Work pics- M-Tech install is on!

[genphreak]

The time is nigh! As you can see from the old rear shock from my car, it kinda needs some new parts, so here they are- and here we are getting to it. The car is up on stands atm with the springs out, Kriss and I are apropriately dirty but this tiem we are far more organised.

Going in are:

540i M-tech springs and shocks (Bilstein Sports)
25mm front / 18mm rear M-tech sway bars
New control arms, all moving parts, mounts, bushes, etc.Its hot here (35 degrees) but we have the beer cool in the fridge and are about to crack one open before we put it back toegether...

Wish us luck, its not been so good so far- the front grille was a recalcitrant pup, the rear shocks were bastards, the front connector plug has me stumped and the Bentley is not helping much. We haven't yet started on the front suspension, but are about to put the rear back together...

:) Nick

[632 Regal]

pretty cool wrenching pit setup you guys got going there! Post some detailed pics of whats actually going on there.

[BigKriss]

Yeah, over at Nicks house today helping him out with the car. We started on the rear, removed the existing shocks and springs and the rear swaybar. First off the rear shocks where quite easy to take out. We jacked up the rear of the car via the differential and went to work.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5041/img60932zk.jpg

We removed the rear seat, and the rear parcel shelf for access to the shock mounts. We freed the bottom fasteners and tried to take out the shocks but they wouldn't budge when the nuts where all unscrewed. There is a rubber boot on top of the shocks that was doing a fine job resisting our pulling, curses and cynical jibes about everything on the car requiring a knack like the front bumper cononector. They really were doing a fine job at preventing the shocks from coming out. For sometime we were miffed: it was as if a ghost was holding them. After removing that from the inside (a bit of trouble but not impossible) they fell out (it appears that once you remove the internal rubber cover and the 3 shock-mount nuts the rest will just drop down so we took a well-earned beer break. Actually we had it just be4 that, so the beer must have helped getting the struts out, as it usually can...

We got that sorted out and then put in the new shocks, springs and shock mounts. We didn't have a paper gasket so Nick's gf made two up for us. The shocks are bilstein sports and the springs are 540i springs. I never used a spring compressor before and we borrowed one of Nick's mate, Bob. They were homemade but did the job. Shocks are easy to remove. The install was a bit harder as the trailing arm had to be aligned to the rear shock and is a bugger to move down (another ghost force seems to push the trailing arm up when the strut (shock and spring) is removed from the vehicle- one has to chock it with a lump of wood to prevent damage to the half-shafts- but the force pushing it up was unexpected- Nick thought it woould drop down... we used the pole off the jackstand and the wood to bring it inline with the mounting points. This was really a two person job, and then in they went.
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/8789/img61152rw.jpg

The rear swaybar was last. It's a 18mm bar and whoever says that you need to lower the rear exhaust to install it is telling fibs. We managed with a great deal of manouvering to get it aligned and installed without lowering it. Nick doesn't run an OEM exhaust so this may have something to do with it. New swaybarlinks accompinaed the bar also.

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/2917/img614217ro.jpg

No we haven't finished yet.. more soon!

[BigKriss]

Okay, so with the read done, we started on the front. It new steering links, front swaybar and swaybar links and lower control arms. We lifted the front of the car and got ready for work.

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/7632/img61457ya.jpg

First off came the swaybar and swaybar links, the top nuts on the swaybar links are a bit of a pain, not too hard though. We then removed the calipers, and dismantled the struts. We removed almost all steering links however the pitman arm didn't want to come off from the center tie rod and while working on the car the tie rod puller broke. We have a pickle fork and 4lb hammer but it won't budge, so tommorrow it's off to the shops for another puller. so we have the struts out, almost all the steering links off and tomorrow we have to assemble the front end.

We worked 10am to 8pm today, thats includes breaks and whatever use you do ususually when working on the car. Hmmm, here are some more pics and I'll post some more pics when she's finished. seeya guys :)

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/8590/img61535hk.jpg

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/1549/img61638fu.jpg

[Qube]

Very nicely done! WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE SNOW?!? :) Darn it.

If we didn't have our cars, what the heck would we be doing?

[TWISM]

Very nicely done! WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE SNOW?!? :) Darn it.

If we didn't have our cars, what the heck would we be doing?

Inventing cars...:D

[rob101]

nice one boys, 35 degrees? what are you complaining about, at least you have dry heat, its always humid and hot up here and when it rains this summer its been violent storms that stuffs up people's houses :D

btw where did you get your 18 mm AR Bar is it from whiteline?

[mattyb]

good work lads. thanx for the pics. are those springs going to adjust the ride height at the front at all?

[genphreak]

nice one boys, 35 degrees? what are you complaining about, at least you have dry heat, its always humid and hot up here and when it rains this summer its been violent storms that stuffs up people's houses :D btw where did you get your 18 mm AR Bar is it from whiteline? Hey rob, yea its hot here- and its not that dry. Sydney is sub-tropical - wet summers / dry winters. But it beazts the extreme cold, that is 4 sure.

The 18mm bar is stock 540 M-tech- check the upgrade section of www.bmwe34.net (http://www.bmwe34.net), it reccomends to buy from BMW. Not sure how much it is to source in Australie. BMW Aust told me from their db it was only on the later 540i manual versions w/ M-tech option in the US... not sure if it was actually on the M5... :) nick

[genphreak]

good work lads. thanx for the pics. are those springs going t o adjust the ride height at the front at all?The rear was looking pretty neat till we jacked up the front... so the jury is still out mate, but we think so. Should sit pretty sweet- the old setup (stock 535) was high at the front as I had bought new Boge Automatic shocks a few months ago (height went up by 2") but avoided the rear due to budgetry constraints so the car has been riding front-high like an old Ford since then. We think the old rears (now they are off) have never been changed (buts looked untouched top and bottom). It is incredible on a bimmer how much the shock affects ride height. The rears were working still, but had obviously lost pressure due to the amount of apparent 'sag' in her arse. If these were Monroes they'd be rattling and squeaking by 200k km.

Progress report- Got busy for xmas and had to source some new thrust arms as my boots were dead. Control arms have delayed things a bit, but hopefully she'll be off the stands this Christmas. Kriss and I worked till midnight the other night so there is not much to be done now. We put a few things on the wrong way round at first but all is well now- hopefully a final check on all the nuts will be complete boxing day, not sure where to get a wheel alignment between Christmas and New Year near Hornsby but I think we'll be looking. Pedders Suspension are closed till Wednesday... :(

Pic below is without any settling at all- it was as dropped just off the jack