sweetm3

Hi Guys a bit late with this.

I put braided lines on my M3, then was told by another BMW club member that they were illegal, rang Wellington

spoke to the guy writing up the regs, this was 2 weeks before they became legal.

He said

As long as the brake lines are crimped and have a coating over the outside of the stainless steel for protection.

You don't need them certed.

Just out of interest I rang Autopassion (Christchurch) and spoke with Basil, he quoted $289.00 for a set for my M3 thats 6 hoses.

Compares well with the USA prices of approx $ 125 + $ 70 shipping

Just for anyone else that may do what I did. The big pin goes at the bottom, your lower brake pad should engauge first when your handbrake is applied.

Hi Guys

pulled the rotors etc off today, including disconnecting the handbrake cable from the expanding lock.

The problem is once I have fitted the cable I'm not sure if I have fitted it the right way round, it seems to fit in both directions ?????????

Which way is right, Large pin at the top or bottom

Well Guys I finally got them in, took me the best part of day.

As the GC systems came with no instructions, first attempt dropped the car 55mm too low.

As it is, the 100mm ground clearance is marginal. And as I was knacked, that will do till I replace some bushes and ball joints. Then I'll readjust them again and have the car balanced.

Set up so far (guard to top of rim)

Front were 120 117 Now 90 90

Rear were 89 88 Now 70 65

Had the alignment done,

Front Toe +2.9 total, Camber -2, Caster +6

Rear Toe +2.7 total, Camber -2

Cost $ 2951.46 NZ dollar to my door including GST

$ 70.00 Alignment

$ 0 Installation

Total $ 3021.46

Cert and Insurance still to go.

The ride is firm and doesn’t rattle these old bones too much I’m really looking forward to taking her out to pukie.

Very nice

Remember the new emmisions law is coming in so be quick!

When I brought my 97 M3 one of the points put forward by the Jerry Clayton salesperson was that I wouldnt have to worry about emmisions laws as the car would be compliant.

Looks to nice to put on....... Ye right.

In hopefully some time this week and I will add some before and after photos

Update Guys

I hadn’t heard from Ground Control (order placed 16 days ago) so I emailed them enquiring as to what’s up.

Now my neighbour has been in the states and is home today so I was getting their mail together when I noticed a letter address to me amongst theirs, open it up and it’s from NZ Customs …………. My new suspension is on hold till I pay the GST “letter was dated 6 Novemberâ€. Boy I could have had in in by now.

So I should have some photos early next week.

E46 turbo

I’m not really into turbo or the E46 shape, but boy this made me drool

Sweet. So the courtesy light doesn't need to stay on the whole time right.

Cheers

I just popped mine out, check the wires for a constant power supply (sorry dont remember which colour) using amp meter bought for a few bucks at super cheap.

Dont worry if I can do it so can you.

Just a quick question.

All the cars that have a hardwired radar detector tend to use the wiring that comes off the sunroof. My car doesn't have a sunroof so

1) can I hardwire the detector without too much hassle (seeing as I've got ZERO electrical knowledge).

2) get it professionally done

3) just use the cigarette lighter.

Cheers.

I wired mine into the courtesy light above my rear view mirror

I like this quite a bit, view the image, is she turning clockwise or anticlockwise???

That’s weird 90% of the time it clockwise, but sometime when I blink it changes for a few seconds. I have no control……………

Avus Blue

That car looks very nice. Good stuff mate post some pictures when you get yours installed!

Will be while away as it takes 1.5 weeks to put the package together. shipping delivery cost @ 220.00 US

so I'd guess it won't be by air.

nice set up, was the M3 you were talking about the arvus blue one on trademe?

Arvus blue-Dark Blue

It's the one with $10,000 spent on the suspension.

Hi Guys

Firstly thanks to all of you for your input, Alex thanks for taking the time to show me your setup.

The story so far

After a month or 2 of trolling through pages of different BMW forums, I came across a great write-up that compared PSS9, KW V2 and Ground Control.

