i have an 82 320i, i need help on suspension, rims, and tires that will allow me to drive the car daily on the streets, as well as occasional trips to the track... sorry if this has alreay been covered

I am no expert but my plan for mine is to get the bavauto kit that has their lowering springs with Bilstein sports fro about $580. I already have a set of 15x 7 BBS RA wheels and plan on putting some 205/50/15's on it. I am leaning towards Kumho Ecsta ASX's.

The bavauto springs are supposed to be a bit softer and would be better for daily driving IMO. I'm also interested in hearing what others recommend.

BTW, I already put in a rear sway bar and would say it is a must. Hopefully can get a LSD in the future.

i had found a lsd on ebay but sadly i missed out on owning it... i have looked into the bavauto kit, but also have a friend who races e30's who pointed me towards groundcontrol coil over kit, the kit is a little more expensive though

oh and i was wondering how much the bbs RA wheels cost you

A front strut stress bar is also a must if you want to put it on the track.

i plan on doing a swaybar kit from vacmotorsports and most likely building my own strut bars... does anyone know about the k jettronic with lambada injection and what cams i can use?

The RA's cost me $500 in fair cosmetic condition. I don't know if you really would want to put coil overs on a daily driver if you only track the car occasionally. I guess it depends on how serious you are about the track vs using it as your daily driver. I prefer a bit more comfort. I'm old, LOL!

welcome. i know what boat your in, i was in it when i got my e21. you need a good day to day. focus on that. forget your performance anything until it is running right. i tried to focus on the cool aspect of mine before i got it to the driver i wanted, ran into trouble, and ended up not having a daily driver. once i had it fixed, i had lost real interest, and didn't want to put anymore money into it, even if it wasn't any real costs (like less than 100 to have it tuned) i ended up selling it.

now, your gonna think i'm a party pooper with what i have said, but here is the way you can have your cake and eat it too. as parts need to be replaced, replace them with the performance bits. need some shocks, get some kyb's, they are relativly cheap and on the bmw (e30) i got to drive with them, they had a pretty decent balance between performance and comfort. replace the springs while your in there with some eibachs from tire rack.
for your sway bars get the stock sway bars from a 320is from a pick-and-pull, but make sure you grab all the hardware and brackets.
while your under that 320is, grab the diff, its an limited slip
replace bushings as you go.
from there, a good muffler shop should be able to build you a good exhaust from header to tail pipe for around 400 (what i was quoted for mine from a good shop)
battery in the trunk, strut braces, ac delete, etc.
the front bumper is pretty easy to remove and drops quite a bit of weight off the front

most importantly, remember to tackle one project at a time. don't start on your cam swap if you are half way through your suspension. it's always good to be able to feel the difference with each step.

also, you CANNOT run e30 wheels on an e21. the offset is different and they will rub (correct me if im wrong)

I own a BMW repair shop, and get that exact same question, at least once a week. And if it's not THAT question, it's "How do I make my car faster?"

My answer is always the same, and threefold.

First part of the answer is to perform the "Fix It Mod". Make sure all your bushings, ball joints, brakes(including master cylinder, hoses, fluid) are in good shape, shifter bushings, etc. Fix all the boring, non sexy, uncool stuff, and you'll be amazed at how well an old BMW drives, and how quickly you can make it move.

Second part is, learn to drive! Yeah yeah, all of us can drive, but I mean learn to DRIVE it! Join your local chapter of the CCA, and get out to as many driving schools as you can afford to attend. Screw all the expensive hardware, a stock BMW with a modified driver, is very quick. EVen a 320i.

After all that is done, and you know what you're doing behind the wheel, then start dialing the car in how you want it.

Al

ps - I have a pair of 15x7" BBS for sale. et12, to fit an E21. Silver, could use a refinish. $200, plus shipping.

