Tyler's 04 slicktop 6spd Silvergrey MCS/Brembo/CSL/Karbonius/Nogaros/Supersprint

[akshon]

Very nice. Looks like factory seats.

[Tbonem3]

September 2019



Not sure what led me down the path to seats, probably just tired of how bad the stock ones are. I have manual seats with no adjustments to lumbar or sides, so I really slide around a lot in the stockers. After seeing the GB on M3f with Ian and HMS, I decided to do it, but didn't need any special work, so just ordered them from another vendor (who drop shipped them from HMS) at 10% off, then got the Bk mounts after seeing Ian's review esp since I have manual seats and LOVE manually sliding forward and back to get in/out of the car. I'm not super tall, but maybe long legs? cause I need to move the seat a lot.

I got the street versions in vinyl. Unfortunately, after ordering, I saw that they changed the standard stitching to white (from black/dark grey)! it looks awful! maybe it matches some old Porsche or MG or something, IDK, but it looks campy (Mariachi - 3 Amigos anyone?). I also saw the guy on M3f with the PY/grey (pristine) had tri color M stitching on his done so I ganked the idea.

I figured I may as well do both the tri stitching and the outer, so I found some nice, German! fabric ink pens:



Battery undone. Stockers out. Cleaned it up a bit.



Bases coming off



Set up for Nogaro



Fitting to Nogaros and BK mounts - don't tighten bolts until the end, keep it loose.



Ready, now zip tying the harness/cable to the rod. I also decided to just buy a cheap dummy plug for the seat electronics/sensor to make the car think someone is in the seat at all times (rather than code it).



In








Wow these seats are amazing! First, the quality is very high. The vinyl is very premium. I don’t regret it at all. The fabric/suede inserts are very nice as well, and very comfortable. I chose the more reclined position, but in all honesty, I wish it would recline a hair more. I’ll probably get used to it, but it feels like I’m sitting straight up. It is a little more difficult to shift and pull the e-brake. You can remedy that by sliding the seat back, but then engaging the clutch all the way becomes difficult. It’ll take a little getting used to. It’s totally worth it though as it literally feels like I’m driving a different car. The car feels hardcore, I don’t move. It’s point and shoot now. The car does the moving, I remain in place – it’s a very powerful feeling. The car is also now about 60lbs lighter! I love it!

I hadn't colored in the COBRA logo, but decided to a bit later:



Close up:



MOAR

[r4dr]

There's only 1 bottom. It's the top that comes in different thicknesses

Well that answers that 😂

[Tbonem3]

There's only 1 bottom. It's the top that comes in different thicknesses

[r4dr]

Tbonem3 which OE BMW spring pad did you use underneath the spring? Going by Obioban's sticky, there are multiple thicknesses.

[Tbonem3]

Yes! By Eibach.

Good looking angle and the gap looks spot on!

Thanks!

[r4dr]

Are those beehive-shaped rear springs? Are they made specifically for GC?

[8000RPM]

Good looking angle and the gap looks spot on!

[Tbonem3]

These pics are very recent, but I wanted to show where the rear setup is at after finishing the fronts, as depicted above.

Rear setup is Bilstein B6 shocks with GC shortend bumpstops & "tall" RSMs that lift droop by a couple of inches (stops coilover springs from coming unloaded over uneven road conditions.) I also threw in a cheap rear strut bar for more rigidity (you feel it right away) and maybe a little RACP insurance (until further reinforcement)?

Sticking with the 550lb GC eibachs, they're just perfect. If the car were heavier, I'd have kept the 600lbs.

I wanted to go a hair lower, and I thought I could do so while also removing the GC adjusters for less weight and more comfort.

RUCA with GC perch and plate removed.



New, OE BMW lower spring pad (instead of GC adjuster). Normally kits come with 5.5" or 6" springs and you'd be way too low without the perch, but my 550lb eibachs are 6.5".



To keep the ride height from dropping too much, I added 3/16" rubber shim to the GC locating cone for the upper seat. Keep in mind that small changes here at the control arm manifest into larger changes at the wheel due to the angle (roughly 150% greater).




Spring in. While the ID is 2.5", it still can be held in by the spade of the stock pad. Further, once weighted, it's not moving. Further, my tall RSMs prevent them from coming unloaded at droop.



Perfect! 😆 Just j/k. Loaded it up in the driveway.



There we go, on level ground. 12.9" from center cap to arch.

[Tbonem3]

No worries Rich!

May 2019

As I mentioned earlier, I had replaced my failed Koni dampers in the rear with new Bilstein B6. After waiting to see what higher end dampers I could convert into coilovers with my Ground Control hardware, and almost buying a set of Dinan JRZs, I decided to stick with Bilstein B6 and modify them for my use.

Here's the new B6 next to my Koni and then next to stock sachs. Most notably, the B6 doesn't extend down past the hub's clamshell. It also has shorter travel which we already knew about. Because the shaft is actually taller, you'll have sacrificed more travel to achieve same ride height, all else equal. Don't let the big, shiny B6 rod fool you, that's actually the exterior (you'll see the inner rod momentarily). All of it sits inside the yellow outer housing. OE Sachs and Koni are basically identical.



