325TI - Project Mpact
Discussion
Court_S said:
They look bloody incredible.
I love all this bits that you’ve fabricated for the car. It’s such a shame that once fitted they’ll never been seen or noticed. The exhaust looks fab too.
Thank you! Ha, as with everything else on the car, it all goes unseen! Those who know will know. I love all this bits that you’ve fabricated for the car. It’s such a shame that once fitted they’ll never been seen or noticed. The exhaust looks fab too.
There's plenty more I'd like to make/do to the car yet.... Just need to find the time!
daniel-5zjw7 said:
I hope your doing well Adam, amazing work on these as always.
I have almost the opposite issue on my compact in that I want to stick with the Koni STRT set up for the time being given its very road friendly but would like to have adjustable top mounts, however I haven't found anything suitable as they can't be any thinner than stock as the car is already as low as I'd possibly want it at the front, plus i want something with minimal NVH increase/road friendly and decent lifespan, not the design spec of most adjustable top mounts!
Are you planning to go to Snet on 07/11 by any chance?
Sounds like you have been googling a lot too!. Have you knocked the pin out the top mounts so you can play with the camber or is it caster you want?. I've seen people use those TMS top plates for a bit more camber, but I don't know if these would cause excessive wear on the shock seals due to the angle of the shock going into the top mount with the extra camber being asked from them.... they seem to be widely used so I could be wrong.I have almost the opposite issue on my compact in that I want to stick with the Koni STRT set up for the time being given its very road friendly but would like to have adjustable top mounts, however I haven't found anything suitable as they can't be any thinner than stock as the car is already as low as I'd possibly want it at the front, plus i want something with minimal NVH increase/road friendly and decent lifespan, not the design spec of most adjustable top mounts!
Are you planning to go to Snet on 07/11 by any chance?
Strangely enough, I am there that date!
So I've finished fiddling with the front Top Mounts, I also made up a rubber boot/dust shield to go on the underside of the Top Mount to help prevent any crap getting in the spherical bearing.
I decided to blast the aluminium to key the surfaces and spray them with VHT paint like I did with the calliper carriers, not that these will get hot it just seemed to be quite hard wearing (and there was an aerosol can left over).
The Top Mounts were reassembled,
And then fitted them to the car, the stainless discs on the top of the towers help prevent any 'mushrooming' and will eventually have a strut brace mounted to them. I turned some little cups so the fixings looked a bit tidier.
Roughly with a digital angle gauge the Camber was set to 1.8 degrees, and with two bits of folded aluminium sheet pushed up against the front wheels, using two tape measures the Toe was set to 0 degrees-ish.
I've driven the car quite a bit since, it feels so much better to drive..... the extra travel and camber has made a huge difference, the real test would have been the Snetterton track day I had booked on the 7th November but that has now been canceled due to the second lock down.
There is a very minimal NVH increase, nothing like what I was expecting..... but noticeable enough for the girlfriend to comment on it.
Also, I bought some 265/30/19 and 235/35/19 Michelin 4S's for the VMR VB3 (CSL reps) I bought new back in 2010, but these need refurb before the tyres are fitted. Something I've been putting off as I'd like to match the 'Hypersilver' that they are currently in, not the horrible dark powdercoat chrome that a couple of Refurb Company's interpretation of what hypersilver is.
There is still more I'm going to do and update, but keep an eye out for another thread I'll be starting soon on my Classic Mini.... that is another level of 'Involved'.
I decided to blast the aluminium to key the surfaces and spray them with VHT paint like I did with the calliper carriers, not that these will get hot it just seemed to be quite hard wearing (and there was an aerosol can left over).
The Top Mounts were reassembled,
And then fitted them to the car, the stainless discs on the top of the towers help prevent any 'mushrooming' and will eventually have a strut brace mounted to them. I turned some little cups so the fixings looked a bit tidier.
Roughly with a digital angle gauge the Camber was set to 1.8 degrees, and with two bits of folded aluminium sheet pushed up against the front wheels, using two tape measures the Toe was set to 0 degrees-ish.
I've driven the car quite a bit since, it feels so much better to drive..... the extra travel and camber has made a huge difference, the real test would have been the Snetterton track day I had booked on the 7th November but that has now been canceled due to the second lock down.
There is a very minimal NVH increase, nothing like what I was expecting..... but noticeable enough for the girlfriend to comment on it.
Also, I bought some 265/30/19 and 235/35/19 Michelin 4S's for the VMR VB3 (CSL reps) I bought new back in 2010, but these need refurb before the tyres are fitted. Something I've been putting off as I'd like to match the 'Hypersilver' that they are currently in, not the horrible dark powdercoat chrome that a couple of Refurb Company's interpretation of what hypersilver is.
