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Ok here we go. This won't be done for a while as I'm still waiting on parts to come in and I still need to confirm access to a welder but this is going to be the most detailed and descriptive DIY for E28 coilovers..... ever.
I really enjoy making DIYs and helping out the community. This is something that I have searched for everywhere. Every thread I go through is incomplete and basically useless. You get no feedback from the process no info on tools or information on kits or anything so here goes nothing.
I'm going to start by covering the available kits you can buy for the E28.
We'll start with GC. They make a complete kit that you can weld straight on to the front struts. Which is nice. But generally speaking most E28 guys don't want to drop $1700 on their suspension.
This is ok because GC also offers a simpler conversion for a mere $419
Even though I know it's going to be wonderful quality I still can't justify spending that much.
The next option which I find a bit better is the Ireland Engineering kit.
At $140 this seems like a great price. The only issue is springs aren't included and if you buy IEs springs they're going to cost you a pretty penny. So you can end up spending more than with GC. (we'll discuss how this can be bypassed later.) The thing that IE does have going for them is that they will modify your struts for you. For $150 a pair. Not bad. Or you could just weld it yourself.
Now the section I'm not going to cover to well is the Ebay route. Because I don't really want Honda coilovers on my car. It is pretty cheap but I have found one route that is a surefire way to save $ and be satisfied.
Here is my kit that I have created through countless hours of reading threads and posts on here, R3V, MyE28, and BF.c. I'm going to just list it out.
For the perches I went with A-1 Racing. 7in Koni low tops. I got 7in so I can put the car on the ground if I want. And I can also use a larger spring so the car can be raised to stockish height.
They're $41 a piece x4 brings us to $164
Next up I need some springs. where to go, where to go......
Summit racing of course. QA1 Precision Products sells spring for $38 a piece. In just about any size and rate you could want. I went with a 9in 550 for the front and 9in 500 for the rear. This set is going to be really stiff so I can ride really low and not destroy my fenders/tires/frame/oil pan.
Here's the link. You'll have to find the springs you need.
at $38 a piece that brings us to $152 and a grand total of 316. Wow just saved $100+ over the GC Kit.
Good Start.
The other thing that is great about this set up is that you don't really need to worry about what shocks you have. YOu can get a low enough spring rate to match anything. It might not ride to well but if you just want to get low and don't really care about your ride, this is the way to do it.
Next up we need struts. Lets weigh the pros and cons of each set up.
Stock.
Pros: Comfy?
Cons: They're stock and shitty.
KYB:
Pros: Cheap $68 each front and $72 each rear.
Cons: Can't handle higher spring rates and frankly considering I bought some for my 1602 and they blew in a month I don't consider them very reliable.
Spax http://mooseheadengineering.com/#!/~...065&id=6601871
Pros: Quality product, Not to expensive, Lowest stock strut known for an E28. Adjustable.
Cons: Not low enough
Bilstien
Pros: Excellent build quality. Lifetime warranty, and they are able to handle somewhat high spring rates. Can be sent off and re-valved. Adjustable rear perches.
Cons: Can't handle the very high spring rates unless re-valved and pricey.
Koni
Pros: Can handle the highest spring rates.High quality product, Adjustable twin tube dampers, and if you can find a set of E28 rears they have adjustable rear perches.
Cons: Much more expensive and very hard to find.
As far as I know these are the only ones you could get. Now lets talk about the strut options.
Front: Depending on the ride you want and the money,time, and fabrication skill you have there are a ton of options.
Stock. First is the stock struts. You can find just about any of the above brands except Koni. (I have yet to find those new.) These are all direct fit and don't require as much fabrication as some of the next options we are going to discuss.
IX Struts. One thing that is becoming more popular is to get some E30 IX struts which are the same diameter as E28 struts but about 2" shorter. This sounds awesome. Because you can drop the car 2 inches and still have full travel! This is awesome but requires a little more effort to get right, The struts have to be shortened in order to fit the coilover kit on properly. This is what I'm going to go with personally but others may choose otherwise.As far as struts, If you're going to do this I would recommend Konis. Because you're not going to want that to soft of a ride when you're that low.
Last but not least is the crazy people plan.
Corrado G60 Struts. These are just like the E30 struts. Same diameter only these are around 4 inches shorter than the stock strut. This means a lot of work and you're going to be super low. For me personally I think this is nuts. I still want to have the ability to raise up to a decent height, especially for long trips. But this will get you the lowest.
