SCR / Posh Leathers / KG & Raj Overhaul of the 4.8

[Sanj]

That's looks bloody awful! So does the red one (tell him to join the forum)!

I want better pics! Glad the missus is giving you grief you lucky bar steward!

Well done!

See you at the meet! With the red one...

[Raj]

[quote=""Sanj""]That's looks bloody awful! So does the red one (tell him to join the forum)!

I want better pics! Glad the missus is giving you grief you lucky bar steward!

Well done!

See you at the meet! With the red one...[/quote]

PMSL bro. I do agree though, so I'm selling it....

What better pics you after.....

Cheers and will do my utmost to get down to the meet...

[jamesturner]

Thanks for the pics, Well worth the wait. Especially liking the wheels, Where can I get them from and what size are they ?.

Regards Jt

[Raj]

Cheers JT.

The rims are genuine AC Schnitzer Type 2's. They are 10.5x22 all round with a 20mm spacer on the rear. Keep an eye out on here and eBay as they do pop up for sale from time to time.

[Turks]

Great pics Raj...

That E39 belong to Stevie Wonder?


Turks.

[Raj]

[quote=""Turks""]Great pics Raj...

That E39 belong to Stevie Wonder?


Turks.[/quote]

PMSL, the orange kidney grille surrounds have already been removed but the rims actually work in the flesh.

It certainly attracts attention....lol

[Lee4.8is]

Awesome work,looks great,bet your over the moon with the results.

I cant believe how great the paint finish is.

Thanks for sharing your hard work & wish mine looked as good as yours!

Enjoy.

[Raj]

Cheers Lee.

Am proper pleased with the overall look and really impressed with the paintwork.

More mods still to come though...lol

[Hits553]

Raj...the IS looikng super sweet!

The paint looks nice and rich.

Nice job

[Raj]

Figured I'd use this build thread to keep it all together.

As you peeps were aware, the air suspension on the OSF corner had gone caput. After much deliberation, I decided to bin the air suspension off completely and go the coilover route. As far as I'm aware no one else has done this (here in the UK anyway) and I always like to be different.

Before I move onto the coilovers, I decided to sort out the OSR balljoint as I've been meaning to do this job for months.

Firstly remove the airhose from the top of the airbag:


Once the airbag has been deflated, you get a proper dropped look... O0:


The nut at the bottom and the bolt at the top need to be removed:


This is the bolt from the other side:


Once the bolts, etc are removed the lower arm drops down to access the balljoint:


The BMW tool is placed over the end of the balljoint:


From the otherside:


Once removed (makes easy work of removal of the balljoint):




You use the tool from the otherside to pull the balljoint back into place and then bolt everything back together.

[Raj]

So onto the coilovers.

This is how the OSF looked to start with with a blown airbag:


With the X jacked up I spent an hour trying to find the bloody wheel (then I realised it was behind me...lol):


The old setup:


And finally removed:


Always nice when you get a present to open:


This is some serious kit. Fully adjustable, Height/Compression/Rebound:


Old with the new:


Front installed:


Now, onto the rear:


The rear airbag once removed:


The rear adjustable spring perch:


All in and replaced:



After a decent clean this is how the X looks (finally air suspension free):




May not look very low but it will settle further and tbh it is a a 4x4 at the end of the day.

It's basically sat where the lower air suspension setting would be, which is fine by me.

Last job now is to get the air suspension coded out.

[weirdfish]

You might want to get rid of that greasy paw print on your front spring mate, 
You will have fun with all the adj. when I had that kit on my Z3MCoupe I used to drive the same piece of road, a mixture of straights/twisters/bumps etc etc, and see how each adj changed the handling and ride, and finally got it just right, takes a while though.
It's good that you can adj these without having to remove anything, so you can just stop, adj, drive.
Good luck.

[dirtymonkey29]

I do like them wheels still

[Sanj]

Great bit of work mate.

How many evenings did that take in the end?

[Raj]

[quote="weirdfish"]
You might want to get rid of that greasy paw print on your front spring mate, 
You will have fun with all the adj. when I had that kit on my Z3MCoupe I used to drive the same piece of road, a mixture of straights/twisters/bumps etc etc, and see how each adj changed the handling and ride, and finally got it just right, takes a while though.
It's good that you can adj these without having to remove anything, so you can just stop, adj, drive.
Good luck.
[/quote]

Just waiting for it to settle to get the levels just right before getting the alignment done. As for the compression/rebound, its only the rears that is a little more of a pain as the compression adjustment is still on the top so have to remove the trim, etc from boot floor to access. All other adjustments are straight forward though.