As green as the mountains.

[anassa]

Update time.

So this is some things that have happened over the last few months.


First that z3m that I picked up, its finally been completely stripped and the shell was wrested onto the back of Uhaul trailer with a engine crane!!! Now that was a adventure, took us three hours to wrestle it on! It barely fit too lol.



At the junk yard:

[anassa]

Installed a new shift boot and knob!

Cleaned it up a lot and was better then having a shift nob that wasn't staying on and getting pulled off with every shift.

OLD:




NEW:

[anassa]

Got new end links (front and rear) and e46 m3 tranny bushings, my IE bushings are too stiff and vibrate too much for a daily driver so I am going a bit softer.




Still have not installed it but will update when I do.

Also got a nice early Christmas gift mid Dec ish ??


A few packages from angelicmisskitty . Biggest part is glass headlights with city lights - then some misc parts. I will update with more when it actually gets installed - even though its sat for a few months already

angelicmisskitty was easy to friendly to deal with and will go to her for more euro parts when the time comes.

From Germany!!

[anassa]

I was also able to find a set of used but good condition Bilsteins for cheap - specific for the ti! This will be the first time when I will have matching stocks front and rear for the ti specific model .

When I install I will also do a side to side comparison of spring height of z3m oem spring/Bavauto sport springs and H&R sport z3 springs.


And lastly but definitely not least, wheels again!!!

Bought this set for 140 - 14.2lbs ish 15x7.5/8 have to measure again et 20-26? (Measured it at 8" - no idea for offset yet)

Nice light weight wheels for a set of sticky tires. These will be for canyon fun and the Panasports will stay pretty for daily use.









I forget the name of the wheels, I will have to look them up, but they are popular in the miata community. That being said they won't be put on the ti for a while untill I can afford a good set of tires, but I will have them ready!

So on the to do list:

-Both windows needs love - don't go up and down properly - hoping for just the plastic peices that hold it in place and not the regulator.

- A/C & Heater still don't work - I tried refilling the A/C at one point and it stopped working every since

-INSTALL above mentioned parts!!!!!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: Found the name of the wheels: They are TRMotorsport C1 wheels and are also used with some e30's here is one link:
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=266258

[anassa]

Oh and I think I should quickly summarize what happened to some of the ideas and cars that have been mentioned in previous posts.


The white z3 at the beginning was my little sisters that got totaled when a driver hit it while it was parked outside her apartment. Insurance payed her more then what she got for the car so it was a good deal and she wasn't hurt. I was not able to salvage any parts from it.

The z3m was picked up from a kid who's friend crashed it but had gotten it as a gift from graduating high school so he just let his friend sell it so he didn't have to deal with. I picked up for cheap but was not able to use the main parts - S52, brakes (front and rear) due to financial situations. I was able to make 1g out of it from parting it out and got the z3m finned diff, and rear sway bar, rest was sold. The s52 will be revived in a friends e30

After the white z3 my sister got a e46 323ci 5spd that turned out to be a lemon, complete waste of time, so I was going to swap the engine into my ti, but found out the wiring and things like exhaust and misc items to make it work would make the cost not worth the m52tu.

The result is that I am now just focusing on cleaning the ti up and keeping it as a fun, decent mpg daily driver for probably a while. No real power coming in the future as of yet. Just more suspension/brakes/interior/exterior and maintenance work.

[anassa]

I got some time to work on the ti again and did not get as far as I wanted but still got some done.

First I got only one rear side sway bar endlink installed, its such a pain! If someone has a good method to slid the end link onto the sway bar let me know.

Next, its time to compare some springs!

So I happen to have stock ti springs, z3m springs, bavauto 318ti sport springs, and H&R 1.9l z3 sport springs.

Lets compare, First the fronts:

Going from LEFT TO RIGHT : Stock ti, Bavauto, z3m, H&R z3 sport.




It seems that the H&R z3 sports will sit the lowest and also the coils are spaced apart a bit more whereas the bavauto seems to have a more progressive rate with the bottom coils closer together. This is actually the opposite with what the rears will be like.

It is also interesting to note that the z3m is lower then stock and will probably be comparable to the stock "sport" suspension if not firmer - I had for a while the stock z3m spring/shock combo front and rear and it does work well for the ti. But as you can see the z3m spring diameter is a bit smaller so you can't just put the spring onto your stock strut.

I will most likely try the z3 H&R sport springs.

Now the rear spring comparison is a bit more interesting.

Going from LEFT TO RIGHT : Stock ti, Bavauto, z3m, H&R z3 sport.



This time I actually installed the springs and wanted to see how close the coils where when compressed, so each spring was compressed to about this height:



Its about the regular ride height.

First the z3m rear springs:


Bad picture but plenty of space between the springs to compress and easily my favorite OEM upgrade.

Now the H&R z3 sport spring:



As you can see the spring coils are already sitting on top of each other so I can imagine what it would be like with a bump in the road or such. From the above comparison it would give you the lowest drop but it would seem to compromise ride quality. It makes me wonder if it does the same thing on the z3.

