Happy to help if I can. I’ve done my fair share of trial and error parts purchases and wasted a lot of money finding out what works and what doesnt. BFc’s track forum is second to none for E36 performance knowledge. There is still misinformation, but not like the regular E36 forums. The track guys have knowledge the 18 year olds in the regular forums dont, but those 18 y/o’s will tell you they know what you’re talking about.
And definitely come out to the track w/ us anytime. Even if you just want to swing out and watch or ride. Vlad and Cossey are going to come out to do at least that this year, we should rent a bus.
oh no doubt i’m sure the track forums are a very resourceful tool. maybe if i see a decent single bar for sale in the mean time for a good price i’ll grab it.
yeah, thanks for the welcome. i will definitely make it out to a track day or two. i have a bunch of stuff going on, in what seems, the majority of any “free” time. hopefully when i get all this stuff sorted i can get more leisure time in.
Speaking of sway bars, today I went down to buy wheels/tires from John Vincent who owns a Grand Am Cup Koni Challenge E46 330i. I look under the car and theres a freaking PIPE underneath the subframe. It’s a 40mm sway bar, a BMW Motorsport part ($1200+mounts). Holy hell. It requires a steering stop so you cant turn the wheel all the way and hit the bar. It’s serious business.
Better yet, he uses a 13mm sway (stupid small) off a 323 wagon. How’s that for balance? ;D
wow… thats crazy man!!! 40 mm is freakin huge!!! so he uses the 323 bar in the rear? guess that answers my questions. think i will just go with a big guy up front, and leave the stocker in the rear…
dunno how soon i’m going to get the sways now.
things i need before sways:
-rogue engineering rsm’s
-urethane subframe mounts (or maybe stock)
-subframe reinforcement plates
-uuc rtab’s
-TIRES!!!
i plan on picking it all up with my tax return $, but won’t have any $ left to get the sway(s) just yet.
things i have already to go on with the other rear end stuff:
-akg m.s. rear adj. lca’s
-akg m.s. urethane diff. mounts
what do you recommend for the subframe mounts? should i go for some poly ones, or just stick to oem? iirc, i recall hearing that with urethane subframe mounts you feel much more nvh. is this true jesse? thanks man!!!
I’ve been a fan of every Powerflex product I’ve ever purchased. I cant comment on the NVH since my car has been unholy loud before I put them in. I’ve ridden in street cars with them installed and having noticed anything. OEM is nice, but usually require being pressed in. With the Powerflex, you put a torch on the old ones and melt them out and just drop the new ones in. Obviously get the reinforcement plates for at least the rear when you do them.
I have Turner’s aluminum/delrin diff bushings in both my DD and the track car and dont notice any NVH. So either I cant tell or its perfectly quiet.
I dont know what UUC is selling for an RTAB now but if I had to do it again I’d get the upgraded stock E46 RTAB with the GC shims. The urethane bushings only allow flex on one axis of movement, while the rear trailing arm operates in 2 big ones and 1 additional minor one on the E36. The stock bushing allows movement on all. The install is harder (requires pressing in, AND the bushing must be aligned INTO the arm = pain in the ass). I have the Powerflex and have never noticed anything negative, however the logic behind the stock rubber bushings is proven by people much smarter than me (RRT and others). If you’re doing it yourself and dont feel like pressing and aligning the bushing/arm, get the P-flex. If your a stickler for perfection, get OEM and shims but prepare yourself for lots of cursing. I’d rather drop a tranny twice, replace a fuel tank, rebuild a diff, and reinforce a subframe than do OEM RTABS again.
Another upside to using the oem rtabs and shims is that the shims extend the life of the rtab dramatically…i think tms’ website said it DOUBLED the life of the rtab by using shims/oe bushings, but it doesnt say that anymore…
yeah jesse, i have been going that route of extracting the bushings for awhile as well. i am in the process of replacing every bushing in a '93 civic, so i’m getting tired of bushings in general. i didn’t think you’d notice any loudness increase with the urethane subframe bushings, but i figured i’d ask anyway. oh i’m def. getting all 4 reinforcement plates. its cheap insurance. i only had 1 issue with powerflex before, and that was with the 2 piece lca’s, where the inner bushing wouldn’t “dive” onto the control arm far enough, because of its casting.
i have the 3 really hard urethane diff mount bushing set from akg already, so thats good.
yeah, i can def. see the argument on the rtab’s movement characteristics, but i think i’ll just go poly, just because its cheaper/ easier. uuc is selling the rtab’s for $65.00 now i believe, which is cheaper than going oem/ shims. i won’t have to worry about “clocking” the urethane bushings either. i hated dealing with that when i did my lca’s. i ended up going offset lemforder for those because the car was already apart due to the powerflex issue, and they were readily available.
the turner shims are some nice pieces for sure, but again at this point in time i think it would be a better choice for me to just go poly. every dime is gonna have to count here since i gotta get tires as well.
