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Offroad Long Travel Suspension - Was it Worth It? - YouTube
Channel: Donut Media
[1]
- The stock suspension
on our E36 took a beating
[4]
in the desert, a couple of weeks ago.
[5]
(car engine revving)
[10]
Which kind of makes sense,
I mean, it's the desert,
[12]
the suspension is stock,
it's old, it's soft
[15]
and you won't hear me say this too often
[17]
about stock suspension, but
it's a little bit too low.
[20]
So this week on "Money Pit,"
we're gonna install a set
[22]
of coilovers on the so that we can get
[24]
a little bit better handling
and some more ride height
[27]
for some more ground
clearance for rally stuff.
[30]
Let's go baby.
[32]
(upbeat music)
[37]
Large, thanks to eBay Motors
for sponsoring today's video.
[41]
By now we all know eBay
makes it easy to buy a car
[43]
and all the parts you need,
[45]
but they also make it easy to sell.
[48]
How easy you ask?
[49]
Well, now you can ship
and deliver your vehicle
[52]
and parts directly through eBay Motors,
[54]
which is honestly pretty cool.
[56]
So for any of those spare
parts, you got lying around,
[58]
like I've got plenty of, or
that unused car taking up space
[62]
in your mom's garage, well,
with just a few clicks,
[64]
you can have it up and
available for purchase.
[66]
And thanks to eBay's option
for vehicle inspection,
[69]
you can sell with
confidence as an inspection
[72]
is gonna increase the buyers
trust in your vehicle.
[75]
So clean out that garage
[76]
and start selling today,
by going to the link
[78]
in the description below.
[80]
Now, let's get back to throwing
some money in that pit.
[82]
(piano music)
[84]
Like I was saying before,
when we took the E36 out
[87]
to the desert, the stock
suspension felt super soft
[90]
and it felt super stock.
[92]
(car engine revving)
[96]
And it was also a touch too low.
[98]
As it turns out, there's a
lot of rocks in the desert
[100]
and I was running over a bunch of them.
[103]
(car engine revving)
[105]
So I think we can stand to
jack things up a little bit.
[107]
So we could go crazy and we
could do long travel suspension
[111]
with longer control arms,
and really Jack this thing up
[114]
and almost turning into a Baja
truck, but we're trying to be
[117]
a little bit budget minded
here with this build.
[119]
So I don't think that's the move.
[121]
So we're just gonna go
with an off the shelf set
[124]
of coilovers.
[125]
Let's take a look at what we got.
[130]
I know, I need a haircut.
[134]
So, here's what we've got.
[136]
We've got a set of BC
Racing's DS series coilover
[140]
and I think they're gonna be
great for the task at hand.
[142]
Obviously they give us
ride height, adjustability,
[144]
so we'll be able to raise the car.
[146]
They should handle a lot better,
[147]
they're built for performance
and they give us control
[150]
over our damping so we can
soften it or stiffen it
[152]
as we want, which is really nice to have,
[155]
especially when you're trying
to tweak a car to do better
[157]
at a certain thing.
[158]
Now, the only thing we have
left to do is install them
[161]
and that shouldn't be
too hard I don't think.
[163]
Probably only take us about four hours,
[167]
maybe five since we're filming.
[170]
Always takes a little longer
with the camera around,
[173]
'cause I'm always making
sure I, do I look good?
[177]
How do I look?
[178]
All right now, before we go
jacking this puppy to the moon,
[180]
let's take some measurements
and see where we're at now
[183]
in terms of ride height
and ground clearance.
[185]
So I'm just gonna walk around
[186]
and do the old finger measurement here.
[188]
It looks like about
one finger at the rear,
[190]
and then I'm actually gonna
measure our ride height,
[192]
just from the bottoms of the
side skirts at the rear end
[194]
and the front, so we know how
much we've lifted the thing
[197]
at the end, so I know how
big of rocks I can run over.
[200]
Six inches on the money.
[203]
Let's see how level she is.
[205]
Seven and an eighth at the
rear, six at the front.
[208]
Write that down.
[211]
I know I'll remember it, I got it.
[214]
Steel trap, three fingers at the front.
[217]
So I think we're gonna
increase ride height,
[219]
so we'll have a bigger gap here
[220]
and we'll increase our ground clearance.
[222]
Now this is only one part
of this whole puzzle.
[226]
Obviously we're gonna
do some wheels and tires
[228]
and I'll let you in on a little secret.
