BMW Compact Build

Package arrived in the mail yesterday:

Put the new JVAB boingers on the BMW over the weekend and borrowed fronts from a buddy (with lowering springs) and finally set it down on the ground tonight for the first time in a year! Needless to say with rally shocks in the back and drop springs in the front, it was kinda funny to look at....think 60s Nova. LOL My car's still missing a bunch of parts, so I know it'll sit a bit lower when its ready to hit the stages.

So, I figure I'd try to wrap my head around ride heights on RWD cars and ask for suggestions on a good starting ride height. Since we've sprung the rear rather softly so the tires will stay in contact with the ground, I assume being a bit higher than stock is part of the equation. So, for you RWD guys, how much higher is the rear of your car than the OEM setup? How does that compare to the fronts?

Thanks,

Dave

Mine is probably 2" higher than stock. I started with 275 front springs, and 175 rears, went down to a 150 at the rear, and the car hooked up soo much better. I would guess that the car sits at about 60% of the available travel at static height. I would like it to be a bit lower, maybe 1", but I have run out of adjustment with the 14" springs and little helpers. BTW, the XR has like 9" travel in the front, anda bit over 10" in the rear

It drives fine, is predictable, and works as is.

It was mentioned to me you were running reigers or ohlins, I cannot remember the name, but are they only for the front, then? Or was I incorrectly informed?

Ohlins on Evo. JVAB on BMW as far as I know.

Will be running JVAB stuff on all 4 corners. The fronts required some extra fab time, so John sent along the rears as soon as they were completed. Currently the car has OEM M3 Bilsteins on the front with lowering springs. They're only on the car now so I could load it up on the trailer and move the car.

I do have Ohlins on my other car...maybe that's where the mixup is from?

Dave

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DaveK
Will be running JVAB stuff on all 4 corners. The fronts required some extra fab time, so John sent along the rears as soon as they were completed. Currently the car has OEM M3 Bilsteins on the front with lowering springs. They're only on the car now so I could load it up on the trailer and move the car.

I do have Ohlins on my other car...maybe that's where the mixup is from?

Dave

Just gotta make them green and as soon as it's dry I'll be packing them.....
But piccies first as a teaser!

Ah, that must be it then. I didn't know you had an evo, though, so I'm guessing it's the other guys fault haha. BMW looks great!

Your missing out Timm!

Grant - you're not doing it right, you're supposed to pimp the videos you made. :p





My car was broken and didn't make Friday practice so I didn't make it into Grant's video from 2010, but I do like this one from race day near the ski area (~3:30 is our evo):





Dave

Hey Dave, I have a call in to my buddy Derik who just recieved his Reiger gravel suspension for his E36 M3 build to see if they listed any ride height specs.

Dave, nice work! I love Pike's Peak. Very cool on your way back down, btw, I watched the 2nd half of the video, it's awesome you slowed down and high fived the fans and thanked them.

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Dazed_Driver
Dave, nice work! I love Pike's Peak. Very cool on your way back down, btw, I watched the 2nd half of the video, it's awesome you slowed down and high fived the fans and thanked them.

That's one of the very cool parts of PPIHC. When we were in the car this year and the clutch mechanism failed (happened just above the ski area turn - you can hear shudder in one of those vids), we just wanted to make the summit, especially after the terrible week we had. A large part of that desire to reach the top (especially after knowing you've got no shot at a good finish) is to be part of the parade back down the hill.

Its funny, b/c in my head I'm thinking we had such a terrible run, but nearly every fan had a "great job" or "awesome" etc. to shout out. I'm sure its similar for all the other drivers...beer at 13,000 feet will do that to ya.

Dave

So slight change in plans due to the work done last weekend. As mentioned earlier, I determined I didn't like the way I had intended to route the brake lines, and my OEM power steering lines didn't fit. So, I ordered new brake lines and bits for a re-vamped powersteering setup. The first parts arrived today:



Since I'm still waiting for the brake lines and my 540 shift linkage to arrive, I figured I'd keep busy and work on something else:



Decided to remove the front fenders so we'd be able to simply mask off the whole front of the car. Still working on ideas for plugging the sunroof hole (has to remain metal per rally rules), but hopefully will have something worked out soon. Also managed to get the whole car sanded down in one night, all we missed was finishing off the spare rear bumper I picked up a few weeks ago. I hope to get it cleaned and taped off tomorrow/saturday and into the paint booth on Sunday.

Thanks for reading!

Dave

so stoked for this car! Sunroof holes are tough. With mine, I cut a piece out of a parts car about 1" bigger , and we metal bonded it to the roof. Skimmed the edges with filler, and painted over it. Looks pretty good, thankfully the car is white.