The coils shows clear signs of rubbing top of each other with the lost paint:




And lastly the Bavauto rear springs:


Ride height is a little lower then stock z3m, and seems to be stiffer (upon install and driving around compared to z3m) with good enough space between the coils.

I currently do have the bavauto's installed in the rear and will use them with the H&R fronts, but here is a picture of ride hight with the Bavauto rears and both upper and lower rubber mounts still in place.




Thats it for now, I will update when I get the front done. I do wish I knew the actual spring rates but oh well.

[MINIz guy]

I really like the wheels you've picked up. Both look light and strong. Especially jealous on the 15x8 wheels you got! I'm sure 225's would fit just right on it without any bulging.

I managed to find some 16x7's that only weight 15 lbs, but they're still a bit narrow for what I want.

[anassa]

Originally Posted by MINIz guy

I really like the wheels you've picked up. Both look light and strong. Especially jealous on the 15x8 wheels you got! I'm sure 225's would fit just right on it without any bulging.

I managed to find some 16x7's that only weight 15 lbs, but they're still a bit narrow for what I want.

Thanks! I am pretty happy with them, I just need to save for a set of tires to see how they actually perform and look.

16x7 at 15lbs is not bad, what kind of wheels are they?

You can still fit 225's on those, my 16x7 are for me pretty good, I use them daily with the 225's and once in a while canyon fun and they have great grip, I don't want too wide because then it kills some of the "agility", especially for quick corner to corner canyon roads where you want to be able to connect those corners. (if that makes sense, wider wheel/tire does give you more ultimate grip but you "transfer" from corner to corner won't be as nimble - dunno how to explain it lol)

[anassa]

Update again,

I got the Bilstein with H&R front z3 1.9 sport spring assembled:



And installed, with new end links for the stock ti sway bar:



I had to swap out the M sway bar because there are no mounting points on the strut for the end links.


And how it sits now:






It sits nicely but on turning I do get rubbing. The tires don't have too much thread left on them so when i get a set of tires i think I will go a set for my TRMotorsport wheels, i can't a afford a sticky set of tires yet for just fun so I might as well see how the TRMotorsport look on the car and if i can feel the difference from the weight. I do like the panasport's more but a set of tires will cost more i think.

If i keep the panasports on i think i will have to run 205/50/16 and with the TRMotorsport wheel I am thinking 205/60/15, i would prefer lower profile and wider but it will mess up my speedo a bit and at the moment i can't afford the extra rubber.

As you can see I have fog light covers on now too, when i get some money saved I will find a undamaged non m late model bumper with a alpina style lip with those fog light covers and sand/paint them to match the rest of the car, but thats down the road and will happen when the budget allows for it.

[anassa]

Not much to update, so I will just post two pictures.

Summer is coming up so more will be done, but it will mostly be basic maintenance, no real progress (engine swap, exterior/interior work) will happen anytime soon until I get a good job and steady stream of income, in the mean time it will continue to work wonderfully as a daily driver.






Spot the difference! lol

[BlackBMWs]

Euro lights installed. stubby antenna.

[anassa]

Originally Posted by BlackBMWs

Euro lights installed. stubby antenna.

Ding Ding Ding, and the winner is Black BMWs! Well almost winner, you got 2 of the 3. One more that should be pretty obvious, but it fits so well it seems like it should of been there from the start.

[BlackBMWs]

Haha. Rear Mudflaps

[anassa]

Quick update.

Found a set of used Toyo R888 to try They happen to be 15" and should let me put my TRMotorsport C1's to work.

Managed to sneak into a UTI class, with some help and mounted the tires, bleed brakes etc for free



I planned a nice canyon night, maybe for the good, but it was pretty much to naught because canyon got closed and I had a huge fail. Before I mention the fail I will share a few pictures of the night.


Off with bumper again

(Sorry for poor quality cell pics)

Pictures at a local gas station making final checks - air pressure, fluids etc.







I really like how it looks, fits and feels, I just was sad I didn't get to give it a good work out.

Now for the fail of the year. I noticed that on sharper corners I got a scraping sound. Decided to park and take a look. Found out that a couple months back when I put on the new tie rods I put them on the wrong side! If you take a look at your tie rods you will see they are like a S shape the reason being to give clearance to the wheel when turning! As a result my wheel got scraped a bit and tore off the weights that were used to help balance the wheel. It was good that the canyon turned out to be closed as the runs would of sucked and may have damaged the tie rods more. I did not notice it before due to my daily wheels being 16" with some offset so I have more then enough clearance for the tie rods.

I hope to update by next week with a good canyon night and the tie rods on the right way - of course a new alignment will be needed too then.


Lastly a bit few numbers on the weight of both wheels with tires:

- Panasport C5CR w/ dunlop 225-50-16 tires: 16.4kg ~ 36.1lbs

- TRMotorsport C1 w/ heatcycled worn Toyo R888 205-50-15: 15kg ~ 33lbs

I was surprised how much of a difference just three pounds per wheel felt and a bit smaller size tire gave it a quicker rotation and "jump" into the next corner - but better thoughts after a few real runs.

[MINIz guy]

Very nice wheels! I didn't know they made TRM C1's in a 5x120 bolt pattern. What are the dimensions of the wheels?