Project: Useless E46

Looks like the perfect height! I've been looking for a shorter shift lever that doesn't sacrifice too much height (like the Z4 does). Spot on!

Welcome to the forums!

Great DIY! I look forward to see how she turns out.

Cheers!

Thanks guys I appreciate it!! I am finally happy to say I just ordered some coilovers and new end links !! I also got some goodies for my car that she has been needing. I got the car at 76k and its at 82k now.

I just bought these goodies at work today.

-Final Stage Resistor (My climate control has a hard time staying at one fan speed!)
-Thermostat (Mine has been intermittenly getting stuck open)
-Oil and Filter (I save the tiny bit after regular oil services at work so I have enough oil ready for me when I change mine
-Differential Output Shaft Seals. (My diff has been leaking a tiny bit from the output shaft seals)

I plan on getting spark plugs too, and possibly a fuel filter. I am so stoked about my Rokkor Coilovers!! I went with rokkor because they are amazing for being slammed. Much better than most higher end suspension manufacturers due to the high spring rates and aggressive dampening. Which means less bounce when you are sittin on the bump stops I also ordered shorter sway bar end links from raceland to compensate for the suspenion drop. Pictures are surely to come

great write up!
...and I'm still drooling on how clean your undercarriage is...just wow.

congrats on the car! and nice documentation skills! subscribed!

You are doing it right.

I did a oil change on my car over the weekend.



I grabbed seafoam from the local auto zone and poured it into my crank case. You use 1 pint per 10 quartz of oil. Being that our engines hold 7 quarts. I poured about .7 of the cointainer into my crankcase and went on a drive to visit my buddy who works for infiniti. Drove around 30 minutes or so and