Another RWD car joins the fray

Dave,

That car looks really nice!

I have a couple of questions and comments that I would like to get your thoughts on:

Are the control arms aluminum? They look a bit light.

The rear mounts for the control arms only have two bolts? They do not look well supported.

The lower mounting points for the rear struts are in single shear. Do you think that they are strong enough?

Is there a reason why the tie rod ends look like wet spaghetti?

I have no experience with newer BMWs. How do you feel about the design, strength and durability?

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Robert.

"You are way too normal to be on Rally Anarchy." Eddie Fiorelli.

What suspension is that?

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NoCoast
What suspension is that?

Sellholm

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Rallymech
Dave,

That car looks really nice!

I have a couple of questions and comments that I would like to get your thoughts on:

Are the control arms aluminum? They look a bit light.

The rear mounts for the control arms only have two bolts? They do not look well supported.

The lower mounting points for the rear struts are in single shear. Do you think that they are strong enough?

Is there a reason why the tie rod ends look like wet spaghetti?

I have no experience with newer BMWs. How do you feel about the design, strength and durability?

Control arms are steel. The mounting system is a bit bizarre and probably a weak point but so far no issues even on the rough Oregon stages. Actually, the rubber bushes in the front control arm rear mounts tore probably due to being subjected to much more travel than they were designed for but we'll replace those with urethane.

The lower rear shock mounts make me nervous but again, so far so good. There are plenty of hard driven cars in Finland using this same setup and they do more jumps than we do so I guess it holds up OK.

I don't know why the tie rod ends are designed like that.

The BMW suspension does seem designed more for the track but as long as you don't hit anything I think it'll be alright. If you do hit something it will probably look like the car in Grant's "Doh!" thread.

The car is very sweet to drive and very tossable. Easy to steer with the throttle. I want one.

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Doivi Clarkinen
The car is very sweet to drive and very tossable. Easy to steer with the throttle. I want one.

Turns out that I know of someone that actually lives in your same area, same street even, that could definitely build you one.

I think the tie rods are designed like that so they will fail before anything else does. That either means that the tie rods were way overbuilt, or your control arms are made of cheese.

Hintz never hits anything, so there's no need to worry bout that...

The tie rods are that way to clear the wheel and knuckle when turned. Silly but necessary.

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phlat65
The tie rods are that way to clear the wheel and knuckle when turned. Silly but necessary.

[mumble mode on] fawkin Krautski injur-nears grrrr gr [/mumble mode off]

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

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john vanlandingham

[mumble mode on] fawkin Krautski injur-nears grrrr gr [/mumble mode off]

This is what I was saying when we were replacing the clutch.

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Doivi Clarkinen

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john vanlandingham

[mumble mode on] fawkin Krautski injur-nears grrrr gr [/mumble mode off]

This is what I was saying when we were replacing the clutch.

What makes the BMW clutch swap such a pain?

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Greg Donovan

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Doivi Clarkinen

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john vanlandingham

[mumble mode on] fawkin Krautski injur-nears grrrr gr [/mumble mode off]

This is what I was saying when we were replacing the clutch.

What makes the BMW clutch swap such a pain?

BMW engineering??

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SteveL
This is the point in the killing spree when you really should turn the gun on yourself

They use nuts and bolts on some pretty silly places on the bellhousing, and it won't come past the firewall without turning the trans exactly right. The starter has a dowel pin in the trans bell that is always stuck, and the starter is way up under the intake. Then the dual mass flywheel takes a special long tork plus socket.......

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phlat65
They use nuts and bolts on some pretty silly places on the bellhousing, and it won't come past the firewall without turning the trans exactly right. The starter has a dowel pin in the trans bell that is always stuck, and the starter is way up under the intake. Then the dual mass flywheel takes a special long tork plus socket.......

Sounds like you've done this before...

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SteveL

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Greg Donovan

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Doivi Clarkinen

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john vanlandingham

[mumble mode on] fawkin Krautski injur-nears grrrr gr [/mumble mode off]

This is what I was saying when we were replacing the clutch.

What makes the BMW clutch swap such a pain?

BMW engineering??

Exactly.