There is still more I'm going to do and update, but keep an eye out for another thread I'll be starting soon on my Classic Mini.... that is another level of 'Involved'.
I've started another thread named "The Alternative Italian Job ~ Classic Mini", if you want to read something a bit different to this one!. The Project Mpact thread is far from over, I've just got a bit more to write about an crusty old Mini that's more that likely going to get out of hand.
Thank you for all the comments, much appreciated. I hope this thread helps others with their builds!
I have been tinkering with the Compact still, changed the top mounts yet again as the spherical bearings I used seemed to be made of chocolate and the SKF replacements ordered had more play in them than the previous chocolate ones, but I'll try and get this all updated with images soon.
Also had a track evening at Snetterton last Tuesday (8th), slowly getting my confidence back driving it a bit harder, but always leave with a list of improvements I can do with time I don't have
Thanks.
I have been tinkering with the Compact still, changed the top mounts yet again as the spherical bearings I used seemed to be made of chocolate and the SKF replacements ordered had more play in them than the previous chocolate ones, but I'll try and get this all updated with images soon.
Also had a track evening at Snetterton last Tuesday (8th), slowly getting my confidence back driving it a bit harder, but always leave with a list of improvements I can do with time I don't have
Thanks.
1602Mark said:
Were you to put this up against a similarly modified M3, which do think would be quicker? What pros and cons would you see / feel? I know it's a bit subjective in a lot of ways but just intrigued to hear your thoughts.
Mark
Hello Mark,Mark
I'd say in a straight line there wouldn't be much between the two, the compacts 17" wheels have a smaller rolling radius so this may help with acceleration, and is slightly lighter, but in the corners the M3 with it's wider track, wider wheels/tyres and better front geometry (caster/camber) would probably stick better.
Like you say, it's a bit subjective. Plus, I wouldn't say I am the best driver by any means, so with me driving the compact is probably slower
Must be about time for an update!
Firstly, the front top mounts that I previously spent far too long making.... the spherical bearings, they didn't last long. Neither did the second set of bearings which were a different brand and quite a bit more expensive. Turns out the country roads aren't kind on them.
So back to the drawing board, well...realoem.com to compare part numbers. After spending hours hunting through different models of BMW, I found that Z4M front top mounts looked like they could work. They have the same internal bore as the E46 M3 one's, which is what I needed as I'm using E46 M3 KW coilovers. Also, as I'm using the stock Compact lower arms (not the wider track M3 items) I needed to keep the same geometry as the original Compact, which luckily the Z4M items do.
So I ordered some new items from Cotswold BMW, with all the extra rubber bits, dust covers etc. A week or so later they turned up, as I'd only worked off information I'd found online I was a bit apprehensive about it all working.
Above, left are the billet aluminum one's I previously made, center are the Z4M items and to the right are the original E46 M3 items.
You'll also notice that the Z4M mounts are quite a bit shallower than the E46 M3 items, which is another bonus. As this meant I could lower the car slightly more and still maintain a good bit of suspension travel.
While I was faffing around with all this, I'd been doing quite a bit of fabrication work a couple of days a week at a motorsport company. With a track day soon approaching they advised me to try and achieve a bit more caster as this would help on 'turning in'.
So I made a couple of plates (one each side, out of 5mm stainless) that bolt to the top mount which offsets the strut slightly further back once its bolted inside the turret.
Unfortunately I didn't get any more photo's of this, as I made the plates and assembled everything the night before the track day. But the Z4M top mounts bolted all together perfectly, so the hours of guesstimated research payed off!.
The track day went well, and the car performed brilliantly.
Next up, I'd previously pictured somewhere in the thread that I'd bought some new Michelin tyres. These were to be fitted to some 19" VMR VB3 wheels (a nice quality, staggard, CSL replica wheel which have the concaved rears) which I bought for this car 10 or so years ago.
Unfortunately, the wheels needed a refurb as a friend had a slight mishap while fitting some tyres years ago, and i'd been putting this off as I wanted to match the original finish of 'hyper silver', I'd spoken to a few refurbishment companies and each had their own idea of what 'hyper silver' was, one wanting to do them a smoked chrome type finish
.
Luckily, via Instagram I found a guy fairly local (Ipswich) who could match or as close as the 'hyper silver', He is also known for refurbing genuine CSL wheels which are the same finish.
So after 6 years or so, the wheels were refurbished and he also fitted the tyres.
The first thing I noticed is that the car is much more 'twitchy' on these 19" wheels, as opposed to the stock 17" wheels. This may be due to the lower profile tyre of the fact these are hefty lumps compared to the stock wheels.
But, these Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres have transformed the way the car handles, it just sticks to the road. Either that or the Continental tyres I had on the 17" wheels had been through so many heat cycles that they were completely, erm... had it.