^ what he said

Good advice guys. Get to know the car first, only fix whats broken. You'll probably change your mind several times about what you want. Lots of newbs do things like a stock engine rebuild and then learn they could have had better. Don't even think about changing the cam, its a massive amount of work and will open a huge can of worms.

i wouldnt even only focus on the broken though, get every single little thing that goes bad. all fluids, tune up, tires, breaks, etc. make it like an almost new car. then start playing with the performance. with it being like new again, you'll see how much fun it can be in that shape.

Just to show I practice what I preach. My daily driver is a 1990 735iL. I bought it last summer, with 396000km on the odo. Very clean, well maintained car, but I am slightly obsessive about keeping my daily driver as close to perfect as I can. The car has 406000 on it now, so 10k since I bought it. In those few short months, and only 10k km, this is what I have replaced.....

Since I've owned it, it's had;

All control and thrust arms
Tie rods
4 wheel brakes
All new fluids(Elf synthetic)
Sunframe mounts
Pitman arms
2 sets of new wheels and tires
Full tune up, plugs, cap, rotor, coolant sensor, 02 sensor, valve adjustment, wires, air filter, fuel filter, etc
Water pump, thermostat and coolant flush
Bilstein/Bav Auto suspension, including all new bump stops, shock mounts, etc
Tail light gaskets
Various bulbs, fuses, and relays
New belts
New belt tensioner bars
Engine and trans mounts

And I just ordered a set of stainless steel brake lines for it, 2 days ago. This car will last forever, it's fast, handles great for a tank, and is a pleasure to drive.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u282/AlCanuck/DSCF0012-4.jpg

I have an e32 too (740iL). Had it about 3 years and 25k miles. On it I usually let stuff go as long as possible because it's really not fun to work on. Trivial stuff seems to break constantly on it but like any BMW it keeps going and going. I think I'm going to sell it now that I have the M6 but I'll miss it.

I have an e32 too (740iL). Had it about 3 years and 25k miles. On it I usually let stuff go as long as possible because it's really not fun to work on. Trivial stuff seems to break constantly on it but like any BMW it keeps going and going. I think I'm going to sell it now that I have the M6 but I'll miss it.



The M30 powered E32's are much better cars overall. Solid as rocks, dependable, and have plenty of power, despite the 6 cylinder. I like working on all the E32's though, from 6 - 12, doesn't matter to me.

Al

ps - I have a pair of 15x7" BBS for sale. et12, to fit an E21. Silver, could use a refinish. $200, plus shipping.
That's a screamin deal newb..... Better jump on that before someone else does. They look great on our cars. David

That's a screamin deal newb..... Better jump on that before someone else does. They look great on our cars. Davidpair, as in 2

i had a 1988 e32 735i with the 5 speed. damn that car was badass. it was easy to work on and very dependable. had almost 400k miles on it when i won it on ebay for 1400 bucks. to bad the wife hated the stick in such a big car because it was a screamer.

i second that changing all the worn stuff on the car. great idea.

hey al, send pics of your rims to nvermind please. any idea on the weight of those for shipping. i live pretty close to mexico so its a long ship, 78418

nevermind on the pics, found the thread three or four spots down

thanks for all the good info... the car is in really good running shape, all the parts that you ppl have mentioned were fixed before i bought the car, the engine is getting rebuilt for performance with at least a bigger bore, new cam and head work... as for the suspension im young as my name implies ride quality doesnt mean anythin to me its all just performance that im looking for, i know that a good driver is the best component of a race car and i have been working on that... thanks again for all the info, does any one know if the ATS cups fit the e21?

go on ebay.de or any of the european ebays and use a page translater and look up springs. they have more suspension choices then we do

thanks for all the good info... the car is in really good running shape, all the parts that you ppl have mentioned were fixed before i bought the car, the engine is getting rebuilt for performance with at least a bigger bore, new cam and head work... as for the suspension im young as my name implies ride quality doesnt mean anythin to me its all just performance that im looking for, i know that a good driver is the best component of a race car and i have been working on that... thanks again for all the info, does any one know if the ATS cups fit the e21?

