Which adjustable camber rear camber set to choose?

[Dobiwallah]

Hi, I just did a wheel alignment, because I have lowered the Zed 5 months ago.

According to the aligner specs sheet the rear is:
before lowering (2013)
Camber left -2.95 Right -3.03
Toe left -1.2 Right -1.4

After lowering (a week ago)
Camber left -3.21 Right -3.10
Toe left --3.3 Right 1.3

I can't understand that the left toe has changed so much to be honest.
The suspension is M-suspension. The aligner told me that -3.5 camber is the max for the Z3

So I went looking for a adjustable camber set for the rear wheels.
I a couple of systems.
You have the Ireland Engineering https://www.iemotorsport.com/bmw/Z3-suspension-steering/e30adjsf.html where you have to weld brackets on your frame,

Or you have the set from bavauto.com, where you don't have to weld anything on your frame http://blog.bavauto.com/4113/rear-adjustable-camber-kit-bmw-z3-318ti-e30-others/

Which set is preferred and why? I don't mind the welding, but here in NZ your welding work on a chassis should officially be certified.

 

[5harp3y]

I'm going with some Revshift bushes on mine to raise the subframe and diff which in turn removes some rear camber

http://www.hackengineering.co.uk/product/revshift-rear-subframe-bushings-e30e36tiz3/

bonus is that they

replace the tired old bushes
give you diff studs instead of bolts (easier removal)
can come in three different stiffnesses (OEM / ROAD / RACE)

you have a distributor in NZ too

EuroTurbo
Waikato, New Zealand
www.euroturbo.nz
(BMW)

 

[5harp3y]

just seen that they dont seem to do the bushes on their own in NZ but probably worth an ask

 

[Dobiwallah]

I'm going with some Revshift bushes on mine to raise the subframe and diff which in turn removes some rear camber

http://www.hackengineering.co.uk/product/revshift-rear-subframe-bushings-e30e36tiz3/

bonus is that they

replace the tired old bushes
give you diff studs instead of bolts (easier removal)
can come in three different stiffnesses (OEM / ROAD / RACE)

you have a distributor in NZ too

EuroTurbo
Waikato, New Zealand
www.euroturbo.nz
(BMW)

I'm not sure how these risers are working

(Offtopic: My toyota son said he will call me a ricer https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=c...S7ECRMQ_AUIBigB#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=car+ricer, if I'm gonna wrap my roof with carbon fiber )

 

[Dino D]

That looks very, very low at the rear, maybe try raising it a bit (with spring pads if you don't have adjustable) and see how the reading come out then? May not be so bad and still look good so save you a lot of cost so you can get the carbon wrap done. Nothing wrong with rice.

 

[5harp3y]

They work but moving the entire subframe back to standard ish geometry to counteract the lowered springs

 

[Dobiwallah]

I have done some research on the net about the adjustable camber sets etc.

If I use the Revshift bushes to raise the subframe, the subframe will be only a few millimeters away from the from the chassis. The camber will be only changing probably 0.5 degrees positive. I can't adjust the toe. If I want to add a IE adjustable set later on, I can't because the brackets won't fit with the raised sub frame.

I checked out the powerflex adjustable arm bushes:

I think if you turn for example the inner bush (camber) it will change the toe as well. And visa versa. because you have to turn the bush up and down to adjust something. This is probably a aligners nightmare.

So my conclusion is to buy an eccentric bolt set. the settings of camber and toe won't influence each other. I have found this company in the USA who the most friendly prices for this set and bushes:
https://store.garagistic.com/E30-Rear-Subframe-Camber-and-Toe-Correction-Kits?search=camber
https://store.garagistic.com/80a-e30-rear-trailing-arm-bushings?search=z3

If the subframe is down, I might as well do the subframe bushes and the diff bushes.

Here a price compare list I made:

 

[Dobiwallah]

I'm still working out my stuff.

Has somebody ordered bushes from these guys in Poland? http://www.strongflex.eu/en/58-bmw-z3-94-02 The price is more friendly than the garagistic shop..

 

[5harp3y]

never gone with them, might be worth a google.

 

[garagistic]

I'm still working out my stuff.

Has somebody ordered bushes from these guys in Poland? http://www.strongflex.eu/en/58-bmw-z3-94-02 The price is more friendly than the garagistic shop..

We price match. Just send us an email.

 

[Dobiwallah]

So I bought a Full suspension bush kit, 036110B from Strongflex UK (the same set in Poland was about 26USD more)
Chose as country New Zealand, paid
Subtotal £138.24
Shipping & Handling £17.00
Grand Total £155.24

But this morning I got an email saying that the website is not setup for New Zealand (but was in dropdown list) and I need to add £23 more via paypal. Make the post about £40. Is this a normal price for post from UK to New Zealand?

