| redmist |
Posted
Monday, Jun 21st 10:15pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 295
NY USA
357i , 325i e30 turbo |
Had a little miscommunication regarding the installation of the short body shocks.
The shock body on the shocks is 5.5 inches less than the standard shock.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHORTEN THE STRUT 5.5 INCHES.
This would have been helpful to know beforehand although I should have figured it out myself.
The car looks great but the tires rub slightly and I only have about 1.5 inches between the oil pan and the ground. Not enough. I do have full shock travel though and it looks like I could get about 4 degrees of negative camber if I was so inclined. I even modified the front subframe to the control arm can travel past perpendicular.
Probably work great for a track car but totally impractical for the street.
So I am going to addback 2" to the strut this weekend and put a 2" spacer in the bottom of the strut to accomodate the shock.
I'm getting really good at taking the whole front end apart though  . |
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| M42powered |
Posted
Monday, Jun 21st 10:17pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 323
Arizona, USA
1981 BMW 320i |
yeah, ummm... you just put a 5.5 inch drop on your car. That's pretty low. I have almost 4 inches of clearance between my oilpan and the ground. |
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| RDAvena |
Posted
Monday, Jun 21st 11:09pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 632
SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i |
time for an oil pan guard.
Just as a sanity check. The strut tubes on a 77 320i are the same diameter as a 323i correct? I know bearings brakes ect are the same but I need to reconfirm the tubes? |
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| JJG323 |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 1:25am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 98
Reading MA USA
1979 BMW 323i |
| Quote: | | yeah, ummm... you just put a 5.5 inch drop on your car. That's pretty low. |
Can a car be too low? Yes..around here we have potholes that go to China, SNOW and the scorn of all lowered cars ---SPEEDBUMPS.
I nearly messed my whole car one time with an encouter with a speed bump.
Also I scraped my front spolier on a driveway.
It was pitched up and I did not notice it.
So I will have to check and see with the coilovers, how low I am going in the front.
Maybe only slightly lower than the Racing Dynamics springs have taken me, its really the rears that I have to take down a lot and put in an adjustable subframe or kmacs.
Redmist..I feel your pain brother...
Joe G
79 323i |
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| M42powered |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 1:42am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 326
Arizona, USA
1981 BMW 320i |
I've dragged my catalytic converter on every speed bump in Tucson. The car doesn't look very low, but it is. The scary thing is the LEDA's look like I have enough thread to literaly put the oilpan and diff on the ground. Can someone say photo op? |
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| aussie323i |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 3:41am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 176
australia
1979 323i |
I must say I'm not a real fan of REALLY low cars after borrowing my mates Skyline for a day.... this thing was lowered between 3- 4 inches and a total pain.... handled great BUT going into my carport the car scraped which I didn't think too much of- it scrapes all the time, but on attempting to reverse out the car got stuck on its sill panels- with the front and back wheels off the ground! 
You can certainly be too low!
Cheers |
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| Greg320i |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 4:54am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 45
Maryland, USA
Baxter: 1983 320i |
I've been thinking a lot about how I'd like to set up my suspension, and this brings out my first question. I want to stiffen my ride a good deal, but I don't want to lower the car any more than an inch, at most. Will I need an adjustable setup for this? |
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| DHoang |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 6:41am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 102
Texas USA
323i, e39 528i, Maserati Spider, Tundra LTD V8 p/up |
One day, I'll take a walk on the wild side and lower my 323. But there is one drawback to this. Just can't go where paved roads end...
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| redmist |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 3:51pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 298
NY USA
357i , 325i e30 turbo |
Ray the 323 struts are larger in diameter than the 320. The bilsteins, including the short body, fit in both.
Greg you really have to go to coilovers if you want to stiffen the ride and keep the same ride height. As far as I know they don't make a stiffer spring which fits on the stock strut perches and doesn't lower the car at least an inch.
Is there a oil pan guard for an e21? I am going to try to put the distance between the oil pan and the ground equal to the shock travel to the bumper stops. There is still a risk with my car no matter what I do as the oil pan is the lowest point on the front end.
I always keep a tube of JBWELD and Epoxy Putty in my car just in case.
I tore a gash in my insanely low 1978 corvette and the stuff enabled me to make it home. |
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| RDAvena |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 5:14pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Staff
Post nr. 635
SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i |
Pete,
Thanks, a little moment of brain fade. Walloth&Nesch has an oil pan guard for the e21 listed in the catalog. Not sure how much weight it will add but it is not as huge as the e30 one. |
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| m10_power |
Posted
Tuesday, Jun 22nd 7:19pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 64
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Careful lowering too much as it messes up the suspensions geometry, it might look good but it won't handle well. |
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| Yety |
Posted
Wednesday, Jun 23rd 2:15am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 65
Europe, Romania
320i/6 |
After installing the lowering springs from my dad's 316, my oil pan seemed to be too close to the bumpy roads around here, especially without any protection, so I welded on its lowest part a "nice" 3mm thick piece of steel, and now I'm thinking about installing a fixed steel bar next to (paralell with) the rollbar, but I haven't yet decided about welding or bolting on this kind of "supplementary crossmember".
Any ideas ? I'm also interested about the stiffening aspect of this  |
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| g323 |
Posted
Monday, Jun 2nd 11:14pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 280
California
323i 1982 |
Yety,
Ken did just this. otherwize you can get an Alpina lower bar |
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