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Coilovers, Adj Mounts, Solid Cradle Bushings, UPDATE 3/25 Design Done!!!!


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It looks like there's a bunch of companies making these for BMW E34 (5 series), they're pretty close looking to what a first gen would need and inexpensive, I'm thinking maybe drill new holes.

Anybody have access to a BMW 518, 520, 525, 530, 535, 540 to measure the bolt radius?

There are some all aluminium, and some with a steel bottom plate, these cars weigh a bit more than ours.

 

http://whatiscurbweight.com/vehicle-weight/bmw_curb_weight.htm

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E30-E34-E28-CAMBER-PLATE-3D-CASTER-COILOVER-MOTORSPORT-DRIFT-PRICE-PER-SET-/181165402528?hash=item2a2e4ca9a0:g:UkoAAOSwoQ1TmsoP&vxp=mtr

 

post-3252-0-99846900-1445242135_thumb.png

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This looks pretty good already. I spent the day in a wrecking yard and made cardstock templates on an 88 and 98 BMW. Both of them appear to be just under a 6" bolt circle but I didn't measure them yet. I marked the bolts, center of the strut, and center line. I'd feel better making a plate of 1/8" steel for under the tower since they are a bit smaller. I'll know more when I template mine and overlay them. So far so good.

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  • 3 months later...

I made a little progress here, "little" being the operative word since work is crazy this time of year. The concept of using E-bay top plates for cheap doesn't seem challenging and if it doesn't work there's another solution or 2 on the horizon so I turned my attention lower. I won't have anything I like under them unless I make some changes to the struts so I went on a mission to convert to Gen II knuckle assemblies to get real McPherson struts up front.

The idea was to make a plate to fit the ball joint upside down on an A-arm since the G2 knuckle needs the tapered shaft part to go into it (opposite the G1)

I ordered a Gen I A-arm and ball joint so I could have shiny new parts in my hands and quickly realized there was no welding a plate to it and mounting it upside down possible like I was hoping.

Not a day later I did a favor for a fabricator I know and when he came to the shop to pick the job up I presented him with the problem and he immediately said it wouldn't be a problem to make a jig for spacing and cut/weld to end up with a Gen I A-arm that has a Gen II grafted onto the end. A little more money in the bank from now I'm ordering another A-arm and either bead blasting the Gen II ones I have or ordering them too.

To start I'll put a nice set of Koni struts or something up there but later having the McPherson mounts opens up the possibility of putting in that cool auto dampening system the SSEI came with..... much later since that system STILL doesn't work IN the SSEI I have to study.

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  • 4 weeks later...

First and second Gen A-arms are finally here, off to the fabricator when I can get out of work for a bit this week, then I'm torching / pressing the bushings and putting polys in. March or April could be the month for the first hybrid 1st/2nd Gen front suspension with re-purposed adjustable top mounts.

 

Anybody have a recommendation on adjustable struts for Gen II fronts? Koni? KYB? Part number to do my own sleeve with lower spring saddle?

Edited by Imp558
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Koni is always going to be the top choice if one wants to fork over the cash. I think number 8610-1437 Race inserts would fit in our front knuckle assemblies.

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My car will be running second gen front knuckle assemblies if all goes well. Jarek is working on a bolt in adjustable front upper mount.

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This seriously needs to be a thing. I'd pay $250 a pair now.

 

its already a thing, i have three pairs out there right now, both GXP's

 

i just finished cutting a buncha plates to make another 6 pairs of fronts, i have two prototype rears to test on the TR before i finalize the design (i want two attachment locations, one for ride height, another for "jacked at the track" so its easy to keep the rear camber level when jacking it up.

 

ive also got the prototyped roll center correction kit using monoball pins/uniball LBJ.

 

i have rough patterns for plates to convert the 1st gen arm to use the 3 bolt 2nd gen LBJ but ive never finished em.

 

then i also have the custom zzp LCA sway links that i made to fix the binding issues

20151211_210454_zpsqyk8jzzz.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

its already a thing, i have three pairs out there right now, both GXP's

 

i just finished cutting a buncha plates to make another 6 pairs of fronts, i have two prototype rears to test on the TR before i finalize the design (i want two attachment locations, one for ride height, another for "jacked at the track" so its easy to keep the rear camber level when jacking it up.

 

ive also got the prototyped roll center correction kit using monoball pins/uniball LBJ.

 

i have rough patterns for plates to convert the 1st gen arm to use the 3 bolt 2nd gen LBJ but ive never finished em.

 

then i also have the custom zzp LCA sway links that i made to fix the binding issues

20151211_210454_zpsqyk8jzzz.jpg

 

 

Wow! That's really nice! That looks like a 10" spring from this angle, I was planning on 12" on all 4 corners. 350#/250# or 325#/225#

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10" 350 qa1's with the tall swift helper springs up top to keep it from unloading.

 

we are all the way down and now need to cutoff the lower sleeve another inch to get it moar lows.

