bravo

Yeah mate. Give me a rev up in a couple of weeks so I don't get lazy and take forever.

Yes you can Nathan, but if you haven't done it before you may find it fiddly. Remove the clip and the linkage, and then there is a circlip around the joint that once removed will let you remove a small steel dowel pin and pull the joint off. I want you to do a bush for me Mister Freemo. I'll get in touch in a few weeks after I've moved house and have the car in the garage.

PMW brace. I believe that Ernst and Peter Robinson had something to do with the development. It was discussed in a race series thread somewhere. I thought of getting one, but they look heavy, and I'm still not convinced of the bang for buck improvement for e30 over other suspension mods like decent springs, alignment, and bushes/sway bars, etc.

Nice David Brown. We have one the same with an identical front end loader, except we have upgraded the cable release to hydraulic action. Used it to pull the motor out of my e30 too - works well huh? I was able to use the bucket hydraulics for fine tuning though - probably more than you'd be able to. Anyone able to tell me a trick to getting it out easily - I struggled to get the fan and sump over the front frame whilst clearing the box in the trans tunnel and the back of the rocker cover against the firewall. Did it in the end, but it was a bitch.

No takers? Looks like a light trip down then. Should be fun in the wet 3.0L turbo diesel with no weight in the back.

Thankyou Ron. I'm not going to be drawn into a discussion about whether or not you were being sarcastic. Whether you intended to or not, your comments were liable to bait the OP and previous posters, and I know you are intelligent enough to know this. I stand by my comments despite them being rather abrasive. Your explanation above would have been a much better first post and was informative, and I appreciate it, as do I appreciate your pearls of wisdom now and again (help with my TPS problem especially). I knew that you would have something useful to add. This is an interesting topic. I too had previously heard that the brace should be installed without load, and then a wheel alignment done. But whether this is good advice, or an internet myth perpetuated I don't know. I'm confused though - If the brace is not an adjustable one, then surely it doesn't matter under what circumstance you fit it as it is a fixed length and will space the struts a fixed amount, no matter if it is installed under load at time of fitment or not. The same goes with an adjustable brace, but you could then adjust it under load on the alignment machine. I think the idea of fitting with weight off the wheels is that as the weight comes on, the bar will load-up, and thus already be under compression at rest. I'm not sure if this is correct though. Finally, I have also always being warned away from the hinged bars and cheaper solid bars that may be the wrong length and thus negatively affect alignment, but the PMW ones look to be a very solid hinged bar, and were designed and built specifically for the BMW race series. I would have thought that these guys would know what they are doing and that brace probably does the job.

I get you now. By the way, the knuckle joint itself is fine - its the bush on the end of it that the linkage sits in that is the issue. You cannot buy a replacement bush, so its the whole joint. Most bushes on e30s will by now have so much play/slop that they need doing. You can drill/press the bush out and replace with nolothane or similar, but it's not an off-the-shelf replacement, and takes a little more workshop skill than just replacing the joint.

The fronts are easier than the rears.

Yup Em, fo sho. Colour - like, front kit - like, lights - like, rear seat upholstery - like, wheels - like, motor - like, power - like. Front seats - don't like, Sounds - don't like, stickers - don't like. = more like than don't like.

Yeah man I know, I'm just asking the question - Glenn - clarify? I doubt the bushes come with - last time I priced that knuckle-joint bush it was near $100, and that was before e30's hit the Mobile Tradition Catalogue. With the weak dollar and the move to Mobile Tradition, e30 parts have seen a recent price hike - not cool.

So how does that mean you wouldn't need to replace worn bushes. I don't follow. Or am I reading out of context?

Havn't seen it up here - and I would have as I'm in Paihia all day, every day, and its a small town. I like it.

Euro Italian (forum sponsor) has them. They come as the complete hub assembly. You will have to knock the ABS ring off if your car doesn't have it, but its a 2 second job with a screw driver and hammer. The OEM ones are exactly the same. Its an easy job with the correct tools, and a nightmare without them. You need a large socket for the hub nut - I forget the size but its somewhere in the order of 28-32mm, and either a very very long bar, or a rattle gun to get it off. You also need the correct allen-bit socket to remove the brake disc (you'll strip it out with a cheap allen key). Then you need a very decent set of bearing pullers to pull the hub off, followed by the inner-race of the bearing which will be left behind on the stub axle as your already stuffed bearing collapses. From their its a piece of cake to knock the new bearing/hub assembly on (use a piece of pipe the correct diameter or similar to tap/press the inner race on - don't do it by hitting the hub with a hammer or you'll damage your new bearing), and reassemble. You'll need a large torque wrench (or a bit of ingenuity) to tighten the locknut to the correct torque (IMPORTANT). And you're done. Took me an hour maybe including a beer stop and I had all of the above tools.

What do you mean by superceeded?

Ron (3pedals) stop being a dickhead. If you want to refute the claim, post up some decent info. If sure what you have to say is useful, but if all you are going to do is get smart I'll delete your posts. They are unhelpful.

I used the z3 1.9 shifter - was around $125 4 years ago. You will also want to think about replacing the bush Brent mentions as it makes a huge difference (almost more than the shifter itself - seriously), and the new plastic washers and clip are important also. I can't see how the short shifter will make any difference to your synchro wear on a bmw gearbox due to the design. It does require more force to shift as a function of the loss in leverage, and equally makes the shift feel more notchy. Around town it actually makes shifting slower. But it does really improve shifting on harder driving, and I WAAAAY prefer both the shift feel, and the height of the shifter in the car. My gearknob is also really good with the short shift being basically just a bit of milled aluminium screwed over the end of the shifter.

Good stuff Ashkan. The trouble with the SA seats is not the access being restricted by the seat, its that the rail is a C-section, with the ends of the C quite close together. You can't get a socket between the ends of the C, and only a thin-walled, low profile box-end wrench/ring spanner can slip in and over the nut. In my SA car I have the large tool kit with both open-enders and box-end Gedore wrenches. The Gedore 17mm and my Sidchrome box-ends fit, but my no-name brand ones don't. The more expensive tools use stronger metal, so don't need to be as chunky to be strong.

Sorry mate, don't have either. Got plenty of centre consoles though!

No worse than riding a motorbike dude. Just gotta wear the right gears. And if you are doing those speeds, you would be very careful.

What shift trim you need?

So you're saying you want several cm of travel with the spring not captive?????

Its a SA e30 right? You need a low profile (read quality) box wrench. The SA rails are shaped so the cheaper/larger wrenches don't fit. The one in the toolbox in the boot should fit. The SA cars came with Gedore tools - pretty good.

OK let me jump in here from what is maybe a little bit of a n00b perspective, but if you put the car on the springs now, they will compress, and the shock staunchion (as you call it) will not be at full travel. Wind the collars up a bit, and the car will lift, but the preload will not change until the car is at max ride height and the shock at full travel. At this point, the suspension will be at full travel at rest which is not good, but I doubt this would be the case. And you would get good rebound over undulations as the spring would have preload at full travel (as it is supposed to). In other words I think I get what the other two are saying, and I have either missed your point or you are having a blonde/senior moment. Edit: as the post above - I would have thought they should be designed that no preload at full travel is near the bottom of the collar adjustment as they are, and that your ride height is set by the preload, or as Mike says - the springs won't be captive at the lowest height = unsafe and illegal.

I'll give you $500. Not being an ass, have a use for it, but only at that price. You can take any spare parts off it you want as long as it still drives, and I need the doors, and the glass and the instrument cluster.