Sorted my wobbly car.

tomstickland

This has kept me out of trouble for the last two weekends.
1990 E30 BMW 318iS, very wobbly, I knew what the problem was, so it was just a matter of time before I sorted it.
Years ago I spent far too much money on an Astra GTE, ending up with no interior, a roll cage, seam welded shell, twin 40 carbs, solid engine mounts, silly cam etc. For the last two years I've done pretty much nothing to my car. I've just remembered what fun it is working on cars if you're in the right mood. Could this be a slide back down the slippery slope?

Nah.

Last weekend:
The day so far:

tomstickland

tomstickland

Yesterday:
It's been like the old times today!

See that, that's my garage that is. New wishbones arrived, along with drop links and uprated rear strut tops.



£55 worth of ball joint splitter, and it is worth it.
That anti roll bar bush is not seated correctly; when I jacked up the drivers side then the load on anti roll bar caused the bush housing to pop out from the subframe.


The devils fork, very useful tool.


Removing the old wishbone bushes involved hitting the metal casing with a hammer and chisel to squash it and then hitting the lollypop housing with a hammer and punch until it came apart.


Powerflex eccentric wishbone bush in the lollypop.


Assembled wishbone, front right.


Pushing the other powerflex bush into the lollypop.


Both wishbones assembled.


Fitted to car.


Remains of one of the front droplinks.


Old, knackered rear strut top and new, uprated rear strut top. Which do you prefer?


In the "trunk" (aka boot).


Inside the wheel arch.


Toad who had been hiding in the old suspension parts.


I've just been out for a test drive and can report that it feels a lot better. The wobble has been banished.

roswell

Looks like a hard day/s work, werent you tempted to change the exhaust seeing as it was already off :-) ... and the slippery slope begins again.

Quinny_2

Nice job.

I bet those Bilsteins weren't cheap.

And after the last picture...........

I bet the car felt 'Toadally' different.

(I'll get my coat.........)

Ken.

tomstickland

Bilstein B12 kit, £450. Not cheap, but when you know what you want and what's important it sometimes pays to do things properly. I've spent more than the car is worth, not that means anything TBH.

Yes, it feels toadally different.

The plan continues, over the new few months I'm going to sort the following:

New std exhaust (centre section is random bits welded together, back section was new 2 years ago but has rotted).

Replace fuel tank.

Fit reconditioned Z3 steering rack (quicker ratio), this might involved some fun with splicing the couplings together.

Fit replacement gearbox (bought for £40) (current one is noisey in 2 gears but has been like that for 2 years). Replace selector bushes and fit Z3 lever (shorter throw).

Source a small case LSD for the back end.

Get replacement door (bought for £30) painted along with new front wings and bonnet.


Bearing in mind that the car has given me 2 years and 45000 miles for £1000 then I don't mind spending some money on getting it back together. Think of it as a restoration project, not a MSE project.