$challenged suspension mods

Does that car use wheel bolts? Let me know - we've got lots of used, long M12-1.5 screw-in wheel studs we have left over from old BMW race cars. I'm all about the GRM Challenge so if you can prove you've got a $200X car we'll sell them to any competitor cheap.

We also kind of built our E30 V8 around the wheels (15x10" circle track wheels)... we burned a LOT of time and effort getting this car to a 5-lug, then flaring it, all to use these wheels. So starting with the wheels and making the car fit them isn't unheard of. But by the same token, don't stall out your project on the temp spare wheels. There's always a cheaper/bigger solution laying around on CraigsList or eBay, somewhere.

But dang... 17 lbs is fairly light for a 16x7" wheel that cheap.

hey terry good to see you checking my thread. the reason i picked these wheels is because they fit with minimal mods and the are pretty much the lightest wheels i could find so far for as cheap as they are... and yes they do use wheel bolts let me know how much you'd let go of a couple sets for.because i am obviously gonna need some,thanks.

I'm curious to see what changes you guys will be making to the little E30... I'm guessing since you got all the hard stuff out of the way last year you can spend the better part of this year getting it all dialed in...

Hopefully I can get mine squared away enough to get at least one auto cross in and a few passes down the old 1320 just to see what the little bastard can do... I'm looking for at least a mid 15 sec run in the quarter mile, in my head that's what I'm guessing...

the biggest hurdle i'm facing with the merc is the bolt pattern, 5 on 112mm... evrything is either way over budget or rather tank-ish

In reply to Fair:

Hey can we see some more info on this car. I would like to know about the five lug swap. You don't have much on the car in your profile. Thanks

In reply to snipes: i believe this may be what you are looking for...

http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/392409.aspx

im curious about the rules and using the spare wheels. i have a couple that would make some great skinnies

In reply to Evans Performance: before i even thought about doing this i studied the rules and couldn't find anything to suggest that these wheels couldn't be used.so I'm guessing it is legal and if not I have yet to see any protest's or dialogue that would make this choice ineligible.

Evans Performance wrote: im curious about the rules and using the spare wheels. i have a couple that would make some great skinnies

Careful on that. I don't know about the rules, but most of those spare wheels are crazy heavy and are also quite unsafe at anything above 55ish. I investigated that a few years back for a different project.

i would imagine the tires are the dangerous part of that combo and if you could find a normal tire skinny enough it ought to be safer right?

Wheels have a load rating. I'm sure you can find it somewhere for all spare wheels out there.

WilberM3 wrote: i would imagine the tires are the dangerous part of that combo and if you could find a normal tire skinny enough it ought to be safer right?

Not from the construction I have seen on these spare wheels. I think they're pretty dicey too. Like I said, they are really really heavy, you probably don't gain anything anyway.

Funny story,

My Sister-out-law (yep...my ex's sister) went into a tire shop once with a flat. She couldn't afford the replacement tire on the spot so had to leave. The tire shop reminded her that her space-saver-spare was only good for something like "100 miles at 50 miles per hour."

She asked, "How far can I go at 70 miles per hour?" to which the tire guy replied, "Until you die."

Funny story, when taken for what it's worth.

tuna55 wrote:

Evans Performance wrote: im curious about the rules and using the spare wheels. i have a couple that would make some great skinnies

Careful on that. I don't know about the rules, but most of those spare wheels are crazy heavy and are also quite unsafe at anything above 55ish. I investigated that a few years back for a different project.

the wheels you might be referring to are more than likely made of mild steel which will be very heavy compared to the ones that Mercedes uses. like I wrote before the spares i picked up are very light compared to the normal steel wheels commonly used for spares. on another note I compared the construction of these against a similar sized rota slipstream knock off and the overall composition of the Mercedes wheels,seemed to me to be just as beefy if not a tad more and a fraction lighter...