im 17 and i can tell you from expirience from a buddies car i drove for a while that had race shocks/struts, it is not fun to drive. it will scare the living chit out of you. for the street go with sports, not full on racing.

is his car an e21 320i... just wondering what he has for race shocks? still wondering if anyone knows about the ATS cups?

yeah, i've had my fare share of sport/racing experience. im 17 as well and i auto-x and rally. i've driven old turbo 02's and brand new saleens. trust me, for road use and occasional track use, go with BS sports and some form of sport spring. you do not want to go with racing stuff if its your DD. a friend of mine has a full racing e21, you can sit on a side of the car and it wont move an inch, i've driven that thing on the road, the WORST experience on the road of my life.

so, as everyone else has already told you, don't go racing if your using it as a DD to. when you get another car as DD do what you want with the e21's shocks. im saving for a 323i so i can use that as a DD and turn my 320is into a auto-x'er then im getting another 320i to turn into a full on racer, road rally probably.

wheels. your choice, really, as said before its a personal opinion, no one else should tell you what to get. IMO 15's look best.

welcome to the forum. post some pics of your car when you can.

for the ats cups, what's the size and the offset?

7x15 im having a hard time with finding the offset

i did find some specs finally.... 7x15 et20 8x15 et18... can i fit an 8x15... i am looking into getting some korman fender flares and i would really like a super wide wheel

wow, dude, ok slow way way down.

have you actually thought through all this stuff, i mean racing shocks are really really annoying on roads, no matter how young you are. supper wide wheels... well, theres nothing wrong with that.

15x8 is a squeez in the rear and front, to my knowledge. 15x7 fits fine... im not sure about the offset though... seems a little high, probably fit with a little modification, spacers or something. BUT, don't go for the first ones you find, you want strong, light wheels. and, remember your driving this thing EVERY day, not on a smooth track either, i have no idea what the road conditions are like in maine, but here in cali its back shattering to drive a race spec car on the road.

so, all in all, make sure you think everything through thoroughly and from a perspective of "do i need this, or is it just something i want so i can say i have it"

also, not to dampen your spirits or anything, but, go buy a book called -Go ahead take the wheel, road racing on a budget- it teaches you all about money and what to buy/not buy for your car. i sujest it mainly because, the way your headed, your making yourself slower by doing all this stuff to it, theres a point where its pointles to do anything till you get better, and, im guessing, right NOW is the point.

so slow down, take a big breath, and do one thing at a time. do the engine and brakes. then after your as fast as you can be with that, upgrade to sport suspension since its still a road car, then be happy with that, not busting your back on racing shocks/springs on a road. believe me, you'll regret putting racing stuff on a DD, especially if you don't race a whole bunch.

how many track days or auto-x's have you done with this car, just so i know how much experience you have with the car and all...

as a refrence, i've done 7 auto-x's and 3 road rallys with my 320is, i've reached the peack of power, i need a turbo or two really, but i STILL haven't hit the limit of the suspension or brakes yet. so, take the upgrading process slowly, listen to the people on here, they know what they're talking about.

i havn't gotton to do a any real racing, only drivin a whole lotta cars (i work at a valvolene sorta place, so i can drive between 5 and 40 different cars a day. got to drive an 07 shelby gt500 today). my buddies car was not an e21, it was an rx7 that he was trying to turn into a dd/race car. he took them off. in San Antonio, you really cant lower a car more than 1.5" due to bad roads. the race shocks just compound that.

you should come down with all the strictly european auto guys the next time they come to corpus to race with the corpus scca club. you can drive my modified e30 a time or two. then you will not want race level suspension in your car for a daily. i used to love driving my e30. then i put those damn stiff coil overs on it and now i only drive it when i have to.

yeah, i don't have a job with cars, but, i live in a rather rich area (i myself am not) a lot of my friends have great cars, then i have lots of conections with dealerships and rich rich people, i get around in cars.... :D

by far the most exiting car i've ever driven was a modified S7... he had 1430 horses coming out of that engine, unbelievable, way way way better than the veron :D.... i love conections....

