Spec [24/03/07] |
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Exterior
Interior
Chassis and Brakes
Engine and Driveline
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Project Build Diary 24th March '07 Pacet fan bought and fitted to E36 328i radiator. I chose the rad with the built in expansion tank so that I could do away with the E30 expansion tank to tidy the engine bay up.  Once on, the assembly was dropped into the engine bay. 28th April '07 Ground Control 'coilovers' fitted. These aren't actually a proper coilover on the rear. They are actually adjustable spring perches as the E30 shell isn't really designed to have a spring acting on the rear shock mount area and installing a full coilover on the rear without extensive strengthening or a cage can damage the shell. I guessed some ride heights but dropping it off the jack, even with blocks of wood under the wheels it was very hard to get the jack out. I think it might need winding back up slightly!  21st May '07 I still wasn't happy with the wheels on the car. I don't think the D90s suit the car at all. I decided to sell them and in their place i've fitted a set of TH Monos. They are powdercoated black with a diamond cut face. Fitment is 16" x 8J in ET25 and I fitted them with 3mm spacers all round, giving an effective ET22 rear, ET25 front (due to reduced track from WMS kit). I had the new 215/40/16 Continental Contisports from the D90s swapped onto them.    19th July '07 The Ground Control Coilovers were causing me concern. They are really a race set up. The springs are silly poundage, and the rears are really too short. They dislocate under droop, which is an MOT failure.  I decided to get a full Gaz set up, but Gaz have a lot on their plate since Leda's demise and the waiting list for them is currently fairly long. While deciding what to do I spotted a brand new FK highsport coilover kit on eBay for a very good price so I bagsied them. These are also not a true coilover on the rear - they again use an adjustable height spring perch to control rear ride height. I started by fitting the rears in place of the Ground Control kit. First job was fitting the top mounts to the rear dampers. I'd decided to use the Rogue Engineering top mounts purchased from Evolution Sport whose service was faultless. These mounts are awesome and I'd recommend them to anyone with an E30. Previously I had the E46 M3 cabriolet ones fitted which are the current 'best' factory top mounts available. They still poke upwards through the shell though and require you to fiddle fitting bolts inside the car. This is especially a pain in the hoop on a touring where you have to remove all the boot trims and even the rear seatbelts to get to the nuts. The Rogue mounts incorporate a reinforcement plate similar to the OEM BMW Z3 top mount plate. These have hi-ten bolts welded to them that poke down and out into the wheel arch. I took the extra precaution of Tiger Sealing the plates in place so I should never need to perform keyhole surgery through the boot area to remove or fit the dampers in the future    Next onto the rear springs. Just for interest here's a comparison picture showing differing designs and lengths. Left to right they are H&R Cupkit, FK Highsport and finally Ground Control (Eibach) 2.25" race spring.  Also just for interest, here's a comparison of the FK Highsport adjustable rear spring platform (left) and the Ground Control adjustable rear spring platform (right).  I think the Ground Control platform is a better design. The coarser threads are eaier to keep clean and less likely to clog and the clamp design uses an allen bolt clamp which is superior to the locking C-spanner adjustable rings on the FK. I intended to keep the Ground Control platforms in use with the FK springs but unfortunatel the OD of the platforms was a fair bit smaller than the ID of the FK springs and the springs would not have seated securely. Here's the FK rears fitted.  22nd July '07 Standard open 3.91 diff removed and an E30 M3 3.25 LSD was fitted in its place. I ideally wanted to fit an M Coupe diff bush but decided to just get it on for now and fit the uprated bush to a spare cover and swap it on at a later date. The gearing seems much more sensible with this diff fitted.  The rest of the day was spent carefully building up the front coilovers. I've fitted the K-Mac adjustable camber and castor top mounts and I bought all new crap covers, wheel bearings with all new nuts etc from BMW.  I'm concerned my 8j front wheels are going to touch the coilover springs as they are obviously wider than the standard strut. Careful measuring and I'm still not sure. I'll have to build one up completely and try a wheel on it. My concern is that they will fit, but only if I set the platforms above the tyre and at which point the ride height may be too high. They have a fairly tall tender spring though, I tried to do away with that to get the platforms higher but the actual spring isn't tall enough without the tender. Custom springs may be needed. Time will tell. 24th July '07 When I recently had my head in the footwell fitting the E34 throttle cable I noticed the clutch master cylinder was leaking. I'd fitted a new E36 slave cylinder whan I fitted the gearbox and apparently it's common for your master cylinder to fail straight after fitting a new slave.   New master cylinder now swapped in so everything in that circuit is now brand new. 25th July '07 Trial fitted Sparco steel E30 M3 strut brace. I decided on this particular brace as it's the simplest sturdiest one readily available. I think aluminium braces or ones with hinges etc are counter-productive. I also thought it was the one most likely to clear the M52. Fitment only required slight modification to the clutch fluid reservoir bracket to get it on. Now I know it fits it'll be removed and painted satin black before refitting.   |