Suspension rear suspension

Enzio

Dang it. I was hoping mine would get 3 more inches
May 14, 2019
1,043
846
123
Minnesota
My rear suspension (springs) have never been replaced. Does anyone have some wisdom to add? Such as where to get the right springs and shackles/Kit? The last time I replace any rear springs were on my Mom's 62 Falcon. That was 48 years ago. What with the upgrades I'm planning on I'm thinking I should take care of this now rather than wait till later.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


My rear suspension (springs) have never been replaced. Does anyone have some wisdom to add? Such as where to get the right springs and shackles/Kit? The last time I replace any rear springs were on my Mom's 62 Falcon. That was 48 years ago. What with the upgrades I'm planning on I'm thinking I should take care of this now rather than wait till later.

Racer Walsh used to have the rest, not sure if they still do.
 
Thank you very much. I figured you'd be out driving around. It's going to snow here today so I'm shopping for parts. Have a good day.
Enzio
 
Thank you very much. I figured you'd be out driving around. It's going to snow here today so I'm shopping for parts. Have a good day.
Enzio
20200509_081938.jpg


I'm at the shop with it today. Did the alignment, blew all the leaves and rat crap out of everything but the cowl (no idea how I'm going to clean that out without pulling a fender), played with the traction bars, fixed a vacuum leak, and I'm doing the coolant flush now (also did an oil filter housing on a customer car and had lunch).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
I know! It's amazing!
got everything I should need from general spring. racer walsh didn't have much.
Still looking for a T5. Geez that's tough.
Snow? Yes...I'm going to bundle up and go cover my garden soon. That'll take a couple of beverages.
 
Looked out the window. Rain Snow mix coming down...about 7 hours earlier than the weatherman said. Ran out to cover the garden. Now it's beverage time.
Thanks for the help today.
 
look at that nice clean shop
That's one of the shop foreman's bays. I had a 328i in one of my two bays, and the service manager had his pickup in the other when I got there, so I put the II in the shop foreman's bay since he was off today. Picked the car up to double-check everything and to show off the subframe connectors and exhaust to a co-worker.

My bay is MUCH cleaner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Are you working there or just cleaning?!?
In germany the BMW dealers don't work anymore, they just put laptops on the OBD and write big bills...
Oh we work. I did oil filter housing gaskets on the N20 engine in that 328i on my DAY OFF today.

I don't need the computer to write big bills on BMWs, I just pick the things up with the lift, write up all the oil leaks, and send in the estimates. Nearly every BMW I've ever worked on with more than 20,000 miles has been leaking oil from something. Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon were nothing compared to the environmental damage BMW is doing with all of their oil spills all over the world.

BMW both baffles me and impresses me. It's the only car company I've ever seen that can do something so GENIUS as have the air flowing through the intake manifold cool the engine electronics, while doing something so asinine as to require the removal of the passenger side knee airbag to service the cabin air filter.

Seriously, the N20's DME cooling plate is an absolutely STUNNING piece of engineering, quite possibly one of the greatest examples I've seen in my career. On the same engine, the oil cooler, which they know will need removal as a damned maintenance item because they already knew it was going to leak from the same design being used on other engines, requires the removal of the intake manifold to get to one of the bolts. Either the engineer behind that decision is incredibly stupid, or he was the same guy that came up with the cooling scheme for the electronics and he wanted to make DAMNED sure every BMW technician in the world saw it! :rlaugh:

I like the N20. Its so incredibly powerful and efficient and TINY. If it weren't so noisy and prone to leaks (and it leaks a lot less than the I6s and V8s) I'd probably want one for a daily... in a blue 3-series... with the M appearance package... no, I haven't thought about it. ;)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I was just kidding ;-)
BMW is an interesting company. We are one of the suppliers for exhaust systems for them. The engineering effort is very high compared to other manufacturers. Hence BMW has the best stock exhaust systems (back pressure, flow noise, sound).
But on the other hand the mess thing up like: moving the timing chain (which didn't need service in the predecessor engines for ages) to the back of the engine, but the f**'up in purchasing non prestressed timing chains (you know... it was cheaper), which then get loose/failed. Big bonus: customers had to pay for the engine removal and timing chain repair themselves... BMW doesn't make mistakes.
It is very interesting to hear about the oil leaking problem. I also heard of many issues with electronics when they are some years old...
Typical car for people how buy every 4 years a new car. Or for leasing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
While I was under the car measuring up springs and hardware, I noticed the left side axle bearing leaking. Because of that I started thinking about a differential swap and Lilcbra had suggested a while back going with a 3.55. So I'm thinking of a Detroit Trutrac and was getting up the nerve to spend the money. Now I think I've found a transmission. It's a 94-95 T5z with 2.95-1st, 1.94-2nd, 1.43-3rd, 1.0-4th, and .63-OD. With that tranny in mind would you still recommend a 3.55 ring and pinion or would you stay with the 3.0 that was stock? I'm going to stay with the 8".
 
I still think you'll like the 3.55s, but the transmission you listed is geared differently than mine. Mine is from a 95 5.0 GT, the ID tag was 1352-246 which is listed as 3.35, 1.99, 1.33, 1.00, and .68 OD. So going from that I can't speak from experience, but I wouldn't think it would be too much different than mine while highway cruising. You can do some calculations on this site to see what kind of MPH you'll be going at a given RPM, it may help your decision.