yes, take our advice man, don't go racing unless you have a truck and trailer and actually RACE all the time.

thanks "320 bimmer", "busemans", and "320ipyro" your info has been very helpful, i am a newb when it comes to bmw and setting up a x car, but engines is what i do so i think i will be all set there... tell me if this is a good start for a dd x car
block prep (baked, bored, honed)
2.0l rotating assembly... i need a lil more info on that like where to get it and what is the amount of work i need to do to fit it
284 schrick cam
3 angle valve job... carbide cut myself
replace valve train
bored and honed throttle body (mortillaro custom)
bored intake runners gasket matched (mortillaro custom)
headers (stahl?)
msd distributor swap, msd box
ac delete
korman rear strut x brace battery relocated to trunk
leave the suspension till i get some track time under my belt, and learn about autox setups in college next year
does that sound ok?

Schrick cams are hugely expensive, lots of places can regrind one to the same specs for 1/3 as much (elgin or top end performance).
You can't bore the TB, but you can adapt a bigger one on there.
Generic headers are pretty crappy, do a search for all the stuff Ken has written about them.
MSD is useless compared to EDIS.
You left out the fact that you need custom made pistons to mix a 2.0 crank with a 1.8 head (~$700)
What kind of fuel system are you planning to run?

ok schrick cams are 380 thats not that much, you can create a venturie in teh throttle body giving higher air veloctiy... my teacher owns a high performance engine company and msd is all he recmends i dont know anythin about edis, im going to run the stock fuel system considering its expensive to replace and i havent heard of many ppl upgrading it unless they are turbo charging, and i said i needed to know about what i have to do for the 2.0 crank swap and i can get pistons made for a lot less than 700 closer to 400

Yeah I was thinking of forged pistons, which you really don't need. If you're going to use the flat top one (oem style rather than custom) you can buy MaxSil Brand on e-bay. I didn't see them myself but my friend just had some put in his engine and I asked the engine builder (really knowledgable guy) what he thought of them and he said they looked good, and they're pretty cheap. I wouldn't bother with used pistons, especially unseen such as off e-bay. I'm not sure if that's what Ken was suggesting, but there's just too much that can be wrong with them that isn't obvious.
Ken, about how much do you have to shave the head to get that compression? Do you then need to cut valve notches in the pistons? Any chance they'll run together?
I would reccomend you get an air flow meter top half from a 2.0 liter car to get better flow through the stock system. The AFM is really the biggest restiction in the whole system.

i will do an exhaust forgot to mention it, just cuz its something thats kind of a given, i think i have a guy for the exhaust right now buddy of mines father owns a metal fab shop, the reason for the rebuild is the engine is slightly ticking and i will be driving the car to ohio from maine 1500 miles give or take a few is there any one that could help me source a 2.0 crank and flat top pistons?

i dont want to get into to much money with shaving the head and decking the block right now considering 2nd year at UNOH i have to do that and its free so theres really no point, and by then if i still have the car i am just going to do an s swap

ticking how? valves or bearings? if its valves, who cares. they all do it. most people think my e30 has a diesel because of the valve tick. just adjust the valves and ride out, they'll make it

Yup, they all tick. No big deal.

Whats an s swap?

s14 swap, buddy of mine says that its a fairly common swap at the NH garage he works at, new mounts, tranny, and diff, add an ecu for the fuel injection and new harnesses and swap it in, alot of work but well worth it for a dohc efi motor

does anyone know where i can get a 2.0L rotating assembly?

show up on ebay all the time

mmm an s14 swap is good, but crazy expensive i hear. you'd be better off and still have money with a turbo kit and an m10 with upgraded internals.

just sayin...

i say stick with the stock motor for now. it'll run fine and is fun for daily driving and drifting the turns

i know alot about engines, you dont have to deck and shave if you can get dome tops made, i built 3 350s with 500-600 hp, and a honda b18 with 11:1 compression through a stroker and je dome tops i know enough about building to do it right, im just a newb when it comes to autox suspension
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