OK Great! Thanks for putting this together, it was a big help to me in moving forward with this project.
One more question. I have put it all back together and it feels great. I changed the dampers and springs from stock so I guess it is a little lower. I did not think to measure height before proceeding. Do I need to get an alignment? I guess the strut bearings are the same for stock and ZHP with the little positioning nub so this doesn't look like it would change. How about the toe in?
Yes you need an alignment after replacing suspension. The E36 M3 strut mounts do not have guide pins. The Z4 and stock E46 mounts do. I would delete the nub and go for maximum camber.
I use 0 toe front and 0.1° toe in the rear.
Last edited by Galapolis; 09-22-2021 at 08:15 AM.
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT
Thanks Galapolis. I did not use the e36 top hats I just kept the stock ones.
Made some adjustments for better readability. Also removed the Z4 mounts from the table since it was pointed out that they are not available in the US. In return, I added the Z4M FCABs to the budget build to emphasize the performance aspect, so the total price has gone up a little. I also added additional upgrades in the reserved post, again to underline the performance aspect of what I'm trying to achieve here.
330i Base | Mysticblau | Slicktop | 6MT
Thanks for posting the Sway bar info in the second post. For everyone in here, I bought Certeco brand E36 M3 front strut mounts. I'll get some detailed pics of them and if they turn out to be as good as they look I'll let Galapolis decide if they are good enough for his extremely well-curated list.
I'm super excited to get this suspension out on.
Bravo Galapolis!
This is unbelievably awesome work! I am deeply grateful to you.
Once again this amazing. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I plan on keep my ‘04 for forever so help like this goes a long way.
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Outstanding thread and great breakdown, @Galapolis. Made it a lot easier to decide on parts.
I did do a slight variation from your budget build:
Added a Rogue Engineering RSM and front strut bar, AKM black poly rear subframe bushings, a Bimmerworld rear subframe reinforcement kit (hasn't cracked yet but figure i should do it now), front strut reinforcement plate, the Camry bushings for the RTA, and the FCP 8-piece control arm kit. I kicked around the e36 top hats but at the end of the day if I decide i need more camber, I'll go with plates. For now I'm going to run the stock ZHP springs and sway.
The car still has to be tame and reliable enough to daily. I've officially now spent more than I paid for it last September catching up on 17 years of deferred maintenance and repairs from previous owners.