First thing I did was make sure that my Ground Control perch would fit the Bilstein. The outer shell/body, is very very close (ever so slightly smaller) to OE sachs and Koni, so no issue there. In fact, I wrapped a single layer of duct tape around the B6 body at the top so the Grouncontrol perch sits very snuggly. The part that needed modification, was the ID to fit onto the B6's large shaft.



Yes, standard american measurements for my machinist 🙄

There we go



Next, was disassembling the B6 to expose the inner bump stop for trimming. Be very careful if you try this! You'll need to heat up the bottom nut to break the loctite. You also want to make sure you have the correct metric, high quality allen head sockets (5mm iirc). The Bilstein's metal is a bit soft here and it's easy to strip the head. Here, you see the real inner rod, into the silver body which sits in the yellow body/shell.



There are a few posts floating around out there about this bump stop trimming. FCM has a good youtube video on disassembling the unit as well. Iirc, he also touches on the bump stop. it seemed that most people said an inch, but I cut 7/8ths just to error on the side of caution, plus I had another trick up my sleeve to increase travel anyway so this wasn't as crucial. I cut from the "softer" side so as to preserve the stiffer foam for heavy compression situations. The whole bump is about 2.5"



Here's the stock "stack." Takes up about 3 & 3/8" of potential travel.



Here's the TMS street plates that I have. They, alone, reduce that stack height by about 5/8" iirc - going off memory now, sorry no pics But I also removed the little, concave spacer that they include, to realize another 1/4" in travel. I also don't use the BMW external bump stop plate (pictured), but I did add an, albeit thinner, spacer of my own. Total recapture of travel was basically an inch! For Bilsteins, this is massive as they really don't like being much lower than stock height. Well, most of us run about an inch lower; ~ 13.5" instead of ~ 14.5"



I also took the opportunity to swap springs. I was initially running 6" 440lb Groundcontrol eibachs, but FCM flat ride influence saw me first try 6" 300lb Hypercoils, but they were too short and too soft, so I bought some very nice "high travel" Eibach 7" 325lb springs. The "softer" spring rate (still double that of stock) allows me to get down to 13.375" ride height at lowest setting on perch. I really wanted a taller spring than 6" as I don't want track car rates (like 500lb which would allow for a shorter spring) AND I don't want to "block" the springs at full compression. This 7" spring is literally perfect. The 325lb rate never feels too soft, and with the hotchkis front bar set on medium, there's little body roll (you want some).

Assembled. Plates already on the car. I also had recently replaced the inner bushings in the plates, so they're fresh.



Installed and set for 13.5" ride height




I recaptured so much travel, that I ran out of threads at the top of the shaft to secure it with the M14 nut. I repurposed that TMS spacer, flipped upside down, in order to provide a "stop" for the nut before it ran out of threads.



.

[Bimmerchop]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the monoballs... I've been considering those for when the time comes so good to know you preferred the steering feel on the OE FCABs

[Tbonem3]

Hmm I don't feel that way at all. I prefer the stock part over aftermarket unless the reason to switch is great enough. I don't think turner's plate and logo look better than the stock part with ///M logo. I also wouldn't want to ruin the dead pedal by screwing into it. It was bad enough screwing into the gas pedal. I actually regret even using the throttle plate. I just wanted more traction for the clutch and brake pedals.

[Mystic3]

Coming in late on the pedal thing, looks great, but the stock dead pedal kinda looks like a sore thumb.
wouldn't it look better matching the rest of them ?

[Tbonem3]

February 2019

TMS had a big sale on their monoball fcabs, so I decided to try them out. I had a set of used lollipops, so I was able to press them in ahead of time.










Well, I really hated this mod. The steering wheel felt numb, less resistance, just alien and I didn't like it at all like not even close. Car didn't behave any better that I could sense. It is a street car, after all.

Put the car back up on stands and got some new OE FCABs. Ahhhhhh back to that steering feel I love!





I also really really missed the exh tips from the SS Sport plus my fav of all time are Eisenmann lemans (slanted) so I decided to slash cut my SGT tips to recreate that.





Fock ya!



Also put in 6" 600lb eibachs vs. my 6.5" GC 550lbs. Didn't like it, swapped back right away just too harsh. My car is super light, esp in the rear, and a street car, so lower spring rates are better I've found. Every time I deviate, I keep coming back to this custom GC 550lb eibach spring, it's just perfect - barrel style for more travel before blocking. 600 would be better if I had stock muffler and stock battery and mobility kit and trunk tools etc...



This rear pass side bumper sag finally got taken care of with a simple, cheap (how often can you say that) OE part.




M3 gusta

[Tbonem3]

Nice and clean underneath! It always feels good to do a proper “while you’re in there” when you’re working on a project.

Thanks, always!

Damn - seeing your SCZA makes me cringe at mine. It's sticking way further out than yours. Did you struggle with adjusting it at all?

Ya a bit, it's not the greatest system. What I did was get them pretty close to where I want, tighten them most of the way, then use a rubber mallet to tap them into the final place and tighten the crews all the way. You can even tap again even after tightening the screws. The trick to to pull the tip in the direction you want with one hand, while tapping it in that direction with the mallet in the other hand.