Project: Sleeper wagon

yeah, the stance on the coilovers is awesome. Is there any spring set out there that would approximate that stance?

When it's time to do my suspension (69K miles on the car), I envision going with Koni FSD's, but not sure about the springs. (Eibach pro kit?)

(My car has the OEM Sport Suspension.)

It IS time to do your suspension at 69k
Koni FSDs are very good.

There are two ways to deal with uneven gap between front and rear. Add thicker spring pads in the back. Touring has 5mm pads on each end of each rear spring. 15mm pads are available from BMW.
In this case you want shorter springs - H&R Sport for sport suspension (same as H&R Race for non sport suspension).
The second way to do this is getting lower spring perches for the front. While more expensive I believe it is better way to go because you don't lose as much suspension travel compared to option one.
In this case you can use longer springs (could probably try to keep your OEM sport). Something like H&R Sport (for non sport suspension, I know it's confusing).

Look around the forum and ask owners what they run. Concentrate on the front, the rear can be raised (easy and cheap).

Originally Posted by lab rat

It IS time to do your suspension at 69k
Koni FSDs are very good.

There are two ways to deal with uneven gap between front and rear. Add thicker spring pads in the back. Touring has 5mm pads on each end of each rear spring. 15mm pads are available from BMW.
In this case you want shorter springs - H&R Sport for sport suspension (same as H&R Race for non sport suspension).
The second way to do this is getting lower spring perches for the front. While more expensive I believe it is better way to go because you don't lose as much suspension travel compared to option one.
In this case you can use longer springs (could probably try to keep your OEM sport). Something like H&R Sport (for non sport suspension, I know it's confusing).

Look around the forum and ask owners what they run. Concentrate on the front, the rear can be raised (easy and cheap).

I know we're veering off topic from your original thread, but we're talking alpine white sport wagons, so what the hey...

OK, so 69K is time to do suspension (I've read Mango's bible)... How can I tell that? I mean, it drives and handles great. Or is it all preventative?

So, keep the OEM sport springs, but get Koni FSD's and use lower front perches? Is that anything? (I like that idea, but not sure if it's the right way to go.)

Don't worry about the thread, I'll have to rewrite it properly in the Showroom section anyway.
At 70k the shocks are typically gone. It's hard to tell as the springs and stabilizers are pretty stiff and suspension travel is short. But you will notice the difference when you replace them.
You could start with the OEM springs and see how it looks if you don't mind taking the suspension apart couple of times.

I'm having hard time finding the lowering perches for e46. Bimmian and JLevisw used to sell them but I don't see them there now.

Looks like supremepowerparts.com has the perches... $70.

http://www.supremepowerparts.com/143..._category.html

Ok, step one in new round of troubleshooting done.
Compression tested 180-185 all cylinders (dry test). Leakdown 10-12%.
It would be good to get some comparison numbers so I could guess the compression ratio. 185 seems pretty high to me on a b30.
This would confirm my suspicion of previously shaved head.

Next step will be:
Pulling the SC, replacing all vacuum hoses, cleaning/replacing ICV, replacing temp sensor an everything else I failed to do when I had the engine out. Doh!

If that doesn't fix it I'll be either adding head spacer or meth.

Snapped couple of pics. Made me realize how much I suck at white balance.











As far as the looks I'm going to black out the window trim at front grille.

Super clean. Thinking about an MTech II rear end?

Maybe one day. I mainly put the front one on to get enough air to the heat exchanger for intercooler. I like the M-tech II look.

what is the sticker on the left back hatch?

Just a dumb dealer sticker. It's been there for 11 years. I didn't think it would come off cleanly so I left it.
The car will need full respray eventually. I'll deal with it then.
I might change the colour to the 2006+ AW or some other brighter white (Audi maybe?)

Awesome build! Been glued to my phone for the past 30 mins reading through everything! Great looking wagon. Great Job with all the work, wish I was gifted and could do all that work by myself. Love the car!

Thanks. One of the points of this thread was to show that it's surprisingly easy to do something like this with no previous experience.