Just picked up my new Ti

[lberry]

Got it back from Florida a-ok. It's a 97 Morea Green Active. I dig the color. I'm happy with my purchase but I have a few gripes.

The front end is SLOPPY. Shocks are gone, but it seems like more is gone as well. I've seen some chatting on here about upgrading some of the linkages and bushings to M3 spec for better reliability and response, anyone done that? I'd like to add some handling, but I don't want to sacrifice a nice highway ride. I was thinking some adjustable Konis to go with the stock springs. That way if I really wanted to I could jack up the stiffness, but wouldn't have to if I didn't want to. Anyone use the Konis?

The gear ratios blow. 3500 RPMs at 75mph? I'd trade the response for lower overall RPMs anyday, my Scion Tc doesn't hit 3000 until almost 90mph I believe.

In anticipation of this I have purchased an E30 2.93 ratio LSD diff. My only concern is whether this will take ALL the punch out of the engine, which is related to another gripe.

Dissapointed with the low end torque. I could be imagining things, but this engine doesn't seem to like 2000-3500RPM. It doesn't really hit its stride until later. This is more what I'm used to out of a Japanese engine. And makes swapping in that 2.93 diff kind of scary. Has anyone tried this? Opinions?

The front speaker placement, WTF? It's freaking UNDER the dash, my feet don't need to hear the music man!

The seats. I have the stock cloth, and for some reason they decided to make the seat itself pretty hard and then put springs in the seat frame, making the frame flex to cushion you. However this just makes me feel like I'm sliding out of the seat on a corner, and it just generally feels unstable. No likey at all. Do the other E36 coupe seats have this setup?

On the positive side, I love the compact size. If the suspension were working I imagine it would be hella nimble. Fuel economy rocks, another reason why I went this route. The car itself looks great, just gotta work out some kinks. Well enough of my rambling.

[Will'sBimmer]

Post Pics Please

[lberry]

Will do, might be a day or so though. I slaughtered an army of insects on the way back.

[thesk8nmidget]

i ran an even longer gear ratio in my last ti and it was completely fine.
it was a 2.73

[jgrimm]

You have to realize it is an older car and has a small engine, even if it is a BMW, 1.9 liters won't get you anywhere super quick.

I added a small sub and it takes the strain off of the speakers, so all-in-all the sound quality will improve.

As for the seats, you can upgrade them to the sport seats, or even get some vaders.

Also, the addition of the sub will overpower the ridiculous high revs on the highway. Haha

Good luck with your car dude, and post some pics asap!!

Grimm

[thesk8nmidget]

you also get very used to the revs at highspeeds. i dont mind i may even be going to a shorter ratio one of these days

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by lberry

The front speaker placement, WTF? It's freaking UNDER the dash, my feet don't need to hear the music man!

those are just the woofers, the actual speakers are in the doors

Originally Posted by lberry

Do the other E36 coupe seats have this setup?

no, sounds like you got the cheapy base model cloth seats

[themightyquinn]

Haha, welcome to the brotherhood! I share a lot of your gripes, and over the summer I'm planning on doing some stuff to the suspension as well as working out some other kinks.

You should be fine with that 2.93 though...keep us posted on what you end up doing! I completely forget, but what did the base and active models come from the factory with (diff-wise)?

Pics ASAP!!

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by themightyquinn

I completely forget, but what did the base and active models come from the factory with (diff-wise)?

you could get an LSD optional, my active has one

[Borg561]

Originally Posted by lberry

Will do, might be a day or so though. I slaughtered an army of insects on the way back.

Sounds like my drive out to Denver and back. And I'd just washed my car a day before heading out there.

Justin

[lberry]

Originally Posted by themightyquinn

Haha, welcome to the brotherhood! I share a lot of your gripes, and over the summer I'm planning on doing some stuff to the suspension as well as working out some other kinks.

You should be fine with that 2.93 though...keep us posted on what you end up doing! I completely forget, but what did the base and active models come from the factory with (diff-wise)?

Pics ASAP!!

I have 3.43 open diff. It's a 97 so it has the automatic traction control. I picked a 2.93 LSD diff off ebay for $175. I wasn't looking for an LSD, but it happened to be the only one up when I looked.

[lberry]

Originally Posted by tiFreak

no, sounds like you got the cheapy base model cloth seats

Well consider those seats gone as well, scored some leather ones off ebay. We'll see how that goes. Actually other than the suspension, which I can forgive just for normal wear and tear, I think the seats are the worst part of the car. I mean those things were NEVER good.

Now I just gotta settle on some shocks and struts.

[thesk8nmidget]

i had the old cloth seats in my last ti and they SUCKED! i swapped them out for some sport seats and they are WAT better! i love them!

i dont think i could own another ti without sport seats

[lberry]

Originally Posted by thesk8nmidget

you also get very used to the revs at highspeeds. i dont mind i may even be going to a shorter ratio one of these days

It's not just the noise I'm concerned about. If I do a lot of highway driving it's just going to shorten the life of the engine. Those cylinders can only handle a certain amount of explosions in their lifetimes, and if I'm using those explosions to accelerate that's great, but for maintaining a cruise speed it's all about the low revs. I can't stand to hear an engine work like that for no benefit, that 3.43 is coming out ASAP.

[thesk8nmidget]

haha yeah i got GREAT mileage on the highway with my 2.79