[230]
The tires that I'm going with are gonna be
[231]
a little bit bigger than these ones.
[233]
So I'm planning for that too,
[235]
and that'll also increase
my ground clearance.
[237]
So at the end of today,
[239]
it's probably gonna look
pretty stupid on these wheels,
[242]
but that's okay, project's
not over, we're not done here.
[246]
Don't judge me, yet.
[248]
All right, well, with all that
said, there's nothing left
[251]
to do, but do it.
[252]
So, let's start with the front.
[255]
(boards clattering)
[263]
Pick your stuff up Felipe.
[265]
- [Felipe] Show off.
[266]
- So here we go.
[268]
(laughs)
[270]
- [Felipe] Stop, stop, stop.
[273]
- This is what I was talking about,
[275]
I'm just glad it takes longer.
[276]
(laughs)
[278]
(soft music)
[280]
(metal clanking)
[283]
First time taking these wheels
off, you'll notice a lot
[286]
of Euro cars do something a
little bit different than a lot
[289]
of the rest of the cars
and that they use lug bolts
[292]
instead of lug nuts like that.
[296]
And that can make it kind of
tricky for installing wheels
[299]
and getting the holes lined
up and they kind of fall off
[302]
when you take off the last bolt.
[303]
So eventually we're going
to switch that up to studs.
[306]
(impact gun whirring)
[307]
But for now it's bolts.
[309]
(impact gun whirring)
[311]
(soft music)
[312]
(wheel banging and clanking)
[317]
Smooth, I know.
[319]
So we just gotta disconnect
the top from the chassis
[322]
and the bottom from the suspension
[323]
and we'll also need to
remove our sway bar end links
[326]
because the new coilovers
are gonna use a new type
[329]
of end link, they'll
connect in a different spot,
[331]
but that's no big deal.
[333]
Just a little wrenching maybe.
[335]
(soft music)
[339]
All right, so we've got one bolt remaining
[340]
that's holding things
together on the bottom here,
[343]
right in the side here, so
I'm gonna take that off,
[346]
and when I do, that's gonna
disconnect the suspension
[348]
from our hub, our spindle down here.
[350]
So I'm going to put the Jack
in place just to keep that
[353]
from flopping off and
banging me in the knee
[355]
or what have you.
[357]
And I've got a nice
little hockey puck on here
[359]
for touching things
without messing them up.
[364]
Hockey pucks are great for that.
[366]
(upbeat music)
[369]
Okay, so now the bottom is disconnected,
[370]
all we gotta do is remove
our three nuts up here,
[373]
and this piece of suspension is out.
[376]
(impact gun whirring)
[377]
(upbeat music)
[378]
Okay.
[379]
(soft music)
[386]
There we go, one old
Bilstein from Germany.
[390]
Let's replace it with a BC from Florida.
[398]
Now, there's no left or right
to these there's just front
[401]
and rear, so this is a front,
it could go on either side
[404]
and we'll go about
adjusting our ride height,
[406]
once this is installed.
[407]
I could loosen this now and do it by hand,
[409]
doesn't really make too
much of a difference.
[411]
All right, I wanna make sure
that our camber plates are in
[413]
so that we can adjust our camber,
[415]
which means the slots will go this way,
[417]
rather than, like this, 'cause then
[420]
we wouldn't be adjusting camber.
[423]
Okay, now I'm gonna get this in place.
[427]
Watch it fender.
[430]
(upbeat music)
[436]
We'll bring up our hub
to meet the coil over
[440]
with the help of our jack.
[443]
All right, so that's
basically one corner done,
[445]
the only thing I have left to do is put on
[447]
my new sway bar end link,
but I got to wait to do
[451]
the other side because the sway bar
[453]
is not the same right
now, it's still connected
[456]
to the driver's side
with the stock end link,
[458]
so if I tried to put this one
in I just wouldn't be able to.
[461]
So once I get that side,
I'm done sway bar wise
[463]
and I can come back over
here, pop this guy on.
[465]
But I'm gonna worry about the big part,
[467]
which is getting coil over in first.
[471]
Me and my tools will meet you over there.
[474]
(upbeat music)
[478]
Those puppies are mega
tight and I can't get
[481]
an impact gun on them, so
I'm gonna use this big,
[486]
strong thing I have.
[488]
(upbeat music)
[494]
Okay, now just them toppers.
