Well, this week my E34 received a new set of shock absorbers and associated small parts. I decided not to replace the springs and stick to the OEM setup, thus keeping the (IMHO) excellent SLS system. I ordered the parts somewhere mid june, after which they arrived early july:
Since I had the work carried out by a local workshop I provided them with all the required ETK drawings and relevant information from the E34 repair CD. A few pictures of the new parts installed.
Some pictures of the old parts:
A few checks have to be carried out, amongst others a full allignment of the wheels. This will be completed next week.
Well done Ray.. Bet you can;t wait to use that all-new OEM stuff on the Ring..I must say that I am rather curious about the ride stifness after the discovery Terry and I did regarding the refreshment of Pentosin the the SLS shocks..
I don't think there will be another ring-trip in it for me before Autumn. Next Sunday, I leave to Fiss in Austria for a two week vacation. This means I have to skip the OGP. After my return, I have one weekend before the Alps meeting which will be the first real test. This gives me a mere two weeks to find out if everything is OK.
I don't think there will be another ring-trip in it for me before Autumn. Next Sunday, I leave to Fiss in Austria for a two week vacation. This means I have to skip the OGP. After my return, I have one weekend before the Alps meeting which will be the first real test. This gives me a mere two weeks to find out if everything is OK.
I would be happy if I was able to do only one lap more in 2006! It's going on august already, and with my current holiday-regime I think September will be the first month to see 5-day work weeks.
Hope you have a good time in Austria, I think the country suits you!
I am confident that it must. The old fronts were nothing more then soft pumps and although the old rears didn't leak, their high frequency damping was reduced to zero. Low frequency damping was still OK, but the resonance frequency of the system was noticable in a few situations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyrus
Another M5 which is being maintained reguardless of cost!
The original shocks lasted about 16years. If the new shocks achieve that also, the price per annum is not that high.
I would like to say congratulations for doing such a thorough job on your car. I only wish there were more people out there who would take that attitude to repairs and maintenance. As an example i have never fitted a full replacement kit like that to any customers car ever in all the shock replacements i have done before, for maintenance. The exception being restoration, Customers in Australia just don't see the big picture like you do, but then again it is very cost prohibitive here as well. Well Done.
As an example i have never fitted a full replacement kit like that to any customers car ever in all the shock replacements i have done before, for maintenance.
I suppose it's rare to go the full monty but over time it makes sense. Walking Ray through the parts needed to do this job on the phone was done with two main goals: perfect suspension reliabilty for many years to come, and eliminating the risk of delay during the swap caused by worn hardware, incomplete kits, etc. The only thing not yet replaced suspensionwise are accumulators and hoses, time will tell if that was false economy. With the use the car gets I think it will be fine!
A few weeks ago there were TWO of these piles of parts in Wout's garage, one for Wout's car, one for GoneAgain's. Mine had a similar kit 2 years ago except topmounts, which I had to go back and do this year. Believe me when I tell you I kicked myself for not changing them before!!!
Oh and I think a certain Avus touring is gonna get a similar jobbie one of these days including EDCs. Now that's gonna hurt!!!
With the work involved and the expense of the parts it realy doesn't make sense to do it any other way: if you bite the bullet you get a wallet hammering but perfect handling, if you do it half-arsed you get a wallethammering that's only slightly milder, but a lot less effect. The amount of labour you either do or pay for is still the same.
it is good to see a restoration of the old school sls suspension particularly for someone who uses the car such as Raymond, I was one of the converts who personally feel the 3.6's were set up too soft so for a fraction of the price i opted to replace with h&r and koni's which sacrificed the sls functionality and comfort in favour of better grip & less roll. I loved my suspension, and it even dealt with 200kgs extra load at the 'Ring easily nad satisfactoraly) but would also love to try a brand new sls system. I am yet to fully experience the edc sls system in the 3.8's and comment on it comparitive performance....
and although the old rears didn't leak, their high frequency damping was reduced to zero. Low frequency damping was still OK, but the resonance frequency of the system was noticable in a few situations.
Linear Mode
