w261w261
11-08-2004, 06:41 PM
This is my first post on this forum, which I discovered existed when I looked at a turbo for sale on eBay, and in the description the seller mentioned 3geez. I'm glad I found it, and I admire all the Series 3 fanatics here!
I have an '89 4 dr SE-i, which is stock except for the lights, sound system, intake, and struts/springs (Bilstein HD/Eibach 1" drop). After I installed the new suspension, I found that I had a problem with rebound....not the springs, the seat! It was just way too softly sprung and was trying to bounce me out on some kinds of bumps. I lived with it for a couple of months, holding on tight to the wheel and kind of forcing myself to stay planted, but it wasn't much fun. Then I removed the driver's seat and took it to a leather guy to have 4 of the panels replaced. Before I reinstalled it, I took some wire (regular soft cheap stuff) and tied together the springs underneath the seat. Those springs are shaped like switchbacks on a mountain grade, and there are maybe 4 or 5 rows of them, not tied to each other. After I cinched them together with maybe 15 pieces of wire, the seat got much firmer and much much less bouncy. It was a cheap fix, and an easy one, as the seat comes out with 4 nuts removed. While it's out, you can put some grease on the slides and touch up with black paint anywhere Mr. Rust has started to work.
Anyway, I thought I'd share this, because I see where a lot of people have some pretty tough suspension mods, and they must be bouncing around on the driver's seat just like I was.
As an aside, when I put in the new struts/springs, I also replaced almost all the bushings, pads, etc. Kind of expensive...I think the total cost including parts was a little over a grand, but a big difference.
Although this next thing is not suspension-related, it eliminated an aggravation, so I'll mention it also. When I first got the car (3 years ago, 86k miles, original owner, dealer-serviced, garaged, $2,500), the tail lights both had water in them. I got a new pair on eBay, and it wasn't long before moisture had gotten in one of them also. I took some gutter tape (silver shiny on one side, thick adhesive on the other, made to repair the gutters on your house), and put it on top of the tail light/trunk "gap" with the trunk lid up, so that when the water drains down the sides of the trunk gutters, it goes *over* the top of the lights and down the rear outside, rather than over the lights and down the inside face (towards the front of the car). The problem is that the rubber seal in the light assembly does not work that well, and lets water down and in. Since I put those two pieces of tape on the top, end of problem.
Hal
I have an '89 4 dr SE-i, which is stock except for the lights, sound system, intake, and struts/springs (Bilstein HD/Eibach 1" drop). After I installed the new suspension, I found that I had a problem with rebound....not the springs, the seat! It was just way too softly sprung and was trying to bounce me out on some kinds of bumps. I lived with it for a couple of months, holding on tight to the wheel and kind of forcing myself to stay planted, but it wasn't much fun. Then I removed the driver's seat and took it to a leather guy to have 4 of the panels replaced. Before I reinstalled it, I took some wire (regular soft cheap stuff) and tied together the springs underneath the seat. Those springs are shaped like switchbacks on a mountain grade, and there are maybe 4 or 5 rows of them, not tied to each other. After I cinched them together with maybe 15 pieces of wire, the seat got much firmer and much much less bouncy. It was a cheap fix, and an easy one, as the seat comes out with 4 nuts removed. While it's out, you can put some grease on the slides and touch up with black paint anywhere Mr. Rust has started to work.
Anyway, I thought I'd share this, because I see where a lot of people have some pretty tough suspension mods, and they must be bouncing around on the driver's seat just like I was.
As an aside, when I put in the new struts/springs, I also replaced almost all the bushings, pads, etc. Kind of expensive...I think the total cost including parts was a little over a grand, but a big difference.
Although this next thing is not suspension-related, it eliminated an aggravation, so I'll mention it also. When I first got the car (3 years ago, 86k miles, original owner, dealer-serviced, garaged, $2,500), the tail lights both had water in them. I got a new pair on eBay, and it wasn't long before moisture had gotten in one of them also. I took some gutter tape (silver shiny on one side, thick adhesive on the other, made to repair the gutters on your house), and put it on top of the tail light/trunk "gap" with the trunk lid up, so that when the water drains down the sides of the trunk gutters, it goes *over* the top of the lights and down the rear outside, rather than over the lights and down the inside face (towards the front of the car). The problem is that the rubber seal in the light assembly does not work that well, and lets water down and in. Since I put those two pieces of tape on the top, end of problem.
Hal