Pete loves Corvettes.
no one said it has to look perfect, but i’d say throwing almost every part at the suspension and replacing it with something that’s basically track ready, constitutes “handling parts.” i don’t know whats so funny about a car you can control. if this car was just a daily driver then why splurge on the suspension as he did? my guess is he is going to use it for dual purpose, since i know archie isn’t rich.
after i put the used suspension stuff on his car, i drove it, and it was FINE. drove like any other e36, actually it handled better than it looked, which surprised me because of its condition. with the exception of the torn subframe mounting point, it could have been left alone, and MAYBE needed a few bushings here and there. like i said, unless this thing deteriorated quickly after i drove it, it was “daily driver material” as it sat IMO.
archie,
i have the akg motorsport sperical rear arms… if you are worried about qualifying for tech in most clases they won’t allow the sperical bearings in the rear arms… the ground control ones are a popular choice because they use urethane end, and are allowed.
lots of people have gripes with uuc’s stuff, but i’ve personally never had one problem. i have the red tranny mounts with enforcer cups, ss clutch line, underdrive pullies, rtabs, etc. all fit and function 100% still.
i’ve had more problems with powerflex actually, and it was only one. the front lcab’s i bought from them years ago were a two-piece design, and the control arms casting wouldn’t allow for the inner part to “dive” all the way on the arms. they never lined up properly with the lollypop’s. bimmerworld was notified, and they told me “thanks for the R and D.” needless to say, they refunded my $ in full.
how was your diff. bolt when you changed the nose bushing? many are bent from the stress over the years. i’m using the akg poly diff mount set, which replaces all 3 bushings. no increase in vibration or harshness.
let me know if and when you need a hand on the body. i’m very good at taking them apart, and even better at body work after i did mine.
“Precision” my a$$… The suspension is nothing special. It wasn’t cheap but I will stretch for things that are safety / reliability related. Thought about going with TRM (The Racers Market) stuff but the GC/Konis ended up being cheaper and also had the adjustable camber plates at the front- basically a track/school kit.
The other big plus is that I was sure to get support from GC, whereas TRM is more of an unknown, although from looking at the kit, the level of engineering and design that went into that setup looks pretty high.
I agree about the daily thing - heck it’s not only my “daily”, it’s my ONLY car… I don’t care much if it looks like a$$. If it handles like a$$ though, I’m not happy.
lol if the suspension was nothing special, you should have just left it alone and saved your $. shit drove fine before as a daily
feel free to drop by and clean it for me. i’m busy doing werk. :thumbup
Lol Pete, man, he put parts in that are firmer than stock (don’t deflect as much) and therefore easier to install. I really don’t think poly subframe bushings would make a car handle better, feel better on inputs, sure, but if you’re going to quantify ‘handling’ I don’t think poly components would increase that at all, just feel better in a hard driving environment. Poly and Delrin RTAB’s are more harm than good, OEM or spherical all the way.
The LCA’s aren’t legal in certain classes of club racing and auto-x…but neither are poly bushings and coilovers. You’ll pass tech at any HPDE, auto-x, drift event, or anything else you can do with them just fine as long as there’s nothing wrong with the sphericals. They will get noisy though! If you really want a good all around adjustable LCA for the rear, on a dd, you should have went with one of the rubber-end arms…like the TMS arms. The joints are sealed like a stock balljoint and have 2, 3x the life of spherical arms.
i’m busier actually. been rocking out multiple jobs everyday, plus working on my 2 cars, watching my kid, taking care of the house, hangin with this chick etc…
come clean my shit! :tongue
Oh, and Archie, the 318 control arms and tie rods are 31k miles old, I’ll check to see if they’re the same part as the 325, you can have them on the cheap cheap to tighten up the front end as well.
Pete, will babysit for Jetta body work. :lol
Jettas are fucking JUNK.
man i would love to have that many side jobs but
a) i work full time
b) i could only con poor archie into letting me butcher his shit.
c) clearly i am not fit to work on cars.
:thumbup:thumbup:thumbup:thumbup:thumbup :rofl
I sure do like to make them that way.
I am 98% sure I will never purchase another VW again.
for the most part, spherical anything is much more harsh for street driving. the roads around here are not good for the parts at all. too much shock is transmitted through the car with them, because there is no “give.” that’s why you’ll destroy your shit faster on the roads then on a track. potholes are not your friend.
the lca’s aren’t as important to stray from spherical bearings for street use, since the inside joint doesn’t have a whole lot of shock/ input to the road. they don’t move much really when the car is planted on the road.
the poly/ delrin rtab’s are perfectly fine to run. the only misconception is that they don’t allow for every deflection angle blah blah blah… mine work 100%, with zero issues, so this has yet to be a problem for me.
i’m going to do some work and not waste away on the computer. :banghead
I splurged on suspension because it is probably the most important part of the car to me, assuming the car is in pretty good shape already and has no major issues.
Let’s say spending time in a race ready sprint kart, I routinely experience being completely connected to the road with absolutely direct steering, and although I know that’s hard to get to in a street car, it’s nice to try and get that “feel”.
I equate it to owning a really nice show car with mint exterior, honeys drooling over it, the whole nine. Once you have done that, it’s tough to go out with a ratty POS. Well, someone tell me, I’ve never had a car with a show worthy exterior…
Things definitely got worse in the past couple of months. Likely a combination of tires / suspension / subframe issues, etc.
I’ll see if I can pass tech with these SPCs, if I have an issue I’ll let you know. Diff bolt was fine, no issues at all. Previous owner probably was kind to the car.
As for body, appreciate the offer- will let you know, but don’t hold your breath for me to do body work anytime soon…
oh for sure sphericals are way more harsh, but they do allow for deflection in every angle same as stock, with no slop. I’ve hard some BAD shit about delrin rtab’s specifically, poly is probably fine, but the oem’s and limiters are best of both worlds. suck for install though.
Why are you two bickering about Archie’s choices for his car anyway? :lol
It seems to have come a long way, and being fellow E36 owners you two should be happy he’s doing something to keep this thing from rotting in a garage somewhere.
I say keep up the good work, track or DD - nothing wrong with wanting your car to drive/handle better, right?
i wasn’t bickering at all… you must not know me that well…
in that case, nicole, i’m hungry, when you gonna cook me lunch? :rofl
We are not bickering we are discussing.
Entertain thyself elsewhere, wench.
Bickering. Like little Sallys.
I don’t know Pete, I’m pretty hungry myself.
My boss is sending me home sick, so cooking lunch is on the agenda soon for sure.
Benny can come too, I guess.
Yeah kid, stick to your day job- you have no idea what you’re doing in the garage… :rofl
I’m pretty sure I could have done it all myself (breaking the speed sensor and breaking the allen wrench in half He-Man style, I mean). :lol
On another note, lemme get those pieces together for the family van and I’ll get at you for the next job… CE light hasn’t returned yet, so it may just be the timing belt / brakes in the near future. Subframe welds + 14 hr. day is optional! :thumb