bmwe21.net forums

Were e21's raised to meet US regulations ie so that the headlights were at a certain level.

I have a European e21 Baur that was imported to the US. I feel it sits high.

I am told that the spacers were added to the suspension to raise the car.

Anyone know how thick these spacers are?
Easy to remove?
Need to remove from the rear as well?
Has there been a posting on this subject in this forum?

Many thanks,

Peter CS

Peter,

Never knew but according to BMW's ETK the facelifted (79-on) US spec E21's have a front strut and shock absorber that is specific for the US version, not shared with any other car. So this could very well be the case. Rear looks the same as other E21's.

With an imported car I can imagine they did not replace all that and fitted a spacer indeed, perhaps. I'd expect it to be on top of the strut but I'm not sure.

I think that Jeroen is right. The regulations in the US were much stronger in the '80's than in the EU. Mostly environmental, thats why they only had the 320i (lateron fitted with the 318i M10 engine). The other piece of legislation was about pedestrians. Thats why the E21, but also MG's and 911's have those horrific rubber bumpers. My guess is that the heigt of the E21's is changed. Probably because the standard EU e21 sits to low and will hit pedestrians below an average kneeheight or so.

Spacer must be directley ontop of the spring or between the subframe, which I doubt.