lol heres the wreck

[craz azn]

W00t! Working phone = pics!



Mmmm...

And here is the two side by side. The bald ones are the 205s, the full tread ones are 225. Tread width is nearly the same, although the actual contact patch is admittedly a smidge wider.



But even the sidewalls look similar!





So, is it worth the extra few dollars for the 225? Pffftttt... Oh well. I can't wait to put them on once the spacers are done!

[cormier]

Ah gorgeous! Cant wait to see em mounted

[cormier]

Ps Rudy just noticed your sig. Made me chuckle.

[craz azn]

Originally Posted by cormier

Ps Rudy just noticed your sig. Made me chuckle.

lol


I drummed up some motivation today to move some cars around and push the 02 into the shop today to start on my rocker panel repair that I've been neglecting for awhile. It is only half finished thus far, and I'll finish it the next time the car sees the hoist. At least there is a patch now that I can work with.

Ghetto patch I hammered out. Not pretty, but it works, its strong, I can jack the car up on the edge now, and plus its covered by a trim piece should I choose to put it on.



Welded into place and started to grind down some of the welds.



It sits fairly well flush with the front fender back on. Not perfect, but down there, who's gonna notice!



Still gotta do the right side once this is done! Luckily it isn't as half as bad as this side!

[///Maluco]

thoze rimz look shwaaeeet yo.

[craz azn]

Camber plates are done! I fished these out of the scrap bucket and asked my Dad if he could turn up some bearing holders as that is what was missing from making them complete. Admittedly, it is a bit of an oldschool design as you may notice the height of the completed plates are quite tall. Newer designs from more recently offerings of say Ireland Engineering or Ground Control have much slimmer plate designs, some of which even have the spring perch integrated. This design was made to work with stock spring and mimic the height of a stock mount. Oldschool, yes... but it came together quicker than ordering new ones, and it was a fraction of the cost. So I'll deal with the height. Plus the fact that is uses a much bigger bearing than anything mass produced is a huge bonus. I like overbuilt.

Some spacers turned out to fit the massive upper bearing and the shocks together



Found some hardware and put them together to see how it looks. I need to find bigger washers for the bolts...



Put some Molyslip grease into the bearing before pressing it into the holder. After mucking with it a bit, here it is all put together. Looks the same from the top!

Not sure why the one washer is smaller... I guess I need better glasses! You can see the first bearing holder in the background that hasn't had the bearing installed yet.



And from the bottom we can see the bearing pressed into place nice and snug. Looks great!

[BMW BMXer]

That is sick Rudy

[Bullet Ride]

2x4 with holes drilled in it to hold valves.... that's exactly what I need to make as I'm going to finish pulling apart an 885 head this week.

ps camber plates look good. So since there's no perch this is just going to stack on top of the existing strut assembly? Obviously you'd need a drop hat or shorter springs to make up for the difference?

[E30M42cab]

Originally Posted by Bullet Ride

2x4 with holes drilled in it to hold valves.... that's exactly what I need to make as I'm going to finish pulling apart an 885 head this week.

That shit's too high tech for you Steve. better just stick them in a bucket of mud.

Comin' along Rudy. Can't wait to see her in action!

[craz azn]

Thanks Dave!

Yeah Scott, I can't wait to see it in action either! I'm trying to make it a habit to check the 2002 forums once a day to keep my motivation going Seeing Randy's post about the DDT AutoXs really gets me going too!

Originally Posted by Bullet Ride

ps camber plates look good. So since there's no perch this is just going to stack on top of the existing strut assembly? Obviously you'd need a drop hat or shorter springs to make up for the difference?

Yessir, this just sits on top of the spring perch. I run into problems with either... a drop hat styled perch would loose me shock travel, but a shorter spring may coil bind sooner. I'll have to see once it's together and assess what to do. An interesting note, when I looked at the car when I did the rocker patch, I finally got to see the suspension in a loaded state without the fender on. Even with the short shock cartridge, I have maybe 1.5"-maaaybe 2ish inches of travel before bottoming out (that is tucking a 23" tall tire)... What puzzles me is how a lot of these guys run so low with stock length inserts, or even the VW Rabbit inserts which aren't substantially shorter either.

[BigD]

That's typical of BMWs though. Like the way people complain about Bilsteins being harsh over bumps, when in reality they're just almost fully compressed and hitting anything beyond a normal rut in the road, makes them crash into the bumpstops. My mind was blown when I got the koni race struts from GC - at full droop my front suspension is lower than stock E30 ride height.

Maybe check Summit if there's an 8611 or 8612 strut that would fit your housings?

[T.Dot_E30]

Have you seen this guy's build? Some of it will not be your cup of tea, but shit just keeps getting better as you read. I won't ruin it, but here is some motivation to read through it.
http://stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15634

Started as


Serious Hardware



What you won't like


Check it out for more, there are a few surprises. Page 15 for the big one...

[BMW BMXer]

Heist's build is amazing.

Regardless of final product.

[craz azn]

Originally Posted by BigD

That's typical of BMWs though. Like the way people complain about Bilsteins being harsh over bumps, when in reality they're just almost fully compressed and hitting anything beyond a normal rut in the road, makes them crash into the bumpstops. My mind was blown when I got the koni race struts from GC - at full droop my front suspension is lower than stock E30 ride height.

Maybe check Summit if there's an 8611 or 8612 strut that would fit your housings?

When I first talked to one local Koni supplier I know, he sent an email off to Koni NA, and the reply also suggested the 8610-Race shock (single adj) because he knew it fit into my shock housing without issue. I just have to measure the length of the body when the strut is out again. The other problem was having a rear to match the agressive valving of the front which is why I've been searching around for a top adj, possibly rebuildable/revalveable shock for the back. If I get serious with the car, I might get Advance Designs for the rear, but I want to drive the car first and see if it is even worthwhile. Still have a few months to formulate a decision.

Originally Posted by T.Dot_E30

Have you seen this guy's build? Some of it will not be your cup of tea, but shit just keeps getting better as you read. I won't ruin it, but here is some motivation to read through it.
http://stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15634

Check it out for more, there are a few surprises. Page 15 for the big one...

Yeah his build is on the 2002 forums as well. You are right, not my cup of tea at all, but I appreciate the amount of effort into it. Just not too crazy about the fenders and stuff... first time that gets rubbed or scruffed, it is going to all crack and get messed up judging by the amount of bondo in those.

[jm1602]

Tons of work on that build with a really ugly outcome.