128i Gravel Stage Rally build

[shagles]

Nice! What camber plates did you end up going with?

How are the born2drift arms with the stock suspension? May be ordering those soon

[Rallysmurf]

Originally Posted by shagles

Nice! What camber plates did you end up going with?

How are the born2drift arms with the stock suspension? May be ordering those soon

No troubles with the arms at all.
No sound from the sphericals just solid
Sounds. Of course you will hear more.

I went with these for price and 18mm I'd
Bearing.

https://godspeedproject.com/bmw-3-se...er-system.html

[Rallysmurf]

Test fit a front strut. 2" of tender spring with 275# spring. It's Really nice to have all the adjustable room through the knuckle. They fit great in there.
4/5ths of max on castor, camber 1/2 of max allowing just enough room for strut nut.

I'm 4" of droop into my 7" or travel.

[shagles]

That's some serious droop travel. And less wheel gap than I would have expected too. What's your bump travel from ride height look like?

[mad_hatter]

Looks great! Nice to see it coming together. Bit more spring rate than I expected, so very curious to hear your feedback when you're able to give the car a shakedown.

[Rallysmurf]

Originally Posted by shagles

That's some serious droop travel. And less wheel gap than I would have expected too. What's your bump travel from ride height look like?

Bump is about 3" of 7. Really close to coil bind. I am looking for some 12" 2.25 spring. Only ones I have found are again from the UK.

[fe1rx]

Originally Posted by Rallysmurf

Bump is about 3" of 7. Really close to coil bind. I am looking for some 12" 2.25 spring. Only ones I have found are again from the UK.

Nice build thead Rallysmurf .

If you run into a coil bind issue, you may be able to disasemble the front struts and put a packer under the bump stop to have it engage a bit earlier and effectively reduce the total stroke by a bit.

Barry at 3DM Suspension has described the process to me for my Ohlins front struts, but I imagine the process is similar for any inverted strut, where the bump stop is hidden away.

[Rallysmurf]

Originally Posted by fe1rx

Nice build thead Rallysmurf .

If you run into a coil bind issue, you may be able to disasemble the front struts and put a packer under the bump stop to have it engage a bit earlier and effectively reduce the total stroke by a bit.

Barry at 3DM Suspension has described the process to me for my Ohlins front struts, but I imagine the process is similar for any inverted strut, where the bump stop is hidden away.

Thanks, yeah the bump stop is rather small. Bilstein are 3x as long. Makes for a nice progression but I do t think I have room much inside without loosing total stroke.

I have had be that has a squeak in the spring I'll measure it when I take it off and see if I have room.

Excited to get it out on the country roads to do some real testing.

Looks like my brake hoses are long enough. I took them off the sway bar bracket and slid the grommets together to protect it from the strut. They do not touch but am going to put the GoPro under there to have a look when I start testing. I also am removing the sway bar.

[Rallysmurf]

Successfully installed the rally wheel. No airbag light. Blinkers turn off. Flashpower on eBay, had resistors and was machined properly.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/111803736604

[Rallysmurf]

Slammed some dirt inside lines on my favorite paved roads and ran some dirt also.

No sway bars really felt fine with upped spring rates.

Some rattle in one strut going to pull it and see if it's anything obvious.

Overall really likes them. Might have bottomed once. Bad tarmac bridge g-out had my rear hit hard. Ready to finish the back and get those Porsche bilstein on.

Solid mount camber plates are annoyingly noisy. I got some 1/4 neoprene rubber discs to sandwich to the chassis. See if that dampens the NVH.

[Rallysmurf]

Went to put everything else I have on the rear.
E90 hubs new bearings and rotors.
M3 lower arms
Porsche 911 bilsteins.
BMW updated X1 springs.

Got it all but the hubs and bearings. They just wouldn't budge.

I got 2.5" more droop! before the half shaft bottomed out. I don't t want them to handle that load. I have a pair of e46 m3 rears i am running now. Porsche ones need some machining on the extenders.

Putting in a OEM 3.7 diff tomorrow and then dropping it down. See how it sits.

[shagles]

Holy shock extender Batman! Do those just thread on the end of the shaft?