The reason i like these wheels is mainly because they are Black,have a decent aesthetic appeal are light and are full sized.also they will be unique in the fact that unless another competitor is running a 5 on 112 bolt pattern I will be the only one taking advantage of this particular set up... Given this is only for the Challenge hence my quest for the "bang for the buck" aspect of the challenge i doubt very seriously I will be able to find another wheel combo in this price range and weight range made with the Quality Mercedes is known for

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Here is my most recent update.

I have been doing a ton of research lately as advised by Mr Joshua. I have even made a few trips out to local salvage yards to see what is out there and what I could possibly use towards my project..

So far I have found some awesome brake callipers. Four piston fronts and two piston rears for fifteen bucks each. The rotors are bigger as well and will fit within the 16 inch wheels I am gonna use. and at $5 each I cant pass up the bargain as they have plenty of material for a quick grind and resurface.

The only part that is gonna cost out the butt are the brake pads.

Also on the suspension side I have found used rebuildable race shocks (AFCO/dirt track) for right at 20 bucks each,and coil springs for right at fifteen bucks each.

Having done all of this research has got me itching to get to work getting my hands dirty , but have to wait to do anything until after the holidays are over. but as soon as they are over I'll be able to do something and will have photographic evidence.

(this image is an up date from the one I posted earlier)

Here is one of the home brewed suspension mods I have designed. I was looking for something like this to buy. and was having trouble finding what I was looking for because I had no idea what it was called. now I know they are called "mounting brackets for bearing rod end shock absorbers" thanks to some miata guys in another thread I posted and my neighbor.

My neighbor has a project going and a ton of tools to boot, and said if i wanted to just make them I can use his tools to do it...He has some kind of computerized plasma cutter and a mig rig and he can put my design into a cad file and the thing will cut all the pieces out of the plate. then we can put a jig together and weld the pieces up...

will post more later

Sounds really good, what car did the calipers come from?

On your suspension hunting keep an eye out on the IT forums. On our challenger I nabbed someone's take off's from their old car that they balled up, Picked up everything they had for 600 shipped, included 8 pairs of springs 3 complete shock/strut setups and a pair of cut down, revalved stock struts, with GC threaded perches and top hats for two suspension setups. I've sold off enough of it to pretty much 0 out the suspension. and I still have a few spare sets of coils for testing/adjusting things. With the setup on there now, I'm needing more tire I think. 225 series tires on 13x10 wheels I believe is leaving something on the table, I used to lift the inside wheel on almost every corner, now barely lifts it at all. Good luck and keep us posted.

PhilStubbs wrote: Sounds really good, what car did the calipers come from?

1996 S500

In reply to Spinout007: I'm getting my suspension pieces from a friend of mine who has several dirt track cars and a ton of spare parts plus an axx load of suspension setup knowledge tools and a lift... I kinda want to take photos out at the salvage yards as there are a lot of really cool things to take photo's of but I am a bit reluctant to take a $1200 camera to a junk yard if you know what I mean.My phone takes e36 M3 pictures, so when I make another trip out I'll find the batteries for my old point and shoot and snap some off...

Salvage yards are really cool places I've discovered...

ever thought of using a Range rover 4.0 liter V8? they have two at this one yard $300 u pull it.Wow! I'm kinda starting to have fun with this.the possibilities are crazy...

The car I got the brakes off of had a 5.0 liter v8 but nearly all the accessories were stripped from it. and no telling what kinda horrors are left to be discovered .so I am on the prowl for something like this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220704519862&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT and this yard is really close to where I live,just gotta figure out how to pull an engine at a yard,or I wonder if they'll pull it and how much they'd charge for that service.

I decided to go with a set of these wheels for my build since I have a set of tires in my attic that will fit

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270665611936&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

these wheels are 8.5&9.5x18 I'll have to buy one at full price but hey it's still a honking deal I'd only be out $360 bucks gonna paint them White...more to come

245/45/18 & 275/40/18

PS. all this fun I'm Having and my wife just got confirmation on being pregnant so Looks like I will have my hands full once this thing really gets going.