Thanks for the advice

E

E30 Ray

New member
My suspension is done. I got t drive the car around the neighborhood today. The car is off to the shop for an alignment tomorrow and to put the new race tires on the rims. My region has a "once a year" tech next weekend. Hopefully all will go well and I'll be ready for the season.

As for where I'm at in this building process, safety equipment and car purchase was done last year, suspension was done this winter, and next year is engine and drive train. One day I'll have a competitive car. However, it sure is fun getting to that point.


Thanks to all of you that have given advice during this process. One note: the sleeves and bearings for the control arms of my E30 325is did not go on easily. Ground Control made it sound easy. I resorted to a professional to press them on after buggering one sleeve so badly that it was not recognizable as a sleeve. I had to purchase another sleeve. Those little pieces 'o metal aren't cheap.

Thanks again. See you at the track.
 
At least all you had to replace was the sleeve. I put the GC sleeve and bearing on the control arm but unfortunately the bearing and sleeve were misaligned by about 1/4 inch. No way that the bearing was moving on the sleeve once the whole assembly was on the control arm. I ended up burning it off with a torch. I should have taken the time to think about the predicament I was in, because I should have sacrificed the control arm. Would have been much cheaper.

I previously used the solid Delrin bushings with good success and they were reusable. With the GC bearing, if I need to replace the control arm, I will more than likely not be able to reuse the bearing.
 
hi, guys...i used the ground control setup also, but did a little measuring before i tried to assemble..needed to remove the paint from the lower arm to give the sleeve sufficient clearance, and to protect the sleeve/arm interface, i used wheel bearing grease. had to remove one sleeve during assembly and was able to do so. i ended up installing them with a deepwell sockett and 6oz hammer.

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Chuck Baader
SEDIV ITS #36
E30 BMW
 
I sanded the paint off with emory cloth and used "never sieze" on the control arm prior to installing the bearing the first time. Everything is fine now, and I chalked the first mistake up to a learning experience. However, from an economical standpoint, if I need to replace a control arm, the only way that bearing will be salvaged is if I cut off the end of the arm and drill out the remaining metal. I'll probably still have to buy the sleeve as noted in the original post. I think the Delrin bushings are a better choice for the rear control arm bushing, having used both.
 
bruce, if it were me, i would cut the end of the arm and press the sleeve off. this should work since you used neversieze. good racing

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Chuck Baader
SEDIV ITS #36
E30 BMW
 
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