B3-Michael

@Dave:

Here are the numbers you are looking for:

Federzylinder ALPINA, ET Liste Seite 30 Position 7

• left 33 52 625
• right 33 52 624

Federzylinder BMW (M Variante, ab 1992 auch Serie)

• left 37 12 11 34 449
• right 37 12 11 34 450

Just in this moment, I am not sure any more, ift the parts belong to the M5 E34 or to the M-Suspension, offered for the "normal" E34. But your garage will be able to check this.

I also had a adress of a company, which can rebuild the dampers. That would cost 500 Euro each... and that does not make sense because the new parts do not cost more in Germany.

Good luck!

Michael

DaveW

Michael, there is some great info in that link, thanks. I suspect the challenge is in finding the right quality hard nylon seals in order to perform a rebuild that would last any length of time but it would be a huge shame to throw away such an expensive component for the want of a few £10 parts.

My route will almost certainly be governed by time available - I'm taking my BT to classic Le Mans at the beginning of July, so must have it ready before then. A new BT or M-Sport strut (or good exchange unit) would seem to make most sense at this point.

Cheers,

Dave.

DaveW

SO I wrote to Alpina on Friday and had a reply waiting for me this morning - customer service doesn't get better than that!

"Please be informed that the requested shock absorber rear left with level control system (ALPINA part no. 33 52 625) was replaced by BMW spare part 37 12 11 34 449.
In this case, please also replace the rear right shock absorber with BMW part no. 37 12 11 34 450.
*** The holder for the hydraulic line has to be adopted from the used component *** "


All I have to do now is price them up

Cheers,

Dave.

B3-Michael

Hi Dave,

be glad, that the original parts are not available any more for the Bi-Turbo. For the B12 E38 they are - for 1300 Euro each.

Michael

DaveW

A good end to the story . Thanks to Phil Crouch of CPC who was nursing my Alpina through the SLS pipe change, I now have a new MOT - and I didn't have to change the SLS units. IT would seem that after sitting for an extended period, some oil did get past the top seal of the strut and looked wet and messy - bad enough for MOT tester to issue a fail and claim excessive leaking...

After a couple of days of being moved in and out of Phil's garage while I sourced info on replacement struts, Phil noticed there were no leaks on the ground and no fluid was being used and the car held pressure as it should. The strut was thoroughly cleaned and monitored over a few days and apart from a light misting on the insert, no fluid was escaping - it looks as if its in good shape after all.

Got it re-tested and a pass certificate was issued, which is great news. I'll keep an eye on it over the coming days/weeks and months and if it doesn't leak, I'm not going to change it.

What we did have to do and worth mentioning for other BT owners, was attend to some corrosion to the floor of the car above the CATs. My heashield was in very poor shape and in fact fell off last year - I bought a new one and asked Phil to fit it. Trouble was, in the meantime the heat from the CATs accelerated corrosion and a small hole was appearing. A plate was made up, the rot cut out and all welded to perfection - protected and covered by a shiny new heatshield. Check yours too.

Thanks to all who chipped in with help and advice, much appreciated. I drove it home this evening and it felt fine, felt great in fact to have full boost on tap and it still goes like stink

Cheers,

Dave.