While I was on TradeMe and came across a 94 M3 for sale with the M3 suspension replaced with a Ground Control system and blow me down if it didn’t belong to another BMW club member. Brett had been in the process of setting his 94 M3 up for tracking, when he came across another BMW racecar for sale, with the full package already done. Hence the reason why his 94 M3 is for sale.

Anyway I was invited to take his car for a drive and after a chat ……..

I ordered today

Complete Coil-over Kit, E36 Race (Or Serious Track) , (Completely Assembled)

Description:

2 SHORT Koni single adjustable struts in Ground Control shortened strut housings

Complete Shortened Front Strut Housing Machined from seamless DOM 1026 steel alloy tubing. Heavy-duty swaybar bracket welded on. Our design is much stronger and more rigid than any of the aftermarket housings that are actually modified stock housings, with skip-welded gussets and and all original brake line and abs tabs retained.

Koni Single Adjustable Front Strut Struts are externally adjustable from underneath the hood, even with the factory strut brace. This strut is prepared for coil over use, and eliminates machining of critical suspension components .

Click on the following 2 linksto learn why we don't cut threads in our strut housings.

http://www.mate.calpoly.edu/mate450/MechanicalAspects2.htm

http://venus.13x.com/roadracingworld/issues/dec00/keeper.htm

Ground Control Threaded Sleeves This system is designed to eliminate stress risers caused by machining notches into the strut housing. Unlike other companies that claim superiority by cutting threads into a critical component of the suspension, Ground Control uses engineering common sense to maximize the strength of the suspension.

Ground Control Adjustable Spring Perch A unique design, which uses an Allen head bolt to clamp the single threaded perch into the correct position. No secondary pieces are needed to "jam" the threaded perch into position.

2 SHORT Koni single adjustable rear shocks

Koni Single Adjustable Rear Shocks Made in Holland and custom valved to GC specs. Shorter than standard length, with reduced droop length. Preadjusted to match rear spring rates using our shock dyno. Adjusts from inside the trunk with no tools needed. (standard Koni must be removed to adjust)

1 Pair front Camber Plates

Ground Control Racing Camber / Caster Plates More camber adjustment than stock, caster adjustment, aircraft bearings, engraved with calibrated degrees, with stainless steel reinforcement. Every component is anodized or plated, including fasteners. Adds extra travel to avoid excessive bottoming out, this is a very well engineered product. The stainless steel reinforcement prevents electrolysis between the steel fender and the aluminum camber plate.

Camber and caster are separately adjustable by sliding the mounts, without removing any components from the car. The priority of this design is to allow fast, repeatable alignment changes at the track.

The Ground Control camber plates feature two sets of bearings, a proprietary bearing, made to our specs by Aurora in the USA, which allows for articulation of the shock shaft. This spherical bearing is very understressed, as the Ground Control design does NOT support the weight of the car on the spherical bearing. Instead, the weight of the car is supported by a completely separate articulating needle bearing, which is also manufactured for Ground Control in the USA.

4 Eibach ERS springs, any racing spring rate 440F 550R

Eibach Spring Any spring rate is available. Eibach springs are made on German machines both in the USA and in Germany, however all Eibach springs have a lifetime guarantee against sagging, rate change, or any manufacturing or material failure. Lifetime guarantee. Compare.

4 Ground Control bump stops (made in Germany)

Ground Control Bump Stop We do not just ask you to reuse your stock bump. The stock bump stop is designed for stock suspension; we provide a bump stop designed to work with our suspension. These are soft foam, same quality as OE BMW parts, but made to our specs in Germany. Our race bump stops are even different than our street bump stops.

2 rear ride height adjusters

Ground Control Rear Ride Height Adjustment Kit Billet aluminum threaded adjusters bolt on top of the rear control arm. The e36 M3 has a larger diameter rear axle than the standard e36, so it is necessary for clearance to not have any portion of the adjuster below the control arm.

1 Pair rear upper shock mounts (urethane)

Ground Control Rear Shock Mount Billet aluminum, urethane bushings, pre-assembled. Includes gaskets and reinforcements.

A couple of years ago I was in the States visiting my brother, we called into a BMW dealership a new M3 had a window price of approx $60.000 US. With cash you pick it up for around $53-55000 US.

