bmwe21.net forums

im sick of how crap an e21 handles - I've thrown about 1k at my suspension and im still not happy with it yet.

full poly bush kit front and back
GAZ adjustable coilovers (not the gold ones)
22mm front anti roll bar with front lowering blocks (to prevent diving)
rear adjustable camber / toe
rear anti roll bar
front strut brace

car also runs a Quaife LSD

My goal is - sharp turn in and overall predictability and high speed stability.

i need to ask you guys about this as ive decided the factory specs arent really that good for my low ride height. I have gone out and bought some RPM top mounts so I can adjust the front geometry

the rear specs I have already dialled in are 2.0 degrees of negative camber and 2mm of toe - in. This has seemed to improved things muchly - some of you may remember I raised an issue in the technical section before when i had stability issues turned out it was because the toe -in at the rear was out by a mile.

the fronts im thinking is 1.5 degree of negative camber and 9 degrees of caster the toe in shall be 2mm.

My questions are

1. what would you guys use for a long race track - such as the nurbergring (or in my case - Bristol ring road lol)

2. would i get a decent balance of tyre wear and decent handling with my settings?

3. for high speed stability - more caster is good right? - should i just sack it and dial that to the maximum i can have (i have p/s so it wont be that hard to turn the wheel - but im going back to a manual rack soon and would like to be able to steer the car quickly at low speed twisties)

4. If i have less camber at the back then the front am i right this will give me more oversteer / does this mean that my settings above will make the car understeer too much?

5. Should i just use the factory settings (which tbh i think I nearly am)

Anything else you think i need to consider when i go set this all up?? ( i will be doing this myself - the local garage owner has a laser alighnment machine but understands my needs are specific and lets me adjust things how i want but use his equipment)

as always your help is much appreciated.

haynes says

Front toe in; 1.4-2.6mm(0.055 to 0.102 in) 4/81 on

Camber ; not adjustable,

Caster -7.5 to -8.6 degrees

Rear:Toe in 1.2 to 2.8 mm(0.047 to 0.110 in)

Camber -1.3 to -2.3 negative

seems there is a very wide amount between the minimum and maximum settings and no specifcs?

nas80 wrote:im sick of how crap an e21 handles - I've thrown about 1k at my suspension and im still not happy with it yet.

full poly bush kit front and back
GAZ adjustable coilovers (not the gold ones)
22mm front anti roll bar with front lowering blocks (to prevent diving)
rear adjustable camber / toe
rear anti roll bar

car also runs a Quaife LSD

My goal is - sharp turn in and overall predictability and high speed stability.

i need to ask you guys about this as ive decided the factory specs arent really that good for my low ride height. I have gone out and bought some RPM top mounts so I can adjust the front geometry
the rear specs I have already dialled in are 2.0 degrees of negative camber and 2mm of toe - in. This has seemed to improved things muchly - some of you may remember I raised an issue in the technical section before when i had stability issues turned out it was because the toe -in at the rear was out by a mile.

the fronts im thinking is 1.5 degree of negative camber and 9 degrees of caster the toe in shall be 2mm.

My questions are

1. what would you guys use for a long race track - such as the nurbergring (or in my case - Bristol ring road lol)

2. would i get a decent balance of tyre wear and decent handling with my settings?

3. for high speed stability - more caster is good right? - should i just sack it and dial that to the maximum i can have (i have p/s so it wont be that hard to turn the wheel - but im going back to a manual rack soon and would like to be able to steer the car quickly at low speed twisties)

4. If i have less camber at the back then the front am i right this will give me more oversteer / does this mean that my settings above will make the car understeer too much?

5. Should i just use the factory settings (which tbh i think I nearly am)

Anything else you think i need to consider when i go set this all up?? ( i will be doing this myself - the local garage owner has a laser alighnment machine but understands my needs are specific and lets me adjust things how i want but use his equipment)

as always your help is much appreciated.

erm

what i was after was really some guidance from others who race really and adjust from there.

i have been thinking that ill be better off starting with the max stock values and adjusting from there.

Personally I think you need some stiffer springs Nas. The one's that Gaz supply are on the soft side as they're a bit of a compromise between road & track I guess. I went up to 350lb although I'm about to go to 400's. I think the 350's are fine for road use though. Camber should be set at about 2.5 negative for the road and 3.5-4 negative for track. Toe was at 1/6" IN total iirc. Copy Mr Murrans ARB too or do the County Car trick and double up the OE one? Also, bear in mind that I have the mechanical knowledge & skills of a field mouse and that I'm just going by what has been done to my own cars. I'd suggest trying Whiteline for ARB's but they said mine was the last and it had to come over from Oz. There are other options in the US though. Ground Control and Shock Tactics iirc. Defo more castor too!

try here... ? http://www.racetep.com/e21.html

the same as mark suggests basicaly..
i think mine has 400lbs springs although im using a spax psx kit 60/40mm with my shocks dialed in to be quite hard at the front and just a smidge softer at the rear still very hard to compress the car just by leaninging on it very hard.. always found my handeling to be suprisingly good with all the weight up front.. managed to stay with an scooby sti on the twistys (roundabouts ect) in the wet without "Too" much hassle and pass him on the straights with ease... and yes he was going some.. he even asked what on earth i had done it... My answer....nothing its standard.

id go with quite a bit of toe in on the rear, 2 or 3. id leave the castor as standard unless your drifting it? add a degree or 1.5 of camber on the front and stick with 2 on the rear.

look into the white line front antiroll add on. its well worth it!!
if your free one day i'll drive up to yours and we'll swap it on to yours and go for a drive?? only takes half hour to swap id have thought?

sounds like a plan. i want to wait for the new engine before i change springs .

i only want extra caster to help me feel safe at high speeds. i want to be able to go off the clock (obviously somewhere like bruntingthorpe) and not get killed