bmwe21.net forums

Did the dash take any damage getting the rust fixed?

Mal took the whole dash out so there was no damage.
Bit of a a pain though I understand.

Crikey, that's making me very worried about my slight windscreen leak!

I do have an alternate means of transport so the E21 is off the road but I shall be removing the windscreen whilst being prepared for the worse after seeing pics of yours Joe.

Yeah it may be a bit worrying but I guess the sooner the better.
Mine was sikaflexed on so that might have something to do with it.
Do let us know how you get on.

So, I'm currently in the process of buying parts to make up a set of coilovers.

I'd like to shorten the front struts to keep the suspension travel as best as possible,
so with that in mind I went in search of short shock options. There's only the standard size Bilstein B6 for the E21, you have to go for B8's for shorter which I'm not keen to do as its more expense and may be too firm.

There are shorted E30 B6's available, this is the info I got from Bilstein,

"The part number from the BILSTEIN B6 shock absorber for the BMW E21 is 34-002230
The length from this shock absorber is 706mm complete.

The part number from the BILSTEIN B6 shock absorber for the BMW E30 is 34-001363
The length from this shock absorber is 676mm complete."

So this would give a 30mm drop?

What are people's thoughts on this? Any experience of this at all and will it all bolt up?
I'm assuming E21 B6's and E30 B6's will be of similar performance and firmness?

E21 is coilover system
E30 is separated spring from shoch...

I'm just considering the E30 front shocks as they're shorter, I'll go with the E21 rear B6's.

I've been informed that the fronts bolt right up with shortened front legs.

Beginning to wish I'd gone with E30 inserts now, I have decent ride, but I'm a firm believer in having plenty of available travel.

Looking worward to seeing how yours turn out Joe!

The E30 shocks are 30mm shorter apparently so not much more than the 25mm you got through the bottom.

There should be plenty of pictorial updates coming in the next few weeks.
I hope you've got some of your top class updates coming for us?

id buy a set of BC coilovers. unlike Gaz cvoilovers, you can lower the BC as much as you like, the ride height is seperate to the spring tension so you can retain full shock travel and comfort as you can adjust it simply by turning the knob.

Theres a difference in cost but for suspension you shouldnt scrimp. had BC been available when i was after coilovers then id have gone for them over GAZ any day of the week.

Ah I see, they sound like the business alright.

Well I've gone ahead and ordered all the bits for a DIY job, partially cost, partially out of the interest of having a go myself.
Hopefully they'll perform well but I'll definitely learn lots along the way.

So my coilover conversion kit from Rally Design has arrived.

Rears on the left, fronts on the right.


With the springs and top mounts put on.


I ordered 8" springs front and rear.
The rear coilover sleeve is much longer than I anticipated meaning the 8" spring looks like it'll be way too short.
Either that or the sleeve is too long putting the threaded section too low.

If this is the case, I'm thinking my options are to either get longer rear springs, or cut a section out of the rear sleeve and re-weld to shorten it as I'm planning to do with the front struts.
Any thoughts on this are welcomed as always, or if anyone has bought these rear conversion kits from Rally Design?

How much $$$?

Something over £200

Here you go: http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/index.php?cPath=2243_2244

So update time.

I put the car up for its MOT a few weeks ago and it passed with flying colours, no advisories!
Well except for the fact it was too low to get onto the ramp in the first garage I went to so I had to go to a nearby one with a pit.

I even got to a show last weekend, got her nice and clean along with a coat of Poorboys Black Hole did quite a nice job.
Lots of people admiring it. Photos:







More excitement today as my Bilstein B6's FINALLY arrived!


Which brings me onto my coilover conundrum.

The rear coilover sleeve is quite long which means my rear spring appears very short:


As its laid out in the above picture, the top of the adjustment range would be in the stock E21 spring position. Which is fine.
But I don't know what length the original rear spring is. I'm thinking if I had a similar length rear spring to original then adjusting the coilover spring perch down would give plenty of room for lowering?
The spring in the picture is 8".

So my questions:
What length spring would be suitable for such an arrangement?
Is it ok to rest the coilover sleeve on the shock without supporting it from underneath? (let the weight sit on the shoulder at the top of the sleeve)

Cheers.