 

[Davyhoogy]

I would think so. I'm paying over 20 to send some stone guards

 

[Dobiwallah]

I have enough to do the coming weeks:

I have bought the full bush set.
The centric bolts came from Garagisic : Cost USD76 plus USD27.95 post

The bushes came from Strongflex. I bought the bushes from the UK website
A whole set on the Polish Strongflex website cost EURO186,29 = 158.28 GBP
A whole set on the UK Strongflex site cost 138.24GBP plus 17GBP post, plus an extra 23GBP which I had to pay for the post, makes total post 40GGBP

And the parcel came from.......Poland...

I will post my progress here in this post.

 

[Dobiwallah]

I have done some work on my car, but I have a question. On all the photos I have looked at on the internet, the exhaust has a splice somewhere in the middle. It looks like mine exhaust is going all the way in one piece to the front of the car, or do I miss something? I haven't crawled all the way to the front yet...

Lifting as high as possible

Exhaust goes all the way to the front.

The clamp is not rusted, which is normally it is I understand.

Removed the lining.

It's most likely that the spare tire is seeing daylight for the first time in its life

 

[Antm72]

The standard exhaust factory fit is a one piece as far as i know it was on my 2.8.

 

[GazHyde]

We've seen some in the 'shed which are two piece, but the majority are one section particularly the later models.

 

[Dobiwallah]

I just had a look at the parts website. This one says the muffler is separate. I will crawl back tomorrow, it is night here now..
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=CL32-EUR---Z3-BMW-Z3 2.0&diagId=18_0368

 

[Dobiwallah]

So, I had some hours left over to remove the exhaust before I had to go to my nightshift. I did a depth investment in buying a garage crawler, man, I should have bought that 30 years ago!. All those hours I have spend under my Simca's fixing something lying on my back!

Anyway, I crawled under the Z, and got immediately punished for not wearing safety glasses. Within a second I got some s*** in my eye. I hope I flushed it out, but I can still feel it.

I had to lift the front of the Z up as wel, becoase it was to low to get at the exhuast manifold connection. The Z is standing on my firewood blocks now, but it is pretty stable construction. I only can't have an earthquake at the moment. But the last big earthquake here was 84 years ago, I don't expect one soon. For the rest, see comment above photos.

My depth investment which I should have bought 30 years ago.

The non rusted bracket was broken Luckily the other side is in between the gearbox and other bracket, so I won't get it easily out. Bolds are too long (cynical mode)

Don't forget to unplug the sensor wires, otherwise the falling exhaust will rip all the wires loose.

Also disconnect the awesome sound maker valve connection.

To get the exhaust out of this rubber was a real PIA! I finaly managed to do it with a vice plier and some dish washer liquid.

The exhaust is still in good nick after 16 years of use, no rust at all

 

[Dobiwallah]

I will place more photos, I hope it will help somebody who wants to take his subframe off also. I have found a lot of other topics on the net about this subject, but not really detailed photos. if you do this the first time it can be a bit scary, and detailed photos can be quite helpful.

Taking the subframe off is a pretty straight forward job I found out. But altough I prepared myself well, I forgot to take the wired plug out of the back of the differential Luckily the wires weren't broken, but it ripped the loom of the car. Easy repair.

Questions:
Is it wise to changes the rubber brake lines after 16 years, I mean they have no cracks or so, and are still flexible.
The brake disk are 0.5 mm worn on each side of the disk. Is this a problem?
The brake pads are about 4-5mm.

First I took the stabilizer off, only 2 bolts/nuts and 2 bolts

Then the heat shielding, only 6 nuts.

Then I spreaded the brake pads with a circlip plier. If you do this later when the brake lines are disconnected, you will leak a lot of brake fluid on the floor.

The brake caliper is only fitted with two bolts (and the brake line) I normally leave the bolts and nuts were they belong, so I know where they are from.

The right brake line did not want to let go. I used the right open spanner, but on the end I used a vice plier to get some grip. The nut is badly damaged, I hope I can shape it a bit in form with a file. I also made some leak stoppers of a piece of air hose. You can see that the brake fluid is pretty
dark. I better replace it.

I have made many detail photos, otherwise I can't remember how it was assembled. This is the hand brake for example.

Then I removed the brake lines from the chassis to the subframe.

I saw this box as well, which I think is a filter or fuel pump maybe. I had to remove the black pipe under, and expected a lot of petrol on the floor, but nothing happened.

Next was removing the 4 nuts of the drive shaft and the two nuts of the bearing holder in the middle of the car.

Disconnecting the shock absorber. Better have a jack under it, so you can lower the trailing arm slowly when the shock absorber is disconnected.

Removing the bush holder on each side. On nut and two cap screws.

Ready for touchdown

Then I ripped the cable loom from the chassis, because I forgot to take the plug of the differential Luckily with little damage.

There it is, it looks like something of transformers

Disassembled

After a good wash with car shampoo, both of the parts look like brand new

 

[Dino D]

Wow how nice to keep a car in a country not full of rain and muck. Nice and rust free under there!