bravo

I'm posting this for three reasons: 1/ I want to know how you guys got on and whether you think it made a difference. Took me 15 min, but wasn't 100% straight forward (details below). 2/ I want to open up the discussion on "strut brace theory" esp on whether the bar should be installed stressed or unstressed in tension or compression. 3/ I want to make some comments for the less experienced among us who may be getting one of these to make sure they don't make some n00b mistakes. I came across 2 issues with the installation of mine. First is that it wouldn't fit with the car at rest on the suspension. My struts were too close together. I had to jack the car up until there was no weight on the suspension at all before it would fit. My theory on this is that at rest or driving in a straight line the forces on the struts push them closer together. (ie a strut bar would be in compression) and so over time they have moved closer together (by about 10mm at a guess!). Under cornering the opposite would be true, so over time a race car may notice the struts moving further apart. What this means is that at rest my bar is under compression, and that I have probably reduced my negative camber slightly. I'm booked in to have new tyres fitted tomorrow, so I'm going to get a wheel alignment too and I'll let you know if it made a difference, and how much. (I keep all my alignment sheets so I can see how much it's changed with various mods) The other issue with these braces is their fitment on the strut tops as the tops aren't flat. I've read that others have packed the gap with washers. I think it's important to mention here that you shouldn't over-tighten the nuts on the strut tops as you can stretch the bolts (especially now there is more length of free thread below the nut). This could cause the bolt to shear in certain conditions. So what I did was just mount the bar straight on the tops and tightened to the correct torque (16ft-lbs). I checked the third nut too and it was the correct torque from when I last had the struts out. I then lowered the car onto the gorund and re-checked the torque. I got another 1/4 turn from each of the nuts hold ing the bar on. I also noticed that the gap between the bar and the strut top was now quite small as the ends of the bracket had bent ever so slightly and the lumps on the strut top squashed slightly too. Then I went for a decent drive. Came home, (and this is the important bit for newbies) and I re-torqued the nuts. Again I got 1/4 to half a turn on each nut as the drive had allowed everything to settle a bit. The gap between the strut top and the bottom of the brace mounting bracket is now nearly zero. I expect after another long drive I should be able to get them fully down. So the take-home lesson here is check the nuts after a few miles to make sure they haven't loosened. In terms of handling difference - I beleive there is some over and above placebo effect. The car seems slightly flatter in the corners, loss of front grip appears like it is slightly more progessive, and turn-in seems to be better. Some of this may be due to the camber change rather than just the extra stiffness, but at the price of these bars it's worth it. I don't think you could justify spending large on a more expensive bar though. Gains are small. Cosmetically they look good too. At least 15HP.

As per Apex's showroom thread, there are a few of us keen to do a group buy for urethane/nolathane e30 subframe and trailing arm bushes. Please post below if you are interested, and can someone please take the lead and source/arrange this. I don't have time - I'm just starting the thread to keep the discussion out of Apex's showroom one. I have powerflex control arm and front and rear sway bar bushes and am happy with the quality. They aren't all that cheap though.

+1. On my list of "to-do". Fronts and both sway bars done already.

Martyn has also decided to take a less active role on the forum. he's still here, but with a new username, and not a mod. We are looking to appoint a couple of replacements. These will be announced in due course once admin have decided who and the positions accepted by those asked.

If you supply the springs any mechanic should be able to do it for you.

ebay. Or they come up on TM now and again and usually get snapped up pretty fast.

The trademe Hartges are freakn awesome! Anyone know if they are genuine?

$126 incl. shipping. Mine arrived today. Contact AAP Imports (BS username). Car is looking sweeet!

Yeah at one stage.... But then someone changed the wheels and the plate...

Chocolate bar? I thought that was a fuel additive!

Check your dizzy cap. I think this might be the first time we've had an actual query when that's been the correct piece of advice!

Badass. I like so far. IMO the best modded BMW you have owned so far. Not half as Rangi as the 7.

For an e34, but have the old motor, so as long as the mounts on the block are OK we could swap the sump etc onto a m20 from an e30. But preferably an m20b25 out of an e34. Condition must be good. Will pay fair market value. You state the price. If it's reasonable, I won't argue. Thanks.

