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Hi all,
Here's my 1978 chamonix (cream white) BMW e21. Picked it up about a year ago. Never really thought about buying one, but ad in one of the websites cougth my eye and few days later I was driving it home with a big smile on my face
It was completely stock and in pretty good condition. Few rusts and scratches here and there, but nothing really serious. Stock suspension was ridiculously high and I knew that's the first thing that has to be 'fixed' ... and wheels of course
Here are few photos:
Wheels:
After few months of search for proper wheels I was getting desperate. But finally I was lucky enough to stumble upon a set of 16'' BBS RS. It cost me a fortune to buy and restore them, but wheels are one of the main aspects of whole build after all Fronts are 7.5'' wide (natively it was 8'', but 0.5'' smaller lip was used to get staggered look) and rears are 9''. Offsets are 17mm and 24mm respectively, but because of 20mm adapters (4x100-5x120) at the back, it makes them actual ET4.
Here's how they looked like after restoration:
More photos in my flickr gallery
Suspension:
Air suspension was out of the question because of the price.. and availability So I was thinking going well known route modifying front struts with Ground Control kit. But then I found a set of H&R coilovers for VW Golf Mk2 cheap and thought it could work. They were modified quite a bit- rears were shortened, fronts were grinded and threaded, struts were also modified accordingly. Let the photos do the talking.
Rears:
H&R rear coilover from VW Golf MK2 vs. stock BMW e21 rear strut assembly and next photo is how long I wanted them to be:
Shortened version and assembled coil (I had to loose helper spring because of the length of main sping):
Fronts:
Strut vs. disassembled coil and... complete set done:
Close-ups:
Assembled and mounted on the car:
As you can see I also did 5 bolt conversion in the front using e23 hubs and bearings. Therefore I had to use bigger brake disks from e12 (280mm vs. 255mm). Obviously caliper mounting points also had to be modified.
And here's how it looks like:
I'm really happy with the results. Because of the quality of our roads I don't want to go any lower.
Here's my 1978 chamonix (cream white) BMW e21. Picked it up about a year ago. Never really thought about buying one, but ad in one of the websites cougth my eye and few days later I was driving it home with a big smile on my face
It was completely stock and in pretty good condition. Few rusts and scratches here and there, but nothing really serious. Stock suspension was ridiculously high and I knew that's the first thing that has to be 'fixed' ... and wheels of course Here are few photos:
Wheels:
After few months of search for proper wheels I was getting desperate. But finally I was lucky enough to stumble upon a set of 16'' BBS RS. It cost me a fortune to buy and restore them, but wheels are one of the main aspects of whole build after all
Fronts are 7.5'' wide (natively it was 8'', but 0.5'' smaller lip was used to get staggered look) and rears are 9''. Offsets are 17mm and 24mm respectively, but because of 20mm adapters (4x100-5x120) at the back, it makes them actual ET4.Here's how they looked like after restoration:
More photos in my flickr gallery
Suspension:
Air suspension was out of the question because of the price.. and availability
So I was thinking going well known route modifying front struts with Ground Control kit. But then I found a set of H&R coilovers for VW Golf Mk2 cheap and thought it could work. They were modified quite a bit- rears were shortened, fronts were grinded and threaded, struts were also modified accordingly. Let the photos do the talking.Rears:
H&R rear coilover from VW Golf MK2 vs. stock BMW e21 rear strut assembly and next photo is how long I wanted them to be:
Shortened version and assembled coil (I had to loose helper spring because of the length of main sping):
Fronts:
Strut vs. disassembled coil and... complete set done:
Close-ups:
Assembled and mounted on the car:
As you can see I also did 5 bolt conversion in the front using e23 hubs and bearings. Therefore I had to use bigger brake disks from e12 (280mm vs. 255mm). Obviously caliper mounting points also had to be modified.
And here's how it looks like:
I'm really happy with the results. Because of the quality of our roads I don't want to go any lower.
:. Whole car looks great. Good taste
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