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

[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!

[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]

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.

[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...

[mjweimer]

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


MJ

[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...

[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]

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.