About this much ->||<- better than the chromes. It's your car mate, do what you like. Don't be afraid to be different. but the truth of the matter is, that a mint manual e30 320i is only worth a few grand, so anything else is likely to only be worth a couple of thousand. Unless its something special, like a race car.

You all need to harden up. I had my face smashed in an accident in 2005. Shattered 5 teeth. 3 hours of surgery with no anaesthetic as they'd already given me as much morphine as they could picking out tiny slivers of tooth one by one. Then stitched up my gums and had to eat no solids for a month. Surgery included cosmetic on my lip so I didn't end up looking like one of those south american (or is it african?) women with the plates in their mouth. Thanks to the New York plastic surgeon who happened to be at the hospital that night catching up with a friend. Then once that healed they cut my gums open again, spent over and hour drilling into my jaw and inserting metal posts in my jaw. Sewed up my gums so the jaw could heal - another week or so with no solids. Then a few months later when the bone had healed I got my gum cut open again to expose the jaw, and 4 ceramic implants screwed into the posts to replace my teeth. All the time between the accident and the implants being completed, I had to use a partial denture so I could eat and talk (and not look like Jethroe Clampit's long lost banjo-playing 4th cousin. Now I know how my grandmother felt. Those things are sh*t. Have had the implants replaced once since then and see the dentist minimum of twice a year. Thanks to ACC for footing the $40,000 bill for the implants, but I pay for the follow-ups. I can't say I like going to the dentist, but drilling a filling with no anaesthetic is not half as painful as what all the above was. I know as I had a filling last month and asked for no anaesthetic as I too am sick of the numb face afterward.

I think we're done here.

When I said plug I was thinking of a multi-wire harness plug. You can get them from Jacar/radioshack type places. You crimp/solder all of the terminals, and then the terminals press into the plastic connector housing, and its one plug for many wires.

Its a neck and neck race between Magnum PI and the Gingerbeard man! Run, run as fast as you can, Magnum wants his glasses back!

Agree with you Nick with the exception of soldering side by side. An electrical engineer once told me that with any joint there are two things it must be. It must be a good physical connection, and it must be a good electrical connection. So I always loop each wire round the other and back on itself and twist. This makes a good physical connection that will almost never undo. Then I solder as this makes a good electrical connection as long as you do a clean job without dry joints. Heat shrink is by far the tidiest insulation method, but not always possible. The other alternative is to solder all the wires into a connector plug and plug them together. This is what they would do in the factory.

I can't wait until they crack down on the real idiots, but I'm concerned it'll be abused. Last night I was approached by some young guys looking to join the 4x4 club. When I asked why they had decided to join they looked a bit sheepish and admitted they'd been "forced" to by the local cop. There's some earthworks happening on some Council reserve land just out of town. Apparently (their story) they'd decided to go drive their 4x4's up some of the piles of dirt, and get their trucks muddy in a bit of a puddle. The earthworks contractors might have been unimpressed the next day, but harmless really. Well the cops saw them, impounded their cars and took them back to the station under the boy racer laws for "sustained loss of traction". No sh*t - you tend to spin your wheels 4-wheeling in mud. So, under threat of going to court, the cops have agreed to drop the charges if they all join the local 4x4 club. Now chances are that the charges wouldn't stand up in court anyway, but the cops are using the law to scare these kids straight. On the one hand, that's great as they seem like good kids who'll really benefit from joining the club (we have quite a few young members already), and they'll think twice before messing up someone elses land next time. On the other hand, the cops in my view were abusing the law. I think the outcome was right, but the tactics a bit underhanded. Maybe a sign of abuse to come under the new laws??? My 2c.

The guy is talking total rubbish. Direct him to Page 4-5-1 of his WOF inspection manual. Note "may", and not "must". You are not required to have side markers. If you do, you can only have a max of 2 on each side. If they are fitted, they must work.

Cool project. I have the SC14 on my e30 (2.5L). They're a little small for these motors. They come off a 2.8, but they are lazy 2.8's and the SC gives it just a bit more torque and better fuel economy. They're not really a proper performance SC. If I do mine again I'd go for an eaton, maybe an m60. I still might end up changing it for one yet.

Another e30 m3 owner into the fold. Awesome! Esp. as it looks like we may be losing two soon.

Get the cuprads?

Lucky you, you get to work for Gary!