I did the sums, exchange rate, right hand conver and shipping it worked out a lot cheaper than here.

Approached the dealer, said I want to buy a new M3 from him. Everything was fine till I said I wanted a right hand drive.

I got the impression that once he figured out that I was only interested in purchasing the car and taking it to NZ, that it in some way infringed on NZ BMW franchise.

I'm positive volume has a lot to do with the price difference, but it's still frustrating when you need a part and you see on the web ex brake switch $80.00NZ $18.00US. New set of 4 rotors for a M3 incuding pads & sensors $592.00US

NZ Quote $1700+GST. NZ 10days to receive the parts. Shipped from USA East coast to NZ 3 days.

New Zealand

Volume NO

Competition NO

Most properly great profit margins

Ah that feels better.

Have I got this right?

3pedals when you mention Coilovers you mean all 4 corners (springs on top of housings)

Your preferred option

Double adjustable front Koni shocks “Front Coilovers”.

Single adjustable rears.

Rear springs to match. (say 25-30mm drop)

Alex

I’m heading south wed/thurs next week and it would be great to have a look at your setup.

Your right that a couple of these systems mentioned are rear coilover. My comments about the modification to rear towers are taken from my chat with the guys at Stocks. When I asked about the different Koni set ups.

How things stand

PSS9 Coil-Over Suspension Kit - Ease of use-adjustability front & rear- cost

Ground Control E36 Track / School, (Complete Front Assemblies) $1489.00 but add another $100US to have top adjustment on rears.( I?m lazy don?t want to have to jack the car up to adjust)

Ground Control Street Kit $999.00 US (using ex housing) Difference between these & Track/School-Spring rates.

So $490.00 saving if I use my existing housing. Less $ 100US for the top adjustment of course.

Downside I would like to keep my existing suspension in tac so I can have more junk in my garage. It can keep my standard air box etc company.

TC Kline DA Coilover Kit very nice but at...............$2258.15 US

V2 KW priced online @ $1975.00 US (same setup as Koni would require modification to rear towers)

So I'm back to my 1, 2, 3 options

Give performalink a phone and say your from bimmersport.

I got a great discount on my v2 KW coilovers for my e46 for about 3kNz incl GST.

6500 seems a bit naff for pss9's .. I was qouted 4500 retail for the e46 kit.

Around the camber thing, it is worth while but not needed unless your going down quite low.

Will check out KW

Just received a quote from Autolign for PSS9 $5500+GST

Hi all, Lucky me I'm off to the states early next year and I'm looking for some informed opinions.

Why the upgrade because I enjoy the few times a year I get on the track (want to be able to go over the hill faster) and as I'm in the states the prices are cheaper and I would kick myself next time I was at Pukie.

1/ Bilstein PSS9 Coilovers F4-GM5-B567-HO @ $ 1395.00-1500.00 US NZ Quote $6500.00

2/ Ground Control Street Kit $999.00 US (using ex housing)

3/ Ground Control E36 Track / School, (Complete Front Assemblies) $1489.00

4/ Koni 1150-5023 $ 1254.06 US Quoted $ 3800NZ (requires modification to rear towers)

As this sort of upgrade is new to me would I also require?

Reinforcement plates and adjustable camber plates?

Any insight would be great

My CAI shield is made in 2 pieces. The lower section still leaves the opening behind the head light looking down on to the brake duct. Cut a round hole in the top of the brake duct and feed pipe into the duct with the pipe extending up to my filter. Photos not the best but hope it helps.

This is the CAI that I made. I also ran a tube up from the left brake duct + it still get air from behind the grill. Got hold of a indoor / outdoor thermometer 70C max output run round town with it in my engine bay, got readings of 70c + in the engine bay after a lot of stop starting at lights. Put one sensor inside the shield of the CAI fitted the other sensor outside, temp increased at the lights but within a km was back down to outside temp. But once I figure out what to line the inside of the shield with hopefully the increase temp at idle will be reduced.

Done good luck

Andy as always I'm sure you & Gus will keep me amused.