Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

[GotCone?]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

Nice work!

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

While I WORKED ON the seat bracket fab work yesterday, Hanchey was busy installing our 2nd set of shortened OEM E30 front strut housings onto our little E30 318is. These were shortened 1" and at a lower ride height actually have more shock travel. The OEM struts are pretty dang long...



He ordered new hubs today, so everything should be wrapped up this weekend. Then he's got some bits to build custom 4300 triple adjustable rear shocks. And the H&R adjustable front bar should be on then, too. Just in time for Amy and TommyR to race it in about a a week at the next SCCA SW Divisional.

Here's some pics of another set of shortened E30 front housings. We take the housing, cut off the OEM lower perch, then shorten the housing tube and then re-tap it for the upper gland nut/spring perch assembly. The shortened housing then gets plated and backed/normalized. Looks so nice. We will offer this is an in-house product/service soon, with core exchanges. (4200 and 4300 strut housings have the OEM tube lopped off and an all new one added - this is only done at AST in Holland). The rear shock shown is a normal AST 4200 double adjustable aluminum body shock but with a coilover conversion kit installed.







So pretty its a shame they are fairly well hidden when installed... :cool

[Miatamoto]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

Looks great! See ya'll at the divisional.

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

Looks great! See ya'll at the divisional.

You won't see Fair and I. We'll be at the GRM UTCC event in California.

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

For the modified housings, Fair left out..."and they won't be cheap". I think most DIYers can find a place to shorten the housings. You won't get the pretty plating, etc, but you'll save some money. Either way, these turned out great. Can't wait to drive it.

BTW, our plater does most of the military work in Dallas so everything we plate that needs it, gets baked to "Mil Specs" to avoid hydrogen embrittlement.

For the rear, we're making a custom 4300. Since we have to run an open diff in this car, I wanted to maximize rebound travel. On a typical shock, to get more rebound, you have to lengthen the shaft and lengthen the body of the shock so that you don't bottom it out internally. That means you really can't lower the car as much. By going to a remote reservoir we can actually add a longer shaft and not lengthen the body of the shock since we remove the floating piston from the body of the shock, it is in the remote reservoir. We'll see how it works. It is a nice experiment for grins.

The nice thing about the rear shock we provide with the E30 kits is that the fill plug is the same threaded hole used on the 4300's hose fitting so we can just remove the floating piston and add the hose/res and do some shim changes in the process. It's a straight forward, future upgrade for anyone purchasing the E30 4100 kit. I'm hoping to do a before and after on the shock dyno this week.

[GotCone?]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

good info Brian.

Nice to hear the upgrade from a 4100 is not too involved. Might be something we'll be doing in the future to ours.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

We had the E30 down for a couple of weeks while we installed some new parts and replaced a few OEM pieces. First thing that went on were Vorshlag shortened, retapped, and yellow zinc-chromate plated E30 strut housings. Inside these new housings went shortened AST 4100 monotube inserts. This was to test some new strut shortening procedures (its a pain, but worth it) and everything worked perfectly.



While the front end was apart I had the brake backing plates plated (I'm a pimp like that) and Hanchey installed new front hubs (they were the "FAG" brand... I can't make this up) and 75mm Competition wheel studs, and then put on one of our steel strut braces. We also installed an H&R front swaybar, which helped reduce some lean. The same 570#/in rate springs went back in, but this time we could use a real 6" long spring instead of the 5" springs we had to use with the stock (long) housings.



The AST 4100 kit for the front of an E30 comes with these slick adjustable perches that take the place of the factory gland nut. They just thread into the original M48 internal thread on the top of the strut housing, and then the coilover spring sits on these perches (see pics in post above). Since we shortened the housings (and removed the OEM lower perches at the same time) we had to re-tap this internal thread. This is a better process than doing the Frankenstein "cut off the top, cut out a shortened section, then reweld it all back together and hope its square" surgery we've seen done elsewhere. We've done a few sets of shortened E30 struts now and have some extra E30 housings on hand to make more, so we will offer this shortening service on an exchange basis for E30 non-Ms, and on a turn-around procedure for E30 M3s (can't find M3 housings) soon. Remember, this procedure involves bead blasting the entire housing, band saw cutting, cut off wheel work to remove the OEM perches, grinding and sanding to clean everything up, and retapping the tube with a massive and expensive M48 tap (a 2 man job), then electroplating the entire assembly. It won't be a cheap upgrade, but it will be very worthwhile as a shorter housing allows for more travel at a lower ride height.



For the back of the E30 Hanchey had some creative plans in mind, and they worked brilliantly. The car has no Limited Slip Diff and can't use one in the STS class it is running in, and we noticed the tires barely leaving the pavement in hard corners watching slow-motion HiDef videos. We tried stiffer spring rates (750#/in) but even though the car felt flatter in corners it was slower in testing than with the 570# springs. It still lifting the rear tire off the ground just enough to induce wheel spin no matter what we tried.



So the proposed solution was to allow for a LOT more rear droop travel - several inches more than the already ample amount built into the 4100 rear shocks. To do this Hanchey scratch built some 4300 rear shocks which naturally moved the compression stack and floating piston to the remote reservoirs, which left more room for some serious shock travel in the main shock body. Not only that, but we got two additional compression adjustments at the same time (hi and low speed). A dual coilover+tender spring set-up was added to the rear to allow the spring to remain seated at this extreme droop travel. We also installed some new Vorshlag Nylon lower spring alignment platforms (these now come with all BMW 3 series AST kits when you order them with springs). Its always more expensive to go to triple adjustable monotube shocks, and mounting the remotes can be challenging, but it worked for this goofy non-LSD equipped car perfectly. The car is HOOKED UP now! To do doubles or triples in the front is a lot more complicated, and has to be done by AST in Holland using your front spindles. We'll wait on that for now...

