Hey I was wondering how everyone had their suspension set up. I'd like to get somewhere between 2.5 and 3 inches of drop. Would coilovers be best and where can I find some for a '79 320i?

top end performance racetep.com

2.5-3 inches is alot of drop you would bottom out alot on a street driven car

groundcontrol is popular also

See my sig. And yeah, that's a HUGE drop. H&Rs give a nice drop, makes them look agressive. It's probably a 2inch or so drop over stock.

yea i was thinkin about my truck, i meant a 2 inch drop on the Bimmer

h&r's lower the e21 about 1 1/4 inch thats what i have

I have ST's that drop the car between 1.5 and 1.75 inches... and its LOW... have the take the driveway really slowly...

that'd be a good amount to lower it, but i dont have any idea of what ST's are.

ST= Suspension Techniques

I run Eibachs and love them. 1.5" lower or so but I still scrape my 320is spoiler a lot.

ken

I never scrape but Ive only put a few miles on them I can even drive up my trailer on skidsteer ramp w/o scraping

Talk to TheNeek about the best goshdarn suspension money can buy you these days.

LEDA's own us all :buttrock

TheNeek?

alright, alright... I have full coilovers on all four corners from Britian, called LEDA's. They are fully threaded shocks and struts. The front struts are welded into an E21 spindle. I could easily set the car on the ground and still have 3 inches of thread left to go lower. 24 way adjustable bound and rebound (together) on all four corners. 2.5 inch ID springs all the way around. Definately the best E21 suspension money can buy in a factory mount setup. I paid a TON for them, and have the reciepts to back it up. Anyone have pictures saved on their harddrives from the website? It got trashed as some of you may have figured out, so I lost a ton of pictures from the suspension build.

I just checked out the LEDA website and the kit for E21's is $2,400. It all sounds like a really nice setup though, that might have to come into play later on though. Thanks for the info though.

I thought that leda discontinued the e21 kit

mabey it was the e30 kit

I snapped this pic in my shop yesterday. On the left is a front H&R spring for my 323i. On the right is a stock front spring for my 323i. Notice they both have the same number of coils, but the H&R is wound MUCH tighter.

http://www.seamsperfect.ca/pics/E21/H&R%20vs.%20Stock.JPG

wow that looks like i pretty good drop, i'll probably go with that setup.

The H&R spring drop is about 1.5"

Al

what's the difference in price between the ST's and the H&R's?

and how well do these 2 springs work with stock struts?

I had H&R sports on my car for a little while, and i guess they gave between a 1.5 to 1.8" drop........the attached pic is when i had them installed along w/ 205/60/13 tires, which is a good .5" smaller in diameter than the stock 185/70/13's.

now i have a Ground-Control & koni setup...w/ the spring perches set between 1/2" to 3/4" from the bottom. the following pic is my car w/ the GC's and 205/50/15's (nearly .4" bigger in diameter than the 205/60/13's)

My 323i on the ST's...

http://e21.tricord.be/members/Echo/ron%20resize.JPG

My car compared to Jason's from last years bimmerfest!

http://e21.tricord.be/members/Echo/hotness.JPG

Jason where are you H&R's now? Are they for sale?

these look good for my E21, what do you guys think?
http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=17/CA=102

these look good for my E21, what do you guys think?
http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=17/CA=102

They are nice, my buddy just bought them for his e30... its a nice setup...

They are nice, my buddy just bought them for his e30... its a nice setup...


Thats probably the set I'll go with, i want my car to look like a race car and be able to handle well on the track but i also want to be able to still be able to drive it nicely on the road.

I forgot to ask, was it a pretty straight forward install on the E30?

CJ, robbie (betatested) has the H&R's now.

bnkrpt311.....if u get the GC's, i'd highly recommend going w/ either the koni adjustables or bilstein sport shocks (be sure to specify to GC which shock your using because the fronts are slightly different).
also, how smooth are the roads in your area? my car has 350lb 6" front springs, 250lb 7" rear springs, and it's pretty bearable in the phoenix-area streets (because, for the most part, the streets here are pretty smooth...very little pot-holes and the city does a decent job w/ regular repaving).....but over railroad tracks & bumpy roads, the ride is kinda bone-jarring. lol, i've had to tighten the bolts for my euro bumpers ever once in a while because they would vibrate loose.
oh, and also watch out for steep speed bumps, driveways, and dips in the road, because you can really lower the E21 so it has about 3" of ground clearance (from the front subframe/oilpan and rear swaybar links)

my only quirk about the GC koni setup is that i wish the koni's had more rebound (i have mine turned to full-rebound)....the 350/250 spring rates are a little on the extreme side for the koni's.

but the ride is oh so sweet....i thought the H&R's were a night & day difference than stock....but the GC/koni setup is night & day difference over the H&R's. oh, and be sure to get some 15" wheels, because the tire flex w/ 13" wheels will be very apparant w/ the GC setup.

I realize that it can get pretty low with that kit and the roads in my area, in spots, do get pretty rough. The bumpy ride doesn't scare me too much because my S-10 is pretty bumpy now that its lowered too. I just want to be able to give my car that nice stance at shows and whatnot but also be able to lift up a little for cruisin around. So what shocks would be the best do ya think, the Koni's or the Bilsteins? Thanks for all the info!

I would ALWAYS say Billies... Ive known too many people who have blown out koni's before...

now i have a Ground-Control & koni setup...w/ the spring perches set between 1/2" to 3/4" from the bottom. the following pic is my car w/ the GC's and 205/50/15's (nearly .4" bigger in diameter than the 205/60/13's)

bob those ground controls and wheels look much better At times I wish I went with the gc but to late unless anyone wants to buy the they have about 5 miles on them

what about Intrax and Spax lowering springs?

does anyone have any experience with these?

the spax is low but quality I dont know I think they lower the car up to 2 even more inches good luck finding a kit

jbob did you install that setup yourself and if so is it a pretty straight forward install? thanks

yep. you'll need some strut spring compressors to take out your old springs, an impact gun comes in handy to loosen & tighten the front top strut nuts, and a big enough wrench (like a pipe-wrench) for the front gland-nuts that hold the strut-inserts into the front strut-housings.

the rear's are cake, the front's aren't the easiest.

be careful while taking off the gland nut i accidently broke mine i had to weld it back on to remove the shock. I wold recommend using a compressor the fronts i decided to try w/o Im alive but compressors are much easier...

Any idea if that setup fits an 82 323i?