[496]
(impact gun whirring)
[497]
(upbeat music)
[500]
Whoosh.
[504]
Good, I said, no big deal
adjusting ride height
[508]
after the fact, which is
true, but this is a lot easier
[512]
than doing it after the fact.
[514]
(upbeat music)
[523]
All right, so we got the front coilovers,
[525]
technically in the car,
they are installed.
[527]
Now the only things that remain
to be done with these fronts
[530]
are to just ride height.
[532]
But if I'm going to adjust ride height,
[533]
I might as well do it when can
adjust all the ride heights.
[537]
So we're gonna leave the
fronts at this point for now
[540]
and work on the back, get those installed
[542]
and then we can do things like
adjust all of our ride height
[545]
and install our sway bar end links.
[548]
So let's go to the back.
[551]
Okay, so to get the rears
in, we're gonna have
[553]
to disassemble a little bit
of the trunk interior lining,
[556]
but that's okay, I mean, ultimately,
[558]
this stuff's all gonna go anyway,
[560]
we're gonna strip this thing.
[561]
So I'm gonna remove the
carpet and that kind of stuff
[564]
and that should allow me
to get to the upper mounts
[566]
for the shock.
[568]
(upbeat music)
[572]
That's what I look like
without a shirt on.
[575]
Couple of cutlets.
[577]
(upbeat music)
[579]
Come on baby.
[581]
(upbeat music)
[583]
Two fresh trunk carpets,
for sale now, on eBay.
[589]
I'm gonna support the
suspension here with the jack,
[593]
just touch it up and then pull
off the lower shock hardware.
[599]
(impact gun whirring)
[605]
And now the jack's the
only thing holding up
[607]
against the spring, so in the rear,
[609]
the spring is divorced
from the shock here,
[612]
so now we can let this down.
[614]
So now with that down, our
spring is relatively loose,
[617]
we'll be able to get it out.
[618]
Now I can go up in here and
the two thirteens in the trunk
[621]
and get our shock out.
[625]
Ejecto.
[627]
Okay, now we just gotta
get the spring out.
[631]
There's the spring.
[632]
(upbeat music)
[635]
Let's go take the other side out.
[636]
(upbeat music)
[638]
(impact gun whirring)
[640]
(upbeat music)
[644]
(grunts)
[646]
Okay.
[648]
Now, all we gotta do is
put the new stuff in.
[655]
All right, so this is our
rear suspension setup.
[658]
The springs are still
divorced from the shocks,
[663]
so this is how we adjust our
ride height, these adjusters,
[666]
that'll go to the top of our spring.
[668]
So these are a little bit less
easy to adjust in the car.
[672]
Definitely doable, but a little less easy.
[674]
So I am gonna spin these up
and try to at least get closer
[679]
to where I want the ride
height to be, which,
[683]
we're just gonna go most of the way up.
[687]
And that's just hanging
proud a little bit,
[689]
so we'll match this up on the other side.
[692]
This side are even.
[693]
Let's put this in.
[695]
(upbeat music)
[699]
All right, now we've got the spring in,
[700]
so all we gotta do is put the shock in.
[702]
Felipe.
[703]
(upbeat music)
[706]
Okay, let's see here.
[707]
A nice little bump stop's in there.
[710]
I'm gonna get some zip ties and zip tie
[711]
these dust boots in place,
so they do their job.
[715]
Then we can put those in.
[719]
Okay.
[723]
Okay, so now we're on there.
[725]
Then I'll use the jack to bring this up
[727]
through the holes in the
top, then we can put the nuts
[728]
on up top with our reinforcement plates,
[731]
let's not forget those.
[732]
(upbeat music)
[734]
All right, now we've got
our suspension in place
[735]
and the last thing we got
to do before we bolt it up
[738]
is just sandwich on these
reinforcement plates.
[741]
The sheet metal that makes
up the rear shock towers
[743]
in the E36, is a known weak point
[746]
and it's not super
uncommon to blow them out.
[748]
These look really good right
now, this car is in great shape
[751]
and the sheet metal is in perfect shape,
[753]
I mean, it's a California car,
but we are gonna be beating
[756]
the living daylights out of this thing
[758]
and I was already feeling a little bit bad
[760]
for the shock towers when
we were in the desert,
[763]
so these will just sandwich the place
[765]
and help distribute the
load delivered by the shocks
[768]
to more of the shock tower,
rather than just the areas
[771]
where the nuts are.
