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those bilsteins are for e21 or e30?
I like your car!
how did you align rear wheels?

The fronts are E30 as they're 30mm shorter.
I haven't done any alignment to them. With the lowering kit there's a fair bit of camber at the minute.

Big progress yesterday with lots of hours of fabricating front struts.

First off it was out with the old spring perches.
A quick cut around the weld line released it very easily.




The E30 front Bilsteins I got were shorter than the original E21 inserts so the next step was to shorten the 323i strut housings.
Removing the section of strut where the original spring perch was located was the obvious choice.

We used the bottom of the original weld line as a cutting guide to leave as flat a surface as possible.


The top piece removed from the strut was then shortened accordingly removing the original weld for the spring perch.
We used a lathe to cut it as accurately as possible with a flat surface to be welded.


It was a bit unsteady at the end so with a very clever bit of ingenuity Dave produced a skateboard wheel including a bearing in the centre to steady the end of the tube against the end support.




After lots of testing with the new shorter Bilstein inserts to ensure it would be all snug with no gaps under the shock the new shorter strut was then ready to be reassembled. No need to pack anything out with washers here.


Much effort was needed to ensure the two pieces went back together straight and square.


The rally design front threaded sleeve was welded on and boom it all started to look like suspension.


Next up the top spring mounts need to be turned down to meet the original top mounts properly and the rears sorted out along with everything tidied up and painted.

well now, doesn't that look nice!

Excellent work Joe!

Cheers guys,

Well a lot of hard work all week.

Rears:

The rally design sleeve needed to be drilled out at the top to fit the Bilstein shock ram.
It was a bit of a pain as the lathe wasn't big enough and its quite a big hole.

Clamped in place:


and drilled out:


The top caps were turned down to allow the load to be spread onto the metal top cap rather than the rubber centre.


After a test drive it appears that they need to have some material removed from the centre to allow for the lower level of the rubber as the flex is causing a knock over bumps.

and then they were in.
The 8 inch springs are just about long enough when wound fully up, the 15" wheels tuck inside the arch a little.
I plan on getting some longer springs to allow for adjustment. Perhaps 10".



Fitting the fronts were way more of a pain than anticipated.
The long balljoint under the centre of the strut was really difficult to get out until we got the right sized splitter and a big hammer.

All in all though a massive difference. It handles 1000000 times better!
And its actually better going over speed bumps with the added stiffness.

Nice work! Good that handling has improved!

Yup, these front balljoints possibly are the biggest pain in the butt of all jobs you can think of on an E21. But you got it (un)done in the end... enjoy!

That's encouraging, I feel invincible now!

So I haven't updated this all summer, long overdue by now.

I've really enjoyed the car over the last few months, I've done lots of work to it myself so I've really got to know it and gained confidence with having a go myself.
Much more satisfying ownership that way.

Now the suspension has settled in and I've tested it out extensively I can say wow! What a difference. It's really transformed the car.
I've so much more confidence to just chuck it into a corner and its so enjoyable. There's more rubber bushings to change that I'll get around to eventually.

The next big change has been the brakes.
I posted some pictures on the for sale thread but I may as well post them here too.



Brackets from Nas, Ferodo ds2500 pads, willwood 4 piston powerlights, braided lines from Rally Design and vented 323i disks




The dust shield cut down:


Finished:


A few weeks into driving with the new brakes and I love them! I've discovered you still need to apply similar braking force (obviously as the master cylinder is the same) but soooo much more happens when you do! I keep finding myself stopping short in traffic and having to drive up to lights or junctions
but that's a good complaint! The pads feel really grippy too.

So a a really enjoyable summer of motoring, I've tried my hand at some 'detailing' based largely on Eddie's guide.

I clay barred, washed, sealed and waxed. A lot of work when done by hand but some nice results.



These are the only pictures I have of the fruits of my labour:




I made it to a few shows this year, as above and was good to meet Eddie at the BMW North West show too.


And this beauty was there:

Nice progress and photos, you had a great summer!

Saw this car yesterday and its in stunning condition! Thanks again for the brakes as well mate, hope to see you at some shows this year

Ah cheers dude.
It was good to meet you too, always nice to turn a username into a face!
Hopefully I'll get to see you with your car next time.

Stunning car, really!
Makes me starting to think of a body rebuild too...
Enjoy it mate