project #2. bmw e21 build thread

[Khalil]

I'm having the same trouble on my E28. The control arms are laying out before the frame, so annoying lol
I've been talking to a friend of mine who does custom work, we're trying to figure out the same issue.
Lemme know if you come up with something before me haha.

[SOURCEB5]

Heres a few shots of the car atleast put together so you can so low she can gooo. Took about 2 and half weeks to complete. Being that I got hung up on a few things, needed some items milled down and such. But being thats its not my DD, it can sit on jackstands without any issues.

And the packages arrived... Thank you BAGRIDERS!

From BMW e21

I swear it goes some much quicker when scrolling thru these pictures... Fronts are out.

From BMW e21

And now the rears are too.

From BMW e21

Pretty much that largest front strut assembly I have ever seen on a car... Just shy of my waste and I'm 5'10"...

From BMW e21

Cutting down the assembly for the new bagged struts to go in... Left about 3 inches from the stem.

From BMW e21

Basic idea of what the new strut will fit into

From BMW e21

Fronts welded up. (Some real clean welds Ed...)

From BMW e21

Rears with the stock shock eye stripped, cleaned up and welded back on.

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

Will some help from the old man. We chopped up the front mounts... As for the rears, they had to be milled down. Universal kit comes with like 6" or 7" Diameter metal plates. The rear needs to be milled down to about 4" dia.

From BMW e21

Before: Cut Springs...

From BMW e21

and After: Aired up...Holy hell thats high... Aired Up enough to offroad if thats your pleasure...

From BMW e21

Pulled off much of the front end to rewire the front end electrical... looks kinda aggressive without the headlights and grills!

From BMW e21

and After: And Just about all aired out...

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

From BMW e21

As you can see the car is still relatively filthy but figured I needed to post something... The front again still needs to go lower. Time to start engineering something that will work.

Next few weeks to come will include... Cleaning up the trunk with some hardlines and such. Putting back together the front end. Putting back together the dash. Posting up some pictures of how I ran the 1/4" lines and paddle valves. And a few other tricks...

I'll keep updating as I see interesting things come up.

[amichaels]

following this every day

[Khalil]

Looks good dude.
We have the opposite problem, I need my rear lower haha.
It will come down all around if its the last thing I do lol

[1badg35]

same here. we will make this happen/

yeah rear is more then fine. the frame is on the ground. it is the front control arm area that needs work. either a new design altogether or notching the frame seem like the only things that make sense. At this point, we are hoping to get 1" lower in the front

[chriskbmx]

i got an update of those euro bumpers. he wants 250 for the front and back.

[SOURCEB5]

done... chris. My brother or I will PM you.

[1badg35]

i got an update of those euro bumpers. he wants 250 for the front and back.

done! those are mine. Sending you a pm now

[Kielan]

Sweet moses, I never thought the rear could get down that far, that is incredible.

[Dutch]

When are the euro spec bumpers coming? love this car, but must say it, the us spec bumpers hurt my eyes....

[DDM]

same here. we will make this happen/

yeah rear is more then fine. the frame is on the ground. it is the front control arm area that needs work. either a new design altogether or notching the frame seem like the only things that make sense. At this point, we are hoping to get 1" lower in the front

Let me know what you work out man, I'd love to do it too! The front on mine is now exactly as low as yours aired out... just not low enough

[P78]

would like to c a lil rake when aired out

sweet build tho

[TheNeek]

Can you set the rear subframe down? Or is it just short?

Looks great. I'm so happy to see these universal struts going on more BMWs.

Those top hat plates are massive.

[SOURCEB5]

the rear is just shy of touching frame but im pretty positive the reason why is because the tires are actually hitting the inside truck fender and possibly the strut itself.... but its literally about half inch shy of touching frame (maybe less)... As for the front I need to come up with something to clear the lower control arm and the frame. currently the control arm when lowered gets hung up on the crossmember that comes across the front end of the car. Not sure what Im going to do yet but will come up with something... did the bav have that issue?

[TheNeek]

the rear is just shy of touching frame but im pretty positive the reason why is because the tires are actually hitting the inside truck fender and possibly the strut itself.... but its literally about half inch shy of touching frame (maybe less)... As for the front I need to come up with something to clear the lower control arm and the frame. currently the control arm when lowered gets hung up on the crossmember that comes across the front end of the car. Not sure what Im going to do yet but will come up with something... did the bav have that issue?

No, the bav has a completely different front suspension geometry. There are some E21 guys that have done some things to the front subframe to fix the control arm angle. Some have shortened the subframe. Others have notched and drilled it (davegerouse21). I'm probably going to fab up some tubular control arms.