[Rallysmurf]

Originally Posted by shagles

Holy shock extender Batman! Do those just thread on the end of the shaft?

Yeah. Same thread as e30 shifter extension. I need to machine the post longer for the top chassis mounts.
I put on some e46 m3 shocks but they are not nearly as stiff as these Porsche b6 HD BILSTEINS!
I want these with softer springs. Probably the convertible e93's I have.

[Rallysmurf]

Been a few.

Lots of suspension testing. Some tweaks.

Good durability! Slid wide and tagged the back pass in a dirt bank. Had grass in under the bead and it piped the fuel door open. Nothing is bent.

Running vert springs in the back and m3 shocks still. Seems stiff enough but bouncy. One part left and I'll get the big 911 b6 bilsteins on there see how they fair.

Front is doing ok. Spring is rubbing the tall alum collar making that annoying grown. While I have it apart I will grease it.

Apart bc I am putting he m3 lower front arm on that have spherical inner bearings. Had to grind long inner bushings to fit the width only 1mm.

Also people say the are longer and add camber. NOT MUCH. only 1/8" longer.

Settled out the long travel as the rubber bushings DONT like that much travel. Actually gained 1/2 of bump! 3"bump/4"droop now.

Update after first test drive. - man I can actually feel the ease of front suspension actuation. I get more body roll from the free movement.
I think I can lower the front ride height now some.

[Rallysmurf]

Bit of an luxury item but I think it will be more functional than stock.

Gain oil temp on a lower NA scale

Max speed is 120.

Tach scaling to 12k but I wanted 6 my redline at
12°. - did the of school spin the tach look for
The numbers.

[Rallysmurf]

I want a high center exhaust next.

Lots of work to get that where I want it but all
Good weight savings and simplifying.

First delete gas vapor canister.
I used 1/2pex with a 90 slipped right in the fittings perfectly.

Return to the motor I just plugged with foam ear protection.

Eventually I will remove the whole battery tub and buy a lightweight for the steel passenger side box. That Had a foam fill in it and my TPS, it's gone now I had it coded out of my cluster.

Then I will mount a center pipe after I cut my bumper 5" up the the small lip area retaining the bumper support but keeping it out of view.

Also lots of dust was coming in from the rotted air vent flap. I taped it off with hvac alum tape my favorite for sealing.

[The Wind Breezes]

Wow this is a great build. I broke my stock motor mount jumping the car over tracks on stock suspension. Rally suspension would be better for the street.

Can you get it up on 2 wheels with sticky tires or have you not tried that yet?

[Rallysmurf]

Originally Posted by The Wind Breezes

Wow this is a great build. I broke my stock motor mount jumping the car over tracks on stock suspension. Rally suspension would be better for the street.

Can you get it up on 2 wheels with sticky tires or have you not tried that yet?

These are just some snow tires for playing on dirt. I have another set of these rims I'll put some used racing gummies on. I'm going to rally Colorado in two weeks hope to come back with a set.


My front struts still bottom a bit harsh I am going to put larger internal bump stops in soon.

[Rallysmurf]

Improving the front strut bottom out.
Replace the tiny red one with a rear I cut and fit.

Was still very clean inside.

Also taking the helper spring out for a tender 150#

Lastly a circle of 1/4 hard rubber to help out the NVH.

[Dirtye82_814]

Hey good work, glad to see more 1 series in rally

[Rallysmurf]

Well I now have had two oils come out on the rear heim joints. Found my hardware the first time when outboard toe arm came off.

This next time the bolt broke on outboard forward upper. Lost the cone hardware…… stock are if going back on for now.

Commonalities, both balls in the joint couldn't even moved freely by hand. Even after working them around in a vice with lube.

Boots have kept them pretty clean.

Drove home the second time with a ratchet strap keeping my toe in somewhat at bay.

[WrathOTM]

Nice to see someone from NM doing RallyX stuff. I always wanted to get into it with something like a Mazda 323 gtx or some other left-field choice like a Subaru SVX. Can't imagine doing it in a 128i... Props either way and I'm envious of the work put into it, pretty sweet so far.

If you haven't checked it out before, go take a drive through the Ojito wilderness south of Jemez springs where I live. Lots of moderately maintained roads that are great for hauling ass over.