Upgrade, repair & maintenance weekend

[Blacksport]

Finally got around to installing the Whiteline subframe bushing inserts, and the Eibach rear springs & height adjusters...I installed the front coilovers almost a year ago, and finally got around to doing the rears. I did not use the Eibach rear shocks, the shaft is skinny as a pencil; I used a set of Bilsteins instead.

Also, there were two problems I was looking to fix: the car felt "bouncy" with only the front coilovers, and adding rear Bilstein shocks helped, but not completely...I suspected the rear springs, so if a change to the Eibach rear springs didn't help, I was prepared to dump the whole kit and try something else. The other problem: the driver's side front was substantially lower then the passanger front; I had to dial the LF coilover way up, and the RF down to get anywhere near level...WTF? As soon as I looked under the car, I saw the problem: the LF shock had sunk down in it's holder on the upright, even breaking off the small, tack-welded stop tab on the shock body. Uh, this was my bad...I didn't have a deep 18 when I installed these last year, I simply didn't get it tight enough. I positioned it to the same height as the RF, and tightened it with my new 18 deep and a breaker bar...I'm lucky nothing was damaged.

The Whiteline spacers went in easy as butter, certainly easier then changing the bushings and probably just as good for a street/weekend track car. With the subframe dropped, I thought the springs would just lift out...no way: I still had to compress them a good bit...fortunately, the Eibachs and their adjusters just dropped right in. I dialed the adjusters about 3/4's up, hoping that would be about right (it was).

With 5500 miles, I did the 2nd oil change, 0w40 M1, and changed the trans and diff oil; thank you, Wolfe for your excellent write-up. And thanks loads BMW, for not having a diff drain...how hard would it have been to put a drain plug in the differential?

I took it for a ride, checking everything out; it shifted beautifully with Redline's synthetic MTF, but the big smiles came from the suspension: my guess of the ride height was perfect front and rear...the bounciness was completely gone; it was definitely the stock rear springs, although the low LF strut probably added to the problem. This is a bad-ass little machine now, with only a few mods: 18" Enkie's with polished lip and Continental's best summer performance tire, BMW's 6-piston front brake kit, muffler delete, Eibach's street coilover kit with rear Bilstein shocks, Active Autowerke's reflash (optimizes for 91 octane, remaps VANOS, removes TSL), and a free-flow air filter with some small, hand-made scoops in the grills. Not sure if I'll do anything else, thinking about JB Racing's aluminum flywheel, it's 12 lbs vs. 32 lbs (I think), and with a spring hub clutch disc, should be completely rattle free, or very close to it...