Now it's time to discuss rears. You can't use the Koni E30 struts in the rear. Or the Corrado's. This is the one area I'm still stumped in. I think the only option is to get re valved Billie sports. So you get the adjustable perches and a solid ability to handle high spring rates. In my case I think I'm going to call IE and see if they can shorten and or re-valve my rears. Otherwise you can just use your stock struts cut out the bump stops and drop the perches to the bottom. Like I am now.
So now lets pretend you got your low. Now you need your fitment. Well thankfully the E28 has a great axle. The lower you go, the more ridiculous camber you get. So all you need to do there is get your wheel and tire set up just right.
As far as the front. There are a few options to look at.
GC sells a really nice plate for either track or street. Both come in at just barely under $300 Way to much for a poor kid like me.
IE sells either fixed or adjustable kits. For either $135 non adjustable
and $150 for adjustable.
IE is a no-brainer. Spend half the money for the same stuff... duhh. But keep in mind these will raise the car up 3/8in.
So lets say you throw on the IE camber kit too. That brings the total to $466 for coilover kit and camber plates.
Add on dampers of your choice to complete the kit and ta-daa hopefully you've saved a bit of money. my kit is going to come in around $1200 when everything is said and done. With all brand new parts and welding done myself.
Now I'll list out my entire set up so you guys can hopefully get some ideas.
Front:
A-1 Racing 9 inch Koni Coilover low top perches
QA1 550lb springs
E30 IX Koni adjustable shocks
Ireland Engineering Adjustable camber plates
Rear:
A-1 Racing 9 inch (not sure if i'll be using Bilstien or Koni yet) perches
QA1 500lb springs
Either re-valved Bilstien sports or, some other Koni which I will find out about. possibly even SPAX
I really hope all this helps those who are new to the E28 chassis or those who are just trying to figure out what they want in a coilover setup. I will update this as things progress. So far I have my front perches and am waiting on my springs to come in.
Here they are. They're super nice. They even have a little lock bolt on the collar to keep it from sliding.
Feel free to comment, criticize, or add any information that you have found. I really want this to be the ultimate resource for those seeking to drop their E28
I really enjoy making DIYs and helping out the community. This is something that I have searched for everywhere. Every thread I go through is incomplete and basically useless. You get no feedback from the process no info on tools or information on kits or anything so here goes nothing.
I'm going to start by covering the available kits you can buy for the E28.
We'll start with GC. They make a complete kit that you can weld straight on to the front struts. Which is nice. But generally speaking most E28 guys don't want to drop $1700 on their suspension.
This is ok because GC also offers a simpler conversion for a mere $419
Even though I know it's going to be wonderful quality I still can't justify spending that much.
The next option which I find a bit better is the Ireland Engineering kit.
At $140 this seems like a great price. The only issue is springs aren't included and if you buy IEs springs they're going to cost you a pretty penny. So you can end up spending more than with GC. (we'll discuss how this can be bypassed later.) The thing that IE does have going for them is that they will modify your struts for you. For $150 a pair. Not bad. Or you could just weld it yourself.
Now the section I'm not going to cover to well is the Ebay route. Because I don't really want Honda coilovers on my car. It is pretty cheap but I have found one route that is a surefire way to save $ and be satisfied.
Here is my kit that I have created through countless hours of reading threads and posts on here, R3V, MyE28, and BF.c. I'm going to just list it out.
For the perches I went with A-1 Racing. 7in Koni low tops. I got 7in so I can put the car on the ground if I want. And I can also use a larger spring so the car can be raised to stockish height.
They're $41 a piece x4 brings us to $164
Next up I need some springs. where to go, where to go......
Summit racing of course. QA1 Precision Products sells spring for $38 a piece. In just about any size and rate you could want. I went with a 9in 550 for the front and 9in 500 for the rear. This set is going to be really stiff so I can ride really low and not destroy my fenders/tires/frame/oil pan.
Here's the link. You'll have to find the springs you need.
at $38 a piece that brings us to $152 and a grand total of 316. Wow just saved $100+ over the GC Kit.
Good Start.
The other thing that is great about this set up is that you don't really need to worry about what shocks you have. YOu can get a low enough spring rate to match anything. It might not ride to well but if you just want to get low and don't really care about your ride, this is the way to do it.
Next up we need struts. Lets weigh the pros and cons of each set up.
Stock.
Pros: Comfy?
Cons: They're stock and shitty.
KYB:
Pros: Cheap $68 each front and $72 each rear.
Cons: Can't handle higher spring rates and frankly considering I bought some for my 1602 and they blew in a month I don't consider them very reliable.
Spax http://mooseheadengineering.com/#!/~...065&id=6601871
Pros: Quality product, Not to expensive, Lowest stock strut known for an E28. Adjustable.
Cons: Not low enough
Bilstien
Pros: Excellent build quality. Lifetime warranty, and they are able to handle somewhat high spring rates. Can be sent off and re-valved. Adjustable rear perches.
Cons: Can't handle the very high spring rates unless re-valved and pricey.
Koni
Pros: Can handle the highest spring rates.High quality product, Adjustable twin tube dampers, and if you can find a set of E28 rears they have adjustable rear perches.
Cons: Much more expensive and very hard to find.
As far as I know these are the only ones you could get. Now lets talk about the strut options.
Front: Depending on the ride you want and the money,time, and fabrication skill you have there are a ton of options.
Stock. First is the stock struts. You can find just about any of the above brands except Koni. (I have yet to find those new.) These are all direct fit and don't require as much fabrication as some of the next options we are going to discuss.
IX Struts. One thing that is becoming more popular is to get some E30 IX struts which are the same diameter as E28 struts but about 2" shorter. This sounds awesome. Because you can drop the car 2 inches and still have full travel! This is awesome but requires a little more effort to get right, The struts have to be shortened in order to fit the coilover kit on properly. This is what I'm going to go with personally but others may choose otherwise.As far as struts, If you're going to do this I would recommend Konis. Because you're not going to want that to soft of a ride when you're that low.
Last but not least is the crazy people plan.
Corrado G60 Struts. These are just like the E30 struts. Same diameter only these are around 4 inches shorter than the stock strut. This means a lot of work and you're going to be super low. For me personally I think this is nuts. I still want to have the ability to raise up to a decent height, especially for long trips. But this will get you the lowest.
Now it's time to discuss rears. You can't use the Koni E30 struts in the rear. Or the Corrado's. This is the one area I'm still stumped in. I think the only option is to get re valved Billie sports. So you get the adjustable perches and a solid ability to handle high spring rates. In my case I think I'm going to call IE and see if they can shorten and or re-valve my rears. Otherwise you can just use your stock struts cut out the bump stops and drop the perches to the bottom. Like I am now.
So now lets pretend you got your low. Now you need your fitment. Well thankfully the E28 has a great axle. The lower you go, the more ridiculous camber you get. So all you need to do there is get your wheel and tire set up just right.
As far as the front. There are a few options to look at.
GC sells a really nice plate for either track or street. Both come in at just barely under $300
Way to much for a poor kid like me.IE sells either fixed or adjustable kits. For either $135 non adjustable
and $150 for adjustable.
IE is a no-brainer. Spend half the money for the same stuff... duhh. But keep in mind these will raise the car up 3/8in.
So lets say you throw on the IE camber kit too. That brings the total to $466 for coilover kit and camber plates.
Add on dampers of your choice to complete the kit and ta-daa hopefully you've saved a bit of money. my kit is going to come in around $1200 when everything is said and done. With all brand new parts and welding done myself.
Now I'll list out my entire set up so you guys can hopefully get some ideas.
Front:
A-1 Racing 9 inch Koni Coilover low top perches
QA1 550lb springs
E30 IX Koni adjustable shocks
Ireland Engineering Adjustable camber plates
Rear:
A-1 Racing 9 inch (not sure if i'll be using Bilstien or Koni yet) perches
QA1 500lb springs
Either re-valved Bilstien sports or, some other Koni which I will find out about. possibly even SPAX
I really hope all this helps those who are new to the E28 chassis or those who are just trying to figure out what they want in a coilover setup. I will update this as things progress. So far I have my front perches and am waiting on my springs to come in.
Here they are. They're super nice. They even have a little lock bolt on the collar to keep it from sliding.
Feel free to comment, criticize, or add any information that you have found. I really want this to be the ultimate resource for those seeking to drop their E28
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