Building my own front coilovers

[M15KYY]

Hi guys

Basically I've built my own coilovers and just need a little advice on spring rates, now I'm currently coming to the end of my 316 restoration project which I will post up once I get chance but basically I want to be able to use this car comfortably on the shitty uk roads, so I want a nice soft spring rate that will not smash my teeth everytime I drive over a cats eye but stiff enough that it won't bottom out everywhere, any help/ advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

Misky

[e21-Mark]

I'd go for somewhere around 300 and a firm'ish damper setting.

[nas80]

at the front id go at least 350 front and the rear id go for 300 and a more medium setting for the damper rate. you get chronic rear end squat on an e21 hense why you need 300lbs.

did you base your coilovers on 323i struts?

[M15KYY]

As high as 350? Wow that surprised me, is that what your running nas? I'm using 316 struts as I don't need hardcore dampers just want the height adjustment, only running an m10 with a weber so nothing extreme this time

[rob0r]

I'm about to fit 350s to the front of my E30 318i cab this evening/tomorrow night so I can report back, not exactly the same car weight wise in comparison, but I want the same sort of ride as you described.

My rears are 550lbs , but that's because they are inbound and need to be a higer poundage sitting on the original E30 spring perch. Still, I think they'll be too harsh! Both sets of springs are ones that I ear marked for another project so they weren't bought with the cab in mind...

[Duracel79]

I started racing my car with 425lb fronts and have increased to 600lb. Its still reasonable on the road for a track car.

Rears are still 400lb

Ben

[nas80]

I use 300 at the front and 200 rear at the minute. The ride is ok actually. If your running a 316 then that will probably work well for you.

I was wondering what shocks you used on your 316 struts? I'm going to make my own too out of a spare set of 316 struts. No way am I paying Gaz £600 quid for coilovers again.

[rob0r]

Personally I would trim the E21 strut to take E30 shocks like I did on my M50 323i, works very well. The smaller size struts on E21 and E30 should take the same width shocks and the shorter E30 shock will give a better ride. Bilstein B4s are cheap new...

[nas80]

I read somewhere mk1 golf inserts fit. Where dya get collars from? Rally design?

[rob0r]

I keep meaning to check golf inserts, it depends if they fit 316/320 legs or 323i legs or they have them in both widths. I hear they are shorter than E30 ones. You could get on the wrong side of being too low, I used golf coilover inserts on my E23 and the front is so low it can't move! The strut is so short that there's not enough shock rod to lift the subframe off the floor.

Below is two Bilstein B4s, the longer one is from an E21 323i, the other comes from a Saxo/106/AX. They are exactly the same width but the French shock is inches shorter. The only issue is that the shock rod is tapered where the topcap sits whereas the BMW shocks are all flat stepped. I would possibly lathe the taper out if I went this way.


I get most of my stuff from RallyDesign but Compbrake do them too. I prefer the top cap design from RallyDesign though as it's less thick IIRC.

[rob0r]

Halfway down the page is my writeup for my E30 converted 323i struts. These days I weld them up myself
http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.p ... 5&start=90

[M15KYY]

I'm going to be using standard e30 shocks nas, I'll post pics of what I did once I've done them, hopefully by the weekend,

[nas80]

How did you get on mate? Would you do me a set of I crossed your palm with some coin?

[M15KYY]

Yeah they've turned out pretty sweet mate, shortened the legs by 29mm to suit the standard e30 dampers, using 300 ish springs the ride quality is perfect, yeah mate I can modify some legs for you no problem, drop me a text and we'll sort something out,

[nas80]

cool - ill drop you a text later.

have you got any pics?