The new UltraShield seats proved a perfect fit for our many co-drivers, and I've driven around for hours in the car on the street making shop deliveries in this little beast. I will admit that after a couple of hours in 100°F heat the broken A/C is becoming "annoying" and the aluminum seats could use a bit more padding in the butt area for longer drives. I'll find some foam to use for street drives and cut it to fit. The leg bolstering and shoulder fit is perfect, and the fore-aft travel is hilariously long.

We got another set of RE01Rs from Bridgestone (225/50/16) and we'll be running the car at the next SW Divisional on them, with me, TommyR, and Amy driving it in STS and STS-L. On the street the car rides fantastically, and with the compression turned down its a dang Cadillac. We let several E30 racers drive it after a recent BMWCCA local chapter meeting and it was universally praised. Most folks that sat in the seats loved them, too. the 15" width didn't fit everyone that tried them (but fits all of our drivers) but the 17" width passenger seat did.

Up next: New rear shock tower brace installation (just got them back from powder coat - they are beautiful!) and permanent mounting of the remotes in the rear. Then that ghetto exhaust is getting hacked off and a new lightweight, mandrel bent system goes in with a new muffler. The old MagnaFlow has seen duty on 3 cars over the past 4 years and is totally shot - it sounds like a Honda with a fart tip!

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

As an example of what "hooked up" means. You can now flat foot the car in first gear coming out of a parking lot and entering the middle lane of a 6 lane (3 lanes/side) road, right hand turn. I even tried to make the turn as square as possible. Before it would have just wildly spun the inside tire. Same is true for turning left on a two lane road. Just floor it and go. The torque monster 1.8L just pulls to redline. Granted, those aren't race conditions, but it certainly will be a different car now. And since most autocross turns will be in 2nd gear, it should work well.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

OK, lots of updates... first, the bad news:



Here's what can happen with OEM rubber trans mounts (above). This is from our E30 BMW after running it all day at a huge 1.5 mile long autocross last Saturday... We were running it with the stock rubber transmission mounts (until we had more poly mounts in stock). Big mistake. The OEM mounts (in the top left picture) are VERY stretched. These sloppy rubber mounts allowed the whole transmission to shift sideways about 3/4", which bound up the shift linkage, which caused for a missed shift, which EXPLODED the clutch... This is why we make competition transmission mounts.


At left... no more friction material?? At right... that black powder is all that's left of the stock clutch

This was the result. Luckily it didn't damage the motor (Money $hift). We have our poly transmission bushings going into this car tonight (along with a new clutch). I'd normally blame bad shifting but I was driving it at the time and it was just bound up so badly it couldn't go into gear. Simple upshift under lateral load. It had been giving the other 3 drivers of the car fits all day, so I took a practice run in it after the competition was over. Of course is explodes on me.

Our new 95A and 80A durometer thru-bolt transmission mount design works on all E30s (except S14/M3) and all E36 and all E46 manual transmission equipped cars. Call this insurance.




(right before the clutch vaporized, last weekend at a BMWCCA autocross. She won her class by 5 seconds, at least)

I didn't run the E30 that day (other than for a couple hundred feet before doing "the clutch bomb"), but was instead was racing in Dean's C5 Corvette FRC, testing a brand new set of AST4100s. Haven't raced in Corvettes in a couple of years but they are too easy to go fast with. The shocks worked really damn well on this big, bumpy course, and I was able to win my class and set FTD by a nice margin even with cone trouble on my fastest runs. The C5 rides 10X better than it did with some "other brand" twin tube adjustable shocks it had before, too.



Cheers,

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

OK, some of the work that went on the week before this last event:


Here is our new E30 steel rear shock tower reinforcement brace. So pretty... want to touch the shiny...


Fair getting in the trunk installing new Vorshlag rear shock mounts. So strong, so stiff! Makes a great mount for...


The AST4300 "Long Droop" rear shocks' remote reservoirs


The 225/50/16 Bridgestones are PHAT! Had to roll the rear fender lips to clear them. They have more grip, of course.



Should finish the clutch and oil pan gasket repairs tonight... just in time for the SW Divisional this weekend. I'm going to run it in STS while Amy runs it in STS-Ladies, as our Alpha car (XP classed) is apart for paint...

[cledbetter]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

Wow, that looks like a lot of fun =(

I was planning on going to the Div but dont think I will make it anymore since the BMW is still in parts in the garage waiting for some new parts... (wheel bearings are a pain) I hope you guys have a good time down there. It should be a good event.

Christopher

[Miatamoto]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

Glad to hear you got the clutch figured out.

BTW, I sent you a PM Terry.

[Tommy R]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

Sorry to hear about the clutch, but the car looks GREAT! Glad to hear the changes are helping it plant the power. Wish I could help out at the Div. this weekend, but too many projects around the house and too little fundage on top of that.

Would love to help do some tuning at some point again, though...

Tommy

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

The wrong oil pan gasket kept us from putting it back together. Fair got the clutch installed. Just need to reinstall the pan and stab it!

[John in Houston]

Re: Vorshlag 1991 BMW 318is

The wrong oil pan gasket kept us from putting it back together. Fair got the clutch installed. Just need to reinstall the pan and stab it!

Upper or lower gasket? BMW phuked me 2 times with those... both times gave me the wrong one (not sure how that could be so difficult).