 

i did finish my rear CC plates, still working on em....i want to make it a two position mount for ride height and "drag-jacked" to keep the camber in line as the lateral bars move down.

 

align the car in the lowered position, readily change back and forth without ever needing to pay to realign

 

20160306_223847_zpsdz9yazqi.jpg

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20151211_210454_zpsqyk8jzzz.jpg

Is that wheel in the photo is a gen 1 or 2 wheel?

 

Where does this arrangement actually place the front wheel in the wheelwell? Is it in the same physical location as the original suspension to keep the same 1st gen track width?

 

This looks extremely intriguing.....

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its a set of 18" fittipaldi's originally made back in the day for the 2nd gen gp. the pic is of the turbo regal's suspension.

 

the fitment is actually identical as the distance from the LBJ to the wheel face is the same. i learned alot from the 1st and 2nd gen hybrid suspension we started to build for the 442 before we scrapped it for a custom SLA setup with custom knuckles. 

ive been working on adaptor plates to weld to the outboard of the 1st gen LCA to use the 2nd gen 3 bolt lower ball joint and ability to use all the 2nd gen struts/brakes/hubs.

 

i am working with brianG a bit, just looking for a solution for those of us willing to do some welding while swapping in urethane inner bushings

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^ I see,

 

so if one were to mount a 1st gen wheel (such as the 16 x 8 crosslace) to that 2nd gen hub then the wheel is going to be moved outboard further than the 1st gen hub would place that wheel?...seeing as the hub flange backset on the 1st & 2nd gen wheels/hub are not the same.

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iirc there's 38 and 42mm backspacing, the early cars have a taller "hat" from the mounting flange to the backside of the spokes due to the earlier brakes sticking out farther (well the caliper/pad bracket)

4mm is nothing really.

 

i did finally put together the rear setup for the TR...

 
some pics of shits...
new adjustable Tq link setup. idle is actually smoother, no where near as rough of a P to R/D transition.
20160325_084048_zpsdqishoo5.jpg
 
new coilovers next to CompG rear struts with cG front springs on em (the old rear "drag pack" setup i cobbled together)
20160325_210205_zpsytk5ats8.jpg
 
its hard to see but the strut rod mounts upwards an additional 3/4" to keep us from bottoming out on the rod/piston and letting the Koni bumpstops to do their thing...
20160325_210220_zpsilzhjoxp.jpg
 
all bolted up. from my rough measurements once camber is set at ride height out back, all thats required to jack up the ass end is to remove two slider plate bolts and move em over one hole to slide the strut back into proper camber once the car is all the way up and retighten em... problem is the single rate rear springs should probably be replaced with progressives, fronts arent bad but could be stiffer as it gets towards full compression.
 
overall its riding nice 
20160325_222701_zpsgifqaxto.jpg
 
best wheels evar :pedobear:
 
20160325_234930_zpshfybdok5.jpg
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That's what I was thinking on as well.....

 

If one installs a gen 2 strut assembly then one now has a camber adjustable front assembly.

 

what I would like more information on is.....the length that you fabbed up that lower control arm, did you decide the length based on using a Gen 2 axle shaft or a Gen 1 shaft seeing as the Gen 2 shaft is longer?

 

I can see that one needs to decide whether they want to keep the Gen 1 wheels/Gen 1 axle shaft or use Gen 2 wheels/Gen 2 axle shaft.....the location of the wheel/hub flange is important to correctly place the wheel in the wheelwell. 

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  • 4 months later...

This year at the June meet there was some discussion about cutting first gen rear struts open and welding the top of a first gen front strut tube onto it to allow the use of a Volkswagen adjustable strut to be mounted inside of it's housing.

Does anybody know of a thread here where this is discussed or have any knowledge of it?

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  • 2 months later...

I've caught a bit of a snag. Last night I ordered springs according to what I read here on the forum and afterwards started thinking I may have made poor decisions about length. As it turns out my order to Summit never processed for some reason and for a change of pace something fucked up actually IN my favor so now I get to re-think it.

 

 

Here's the problem, I was only able to find 5" sleeves in the size my struts need so I want to be really certain about spring length since I don't have a large window of adjustment.

What I need to know is what ratio of compression is lost due to vehicle weight? Like with a 12" spring and the vehicle at rest on it how long will it actually be?

 

So if somebody can chime in with a general rule of thumb I'll be able to make an informed decision with my second chance!

I was going to do 10" rears with a tender that will be about 1" after compression and 12" fronts but I think I may be better off with 12" rears.

 

Spring Rates:

Front: 325#

Rear: 225#

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I messaged jman awhile back since he had done rear coil overs and road coursed them, his eoute went with 5in sleeve and 12in springs and iirc i went with 275# eibachs but i havent put them on the car yet so i couldnt tell you about fitment but it should be similar if not the same as what he does in his tgp thread

 

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

c809f0b8b15315cbbab234bf62de7d99.jpg

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Cool, so I probably want 10" since I'm running floaters and tenders that will add up to about an inch.

I'm going to measure some points on the car too since my suspension is on the experimental side.

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