[772]
So these should help keep
us from blowing any holes
[775]
in the back.
[776]
(upbeat music)
[785]
Okay, so we got the suspension
installed in all four corners
[788]
and it was pretty easy and
not all that time consuming,
[790]
but now we've got to adjust
them and set our ride height.
[794]
So I'm just kind of taking a stab at it.
[796]
I've got all my suspensions
adjusted to what I think
[799]
is gonna be a little bit
taller than stock ride height.
[802]
I'm not trying to jack
this thing up to the moon,
[804]
but I do wanna increase
a little bit of height.
[806]
So we're just gonna go with
this, put the wheels on
[808]
and put it on the ground
and see where we're at
[811]
and move on based on that.
[814]
Let's find out where we're at.
[816]
(upbeat music)
[821]
(impact gun whirring)
[826]
Well, after just putting a wheel on,
[827]
you can see that ride
height is not very increased
[830]
and when we put the car on the ground,
[832]
that's gonna even close up.
[833]
So we're not gonna go
any further with this.
[836]
I'm gonna take the wheel back off
[837]
and jack this thing up a bit more.
[840]
(upbeat music)
[848]
We need to match that
up on the other side,
[851]
see where are at.
[858]
That's easier to do when the
coil over's out of the car.
[862]
All right, let's throw some wheels on that
[864]
and see what we got.
[867]
(impact gun whirring)
[873]
This is promising.
[876]
I think this will obviously
compress a little bit,
[878]
but that's about what we want there.
[881]
(chair rolling)
[892]
Still don't have it.
[894]
(upbeat music)
[905]
Not bad, we went from
one finger in the back
[908]
to a solid three.
[909]
You can even get four if you're trying.
[912]
And then on the front we went from about
[915]
I think we had like two and a half, three.
[917]
Now we've got a pretty easy whole hand.
[920]
Let's see how much ground
clearance we've gained.
[923]
Eight and a half, eight
and three quarters.
[925]
And then we're at about seven and a half.
[927]
(upbeat music)
[931]
I think that's about where
we're gonna stay for now.
[933]
Obviously we'll change this
a little bit when we put on
[935]
our other wheels and tires,
but until we do that,
[938]
I don't know exactly how
I want the stuff to fit,
[940]
because it's fitting
around wheels and tires.
[943]
So we're going to leave it like this,
[944]
I'm gonna tighten down on my lock collars,
[946]
all the adjustments, make sure
everything's good and tight,
[949]
and call this done.
[950]
Now let's go drive this
thing and see how it feels.
[953]
Now these BCs are still going to be comfy
[956]
but I think they're
gonna be a little more,
[959]
ooh, performance oriented, just
driving off the curb there,
[963]
just to see how it feels, as
you do, and it feels fine.
[967]
(car engine revving)
[972]
No strange noises, that's always good.
[974]
Everything feels nice and
tight, and that's what I want.
[978]
It doesn't really feel wobbly yet,
[980]
I guess I got to get into some turns but,
[983]
it really feels a lot tighter than it did,
[984]
even though I jacked it way up.
[986]
I guess that's what you get
when you put nice new coilovers
[991]
on the car, huh?
[992]
It feels firm, yet supple,
if that makes sense,
[997]
like it feels kind of
like if I hit a jump,
[1003]
we might survive it.
[1005]
(car engine revving)
[1010]
Whoa, she feels so planted, so secure.
[1014]
It was really kind of, super soft
[1017]
and just wallowy everywhere before,
[1019]
but now this thing is a
taut performance machine.
[1024]
And I won't hear any differently.
[1028]
Oh, hell yeah, baby!
[1030]
I mean, I guess it's no secret
but a good set of coilovers
[1033]
is a great addition to any car
that you want to drive better
[1038]
than it does currently,
at least in my opinion.
[1041]
It always makes it feel like
a new car in the best way.
[1044]
I mean, (car engine revving)
[1048]
She's back in action, baby.
[1050]
So let me know what you
guys think in the comments.
[1052]
Do you agree?
[1053]
Are coilovers worth the
time, money and effort?
[1056]
I say, hell yes they are.
[1058]
Thanks again for watching, I
hope you guys had a good time,
[1061]
maybe learned a thing or two.
[1062]
Don't forget to go follow me on Instagram,
[1065]
@Zackjobe and follow Donut, @Donutmedia.
[1067]
And I'll see you guys next Wednesday.
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