck strut, I did try the strap wrench and that didn't get me anywhere. I may try drilling a small hole this weekend, but since it seems like I can get ATF to run in and out of the housing, there should be enough of a gap for the air to escape.

Didn't try anything on the tie rods yet, but thanks again for the suggestions. Yes, I did unbend the locking washers.

Just found a thread that says the B30 nuts come on bilstein non-sport/HD so maybe I'm wrong or there are a few different part numbers, but it's worth checking if if's that tight.

Thanks. Yes you are correct, the nuts shown in the pics are for the old Bilstein inserts that I'm trying to remove/replace. I bought the OEM nuts to use with the Konis. They aren't causing the issue with my Koni being stuck, since I haven't even got to that step yet. Unless you're saying there are actually different sizes of strut housings?

[Northern]

Just found a thread that says the B30 nuts come on bilstein non-sport/HD so maybe I'm wrong or there are a few different part numbers, but it's worth checking if if's that tight.

[Northern]

I think those strut housings are 45mm, just based on the B30 part number gland nut in your pic. I think the 51mm housing gland nut starts with B36?
Not sure why those would be on a late model?