attack eagle
03-14-2007, 09:17 AM
OK folks sorry for the delay but today is the first day I have felt human since saturday.
My buddy Aaron and I (along with probably 2-4 other people at some point or the other) got the Kmacs installed.
Definately not something you want to do at home, unless your home is complete with a lift, air tools, machine press, etc. Or you are Mr. Project :D . (I swear he can do anything!)
Taking things apart was a real pain, being our first time disassembling an e34 rear suspension.
Worst was the fact that we kept ruining the allen sockets while removing the output shaft bolts (I actually rounded one and had to use the air hammer to break it free so I could take it out with vice grips).
Second worse part was that I took apart one side of the parking brake mechanism, but left the other alone. Someone came in and helped us while we were busy elsewhere and took the otherside apart...
shop manual pics and bentley pics are hard for me to see, so If anyone has a simple picture (or description) of which way the mech is supposed to be oriented (parking brake adjuster, and the folding bit at the top), I'd appreciate it.
3rd worst part was trying to get the both sides of the arms back into the xmember with those thick bushings AND serrated washers in at the same time. I think we spent about an hour per side just on that step alone.
Couldn't use the supplied tool to remove the old bushing because the arms were too big to fit the small machine press, so we went old school and burned the bushings out with my propane torch, then used the air hammer/chisel to carefully cut /drive the old bushing sleeve out.
Hint: don't burn the rubber bushing itself, torch just the center metal tube.
I took the car to an oldschool adjustment place (no lasers etc) and saw that the settings with the bushings horizontal forwards on all 4 (no correction) were about 2.5 degrees unloaded camber, and about 1/2" toe OUT.
BMW is going to slot me in at noon on Thursday to for a good alignment session, and I think I am going to ask to minimize rear camber as much as possible(1.5 ish ) since under loaded conditions the camber rate will increase much more rapidly than at stock ride height.
I apologize for having no pictures... but dang it we were there from 2 pm until 7 am monday morning. then I went back at 5pm to retighten everything after 8 hours of sleep. And I was so dirty I didn't WANT to touch the camera.
My buddy Aaron and I (along with probably 2-4 other people at some point or the other) got the Kmacs installed.
Definately not something you want to do at home, unless your home is complete with a lift, air tools, machine press, etc. Or you are Mr. Project :D . (I swear he can do anything!)
Taking things apart was a real pain, being our first time disassembling an e34 rear suspension.
Worst was the fact that we kept ruining the allen sockets while removing the output shaft bolts (I actually rounded one and had to use the air hammer to break it free so I could take it out with vice grips).
Second worse part was that I took apart one side of the parking brake mechanism, but left the other alone. Someone came in and helped us while we were busy elsewhere and took the otherside apart...
shop manual pics and bentley pics are hard for me to see, so If anyone has a simple picture (or description) of which way the mech is supposed to be oriented (parking brake adjuster, and the folding bit at the top), I'd appreciate it.
3rd worst part was trying to get the both sides of the arms back into the xmember with those thick bushings AND serrated washers in at the same time. I think we spent about an hour per side just on that step alone.
Couldn't use the supplied tool to remove the old bushing because the arms were too big to fit the small machine press, so we went old school and burned the bushings out with my propane torch, then used the air hammer/chisel to carefully cut /drive the old bushing sleeve out.
Hint: don't burn the rubber bushing itself, torch just the center metal tube.
I took the car to an oldschool adjustment place (no lasers etc) and saw that the settings with the bushings horizontal forwards on all 4 (no correction) were about 2.5 degrees unloaded camber, and about 1/2" toe OUT.
BMW is going to slot me in at noon on Thursday to for a good alignment session, and I think I am going to ask to minimize rear camber as much as possible(1.5 ish ) since under loaded conditions the camber rate will increase much more rapidly than at stock ride height.
I apologize for having no pictures... but dang it we were there from 2 pm until 7 am monday morning. then I went back at 5pm to retighten everything after 8 hours of sleep. And I was so dirty I didn't WANT to touch the camera.