Tein Drift Spec Coilovers for BMW E21

[340i]

Thanks for the kind words, brains. Best of luck for your project, it sounds like it will be good.


Its been a while so I thought id do another update. Due to the stupid laws around custom built suspension in NZ, I've been held up for a few months with getting approval for my new designs for the front end and also I had to re-do the threaded inserts.

Basically, because the inserts that were made could only be welded 90% of the circumference of the tube (due to space limits on one side the welder physically couldnt get in there), it was rejected by the certifier (they must have a 360 degree weld and full x-ray test to prove the quality of the weld). The new setup has been made so that it presses in where the original shock tube goes, but is actually inside the cut-down shock tube (rather than replacing it). There is a rule here that says it is illegal to weld to any cast/forged suspension components (even though the original design did this). What I've done is to convince the certifier that I have had the insert welded to the original tube, not to the casting. Rediculous, I know, but welding to weld is legal and welding to a casting is not...

the stupid thing about the new setup (other than having to do it twice) is that there is actually less weld on it now than the old one!

on the plus side, the new setup allows the shock to be mounted another 10mm or so lower, and i think they look better (almost oem?)







and in other news, heres where my wheel build is up to... (the rears)









im gonna do the centres black (or the 'centers' for my american friends... )

[AutoBrains]

Hi there, I just wanted to let you know that this thread is awesome and you are an upper case G for sure!

I just picked up a 1980 320i in excellent condition and am going through the motor with new valvetrain & timing components and a tep regrind! A cold air intake and an exhaust will be in the works shortly as well.

The e21 is a new playground for me and I've been having fun with the simplicity of everything- it's also my first BMW project.

I just wanted to give u a +1, its inspiring, keep up the good work!

-brains

[340i]

'plan c'...

im thinking the best and most tidy solution is going to be to have some plates made up that will be welded to the top of the strut towers. which the bearing housing will bolt directly to. the placement will be where it is with the mockup adaptor, but without all the extra bolts and rough looking fitment.

this should get me about 7mm more low too,which is a bonus

thoughts?

[340i]

slight progress, i think..

i had another look at the rear setup and dont think the green top plates are going to work, due to space limitations with the wide tyres. the coilover will need to come across as far inward as possible, so ive gone back to 'plan a' and will be using the smaller top plates (spherical bearing housings).

heres a comparison shot of the two types, plus the bearing housings off the tein camber plates im not using anymore. the black dots are where the holes in the shock tower are when the plate is centred on it.


heres the second reason im going to use the smaller ones, they sit the bearing higher (meaning the car sits lower )


heres my trial adaptor plate that i bodged up this afternoon, from some 5mm stainless.


and in the car (theres bolts missing because i havent cut anything to make room for them yet, but its near enough)


heres what these are going into, if anyones interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vXdeXuN_k4

[340i]

thanks guys. its been a long time in the making, so im quite happy that things are progressing well at the moment. the build is half the fun imo, if these things were easy everyone would do it and how boring would that be!

ok onto the new bits...

heres the mx5 supsension i got, out of a 2006 model that a local car yard was selling and thought it was too hard a ride to sell the car with. sounds good to me though!
they put standard stuff back in the car and i got the set of these online for about 20% of what they're worth new.




heres the rear ones lined up against what i was going to use

the bottom mounting eye is even larger than the already large bore i was going to upgrade to. not too much drama though, ill just have to find someone with a bigger drill bit to attack the suspension arm with

and a bit of mix and match and i thought this combo would be about right. it seems Tein have the same idea as what i was going to do with having an adaptor. no more need to lathe down the old top plate that i was going to use. it just needs the adaptor and im done!





then i got looking at the fronts and figured why not pull those apart and see what we have...


remove the bottom bracket...


which is really nicely engineered i might add (like all the Tein parts i've seen)


and these bits come apart and we have a similar piece to before, but its alloy and a bit bigger


a quick check and it seems to be about the right size, good times! no need for an adaptor any more, i think ill just drill some holes in the top plates to match the holes in the chassis. it almost looks like it was made for it i reckon



back to the shocks, the front and rear are physically the same size bodies, but the fronts have slightly shorter shafts. as they're fully adjustable and can always be swapped back, im going to use the 'fronts' for now, as these should be a better overall length than the rears.


and here it is all together. all i need to do now is make the top plate fit the bolt holes where it bolts on the top and then make the bottom fit too. we're getting close!


i think thats about enough for today.

cheers,


340i

[Oxer]

Deffinately love your work.. I love the fact that you arent affraid to try different coilovers in a completely different application and are content in the amount of fabrication involved. Great work!