And that pretty much some's it up, apart from a recently failed coilpack.
When I get chance I'll update the Classic Mini thread ("The Alternative Itailian Job") on here, slow progress has been made on that, and as expected it's got slightly more involved, lets just call it an engineering exercise
.
That's all for now!
Firstly, the front top mounts that I previously spent far too long making.... the spherical bearings, they didn't last long. Neither did the second set of bearings which were a different brand and quite a bit more expensive. Turns out the country roads aren't kind on them.
So back to the drawing board, well...realoem.com to compare part numbers. After spending hours hunting through different models of BMW, I found that Z4M front top mounts looked like they could work. They have the same internal bore as the E46 M3 one's, which is what I needed as I'm using E46 M3 KW coilovers. Also, as I'm using the stock Compact lower arms (not the wider track M3 items) I needed to keep the same geometry as the original Compact, which luckily the Z4M items do.
So I ordered some new items from Cotswold BMW, with all the extra rubber bits, dust covers etc. A week or so later they turned up, as I'd only worked off information I'd found online I was a bit apprehensive about it all working.
Above, left are the billet aluminum one's I previously made, center are the Z4M items and to the right are the original E46 M3 items.
You'll also notice that the Z4M mounts are quite a bit shallower than the E46 M3 items, which is another bonus. As this meant I could lower the car slightly more and still maintain a good bit of suspension travel.
While I was faffing around with all this, I'd been doing quite a bit of fabrication work a couple of days a week at a motorsport company. With a track day soon approaching they advised me to try and achieve a bit more caster as this would help on 'turning in'.
So I made a couple of plates (one each side, out of 5mm stainless) that bolt to the top mount which offsets the strut slightly further back once its bolted inside the turret.
Unfortunately I didn't get any more photo's of this, as I made the plates and assembled everything the night before the track day. But the Z4M top mounts bolted all together perfectly, so the hours of guesstimated research payed off!.
The track day went well, and the car performed brilliantly.
Next up, I'd previously pictured somewhere in the thread that I'd bought some new Michelin tyres. These were to be fitted to some 19" VMR VB3 wheels (a nice quality, staggard, CSL replica wheel which have the concaved rears) which I bought for this car 10 or so years ago.
Unfortunately, the wheels needed a refurb as a friend had a slight mishap while fitting some tyres years ago, and i'd been putting this off as I wanted to match the original finish of 'hyper silver', I'd spoken to a few refurbishment companies and each had their own idea of what 'hyper silver' was, one wanting to do them a smoked chrome type finish
. Luckily, via Instagram I found a guy fairly local (Ipswich) who could match or as close as the 'hyper silver', He is also known for refurbing genuine CSL wheels which are the same finish.
So after 6 years or so, the wheels were refurbished and he also fitted the tyres.
The first thing I noticed is that the car is much more 'twitchy' on these 19" wheels, as opposed to the stock 17" wheels. This may be due to the lower profile tyre of the fact these are hefty lumps compared to the stock wheels.
But, these Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres have transformed the way the car handles, it just sticks to the road. Either that or the Continental tyres I had on the 17" wheels had been through so many heat cycles that they were completely, erm... had it.
And that pretty much some's it up, apart from a recently failed coilpack.
When I get chance I'll update the Classic Mini thread ("The Alternative Itailian Job") on here, slow progress has been made on that, and as expected it's got slightly more involved, lets just call it an engineering exercise
.That's all for now!
geeks said:
Lack of over engineered dustpan in this update, I am very disappointed 
Glad it is still going well, I was walking a friend through your thread the other day as he has a similar project in mind. Also if I am not mistaken I have recently moved not so far from you near Chatteris so I will keep my eyes pealed for the Compact when out and about.
The dustpan must have been just out of shot, apologies for the lack of content Glad it is still going well, I was walking a friend through your thread the other day as he has a similar project in mind. Also if I am not mistaken I have recently moved not so far from you near Chatteris so I will keep my eyes pealed for the Compact when out and about.
Yep Chatteris is fairly local, I'm often around Ely way in the Compact.
Kerm1t said:
Nice work! I need a set of genuine CSL wheels refurbishing and I'm having the same problem as you! Would you mind sharing who did these for you, look great!
The company that done them is called "Wheelworx" Ipswich, and the chap who you will need to speak to is called James Lambert. If you have Instagram I can put you in touch with him directly.
Mark-insert old BMW said:
e30m3Mark said:
I've had a few E46 325ti and they're great little cars. Sadly I had to sell mine recently, to help fund keeping my E30, but I imagine another will be sat on the drive eventually!
I wasn't wrong 
Just read the whole thread again and if anything I'm even more impressed with the suspension mods. Such a great car.
Anything to report over this past year Adam? How's that dustpan?
But the dustpan, that gets used many times a day.
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