Straight outta Germany - Vol 2: E36 Touring

[nellydragracer]

Good progress is good.

[G535]

Ok, vll nicht richtig Ratte, mehr so Ghetto Flair...jedenfalls nicht würdig für dein Auto!

[Dr.AK]

Najo, ich steh auf matt. Zudem isses ja Lack auf Acrylbasis - sollte man später recht problemlos überlackieren können, wenns mir mal nicht mehr gefällt und ich mir professionellen Neulack leisten kann.

[Dr.AK]

I just ordered paint.

[Dr.AK]

Just did another test fit since the tires have been off for some time... I think a slight pull and I'll be fine!

Does anyone know how much camber I can get when I max it out with the stock parts? Or do I really need camber arms?

[MadMax]

I´m sorry but I didn´t´read properly and im too lazy to read again

What color Matt ??

and the Borbets are awesome

[K.rischan]

Sturzeinstellung:

Am unteren Querlenker (auch Druckstrebe genannt) befindet sich eine Verschraubung mit exzentrischer Unterlegscheibe. Hiermit kann der Sturz der Räder an der Hinterachse eingestellt werden.

allerdings geht daraus auch keine konkrete grad-angabe hervor.

[K.rischan]

I´m sorry but I didn´t´read properly and im too lazy to read again

What color Matt ??

and the Borbets are awesome

Matt is german for flat. I assume he's going to paint it flat purple-ish

You mean the rials? or did i miss somehting?

[Dr.AK]

I won't confirm nor deny any guesses as to the color. You'll see soon enough.


Finally done with the dent.



And the bumper fits good as well!

[Mexican]

nice man! glad you are defo going ahead with the spray bomb!

the wheels sit about the same or slightly further in than my RSs, and i have just rolled arches. you will be fine!

[Dr.AK]

Yeah but you have more stretch than me, lol.

Also, my arches are not all that rolled because the guy I had it done by was a incompentent douche and I didn't know better back then. :

I'll just wait to see what needs to be done once I have my tires on.

[Dr.AK]

Update.

First, I finished sanding and fillering the front panel. Still needs some slight touch up, but it's almost good to go.



Then I went on to the suspension...

I reassembled the drivers side strut using a new shock absorber supplied by KW (as the AP coils are identic to KW V1, but the shocks actually are a bit different... the KW shock is about 5mm shorter) and excentric M3 3,2l strut bearings (mounted in the 'wrong direction' to get more negative camber). Also gave it a slight clean.



Then I thought... Okay, the M3 strut bearings will give me more camber, let's see how it looks with the untouched AP strut with the stock strut bearing first.

So I slapped a 8.5 on the passenger side.


Poke.

And I discovered this.



Wheel sits flush against the caliper when mounted.

I knew Ollie on here ran some spacers in the front when he had his Rials to clear the brakes, but I hoped that I would get away without running any as his M3 has bigger brakes than my 323i. As it is, I will need a slight spacer up front to clear them. I'll order a set of 6mm hubcentric spacers (narrowest hubcentric ones i can get with necessary TÜV papers) tomorrow.

Anyways, then I mounted the drivers side strut in the car.

Here you can see how the M3 3.2l strut bearing moves the mounting of the strut itself. It doesn't look like it, but it does move inward quite a bit. But also rearwards which will give me different caster. I hope this won't give me any problems later.



And slapped the 8.5 on to see how the camber is.



A quick comparison on the steelies, can't really see it all that much but it's quite a difference.

Left is stock, right is the excentric 3.2l strut bearings.

[nellydragracer]

I've got the same front top mounts. Is that how they're supposed to be mounted? I've put mine on with the arrows pointed towards the wings....

[Dr.AK]

It's not 100% how they should be mounted, as I mounted them on the wrong sides purposely for more neg. camber. The top hat you see up there is supposed to be for the passenger side (driver's side for you).

However, the arrow should point to the front of the car.

[nellydragracer]

Ahh I see, you've switched the l/h side with the r/h side. The arrows pointing forwards makes sense but I needed quite alot of camber and mounted them as previously described with no ill effects.