[Tman]

You sir garnered my respect!

[340i]

slight update, ive purchased some Tein Mono Flex units (for a new style mx5/miata), which im going to swap into the rear instead of the above shocks. they're fully adjustable and have the threaded bodies (and look pretty much brand new), so will be much better than what i was going to use. I'm picking them up tomorrow, good times.
No doubt there will be 'some' adaption required, hopefully they should go in easy enough though.

[340i]

slight update on the rears. here they are with the nissan rear plates bolted up (and BC top spring perches). I'm going to lathe off the stepped bit off of the plates then bolt an adaptor in. In my head it seems like it will be easy, but we'll see how we go!

[340i]

Nice mods! Did the same thing on my volvo

Instead of making a new tube, with treads. Why not just take the sleeve thats with the coilovers and weld that on the bottom of the leg?

hey NikDev, nice work with the volvo. I thought about doing it that way, but didnt think the standard part was thick enough for my application, and thought it might not look too tidy after cutting off the mounting tabs etc that are on the oem Tein sleeve. Your setup looks great though, so this is definitely another option for other people to take.

[NikDev]

Nice mods! Did the same thing on my volvo

Instead of making a new tube, with treads. Why not just take the sleeve thats with the coilovers and weld that on the bottom of the leg?


I did that on my car:

[ollycarbs]

oh!!!
That's great!!! i was really thinking it would be a lot of work, i mean weldings and cutting, etc.
i will perhaps plan that for the (near) future. As i do not want to modify the shell i will perhaps modify the CP to suit the stock holes a little like you do for the rears... Now i just have to find some camber plates; it is not the easiest thing in France...

Thanks for the explanation and pictures!
Nicolas,

[340i]

heres the BC plates and the slotting (i just drilled next to two of the existing holes). They should stay where they are, but I might weld some washers in there, just to give it a bit more strength.


from underneath you can see all the room available. I think that almost any aftermarket camber plate could probably be used.


and to make the S15 Tein camber plates fit, i got the tapemeasure out and drew some dots and drilled some holes. This was pretty quick and easy, and also if you were to be clever with it, could be done so that you get a bit more castor too (if you want to). My new lower arms will give me this adjustability, so I just mounted them as centred as I could get them with my limited tools.




...and back to the rears, I've got to make some custom top plates to suit the oem mounting holes and the Tein shocks. I've got some Tein plates out of the back of a Skyline (I got them free with my front shocks ) which im thinking about mod'ing and then bolting to a plate which has the same PCD as the holes in the chassis. Theres a bunch of different solutions to this, but I think this will be the quickest and easiest with the parts I've got on hand.

[340i]

oh yeah, impressive!!!!
i will enlarge my field of research for my rear shocks, i was just looking on E30, E36, E46, i found some cool things but when you use some Tein subaru shocks with this quality, it makes me reconsider my choice!

Anyway, massive build for an E21 and i learn each time i read you!!!

By the way, was the previous camber plates, plug n play with the stock 3 bolts of the E21 by any chance ??

The BC camber plates needed a bit of slotting on two of the chassis mounting holes, and when i trial fitted the tein camber plates i drilled three new holes (and spun the plate around 180 degrees). it looks a bit like swiss cheese now but will be covered up eventually when i get a strut bar, so im not too concerned about the extra holes.

ill get a pic at some point and chuck it in the next update

[ollycarbs]

oh yeah, impressive!!!!
i will enlarge my field of research for my rear shocks, i was just looking on E30, E36, E46, i found some cool things but when you use some Tein subaru shocks with this quality, it makes me reconsider my choice!

Anyway, massive build for an E21 and i learn each time i read you!!!

By the way, was the previous camber plates, plug n play with the stock 3 bolts of the E21 by any chance ??