Chasis Issue

[cdavie2002]

Sometimes when i jack the car up at the front (behind the front wheel) im unable to open the door. When dropping the car back onto its wheels the door opens and closes freely.

?????

[jimbob]

it might be pushing the sill up trapping the door i always jack mine up on the sub frames because e21s are a bit flimsy
or the doors a bit loose

[Jason_323i]

That's how flexible a 30 year old e21 shell is

Jason

[nas80]

Not a stiff chassis.. tell you what helps is a strut brace!!

[Reck]

Front or rear? I'm leaning towards front as the steering seems a bit unpredictable when you hit a groove in the road!

[Jeroen]

Doesn't really help much solving issues when jacking her up, but yeah E21's benefit greatly from a front strut brace. More precise and stable steering, hardly sensitive for deep tracks in the road. Rear brace only makes a real difference after engine upgrades adding a significant bit of horses or torque like when you tuck in a M30 or M50 engine.

[cdavie2002]

Do you get, would i benefit from a lower front strut brace or should i just go for the upper one?

[Jeroen]

Down there you can't fit a brace, but a bigger sway bar, this reduces body roll. But for normal road use I'd start by fitting an upper one on the shock towers.

[bartgouda]

Down there you can't fit a brace, but a bigger sway bar, this reduces body roll. But for normal road use I'd start by fitting an upper one on the shock towers.

Actually, there is also the "Alpina" bar for the front, which stiffens up the area near the rad support.
But indeed, I love my strut bar, makes a huge difference!

EDIT: Like this one:

http://macfarlandperformance.com/?page_ ... t=12129221

[TopCat]

I have front and rear strut braces for Herman-
this lower front bar thingie looks good
where can we find this in Europe- I have only seen them advertsied in US and Australia- surely someone must have them closer to home?

[Jason_323i]

The alpina lower bar is easy to do, but I would recommend welding a bit of 50mm cds tube between the chassis rails at the front.

Put and e21 on the ramp and drop one end of the arb and hang on it and you can see the chassis flex.

But a I think Masson engineering in the us make them

Also take the back seat out and check the rear fire wall for cracks, and if you are really keen seem weld the cabin

[nas80]

Yea I was thinking while my engine is out should I stitch weld my engine bay and then next year strip my car out and do he cabin /boot /underside?

Its a lot of work though. Seam seal its a pain to get off. Not to mention underseal etc.

You could go further and weld in a roll cage with gussets connecting it to the A pillar and B pillar . But then id guess you'd hack a race car.

[Jason_323i]

Before i started on my car i already cracked a b post from runnign coilvers and doing trackdays, generally you only seam weld between the turrets as you still want crumple zones. If i had a road car I woudl lookat some sort of lower x brace like the e36 convertables and possiblesoem sort of brace all the way to the diff, and pickign up the gear box like the MX5 has.

[nas80]

I have often thought about creating a power plant frame like the mx5 / rx7 has. There'd be enough room for one.

However even they crack sometimes. But it certainly does take lots of stress away from the body.

I have to keep remembering my car is meant for the road. Lol if I wanted a track car id seriously just buy an rx7. No prep needed at all.

[Jason_323i]

I would like a LHD FD but there more expensive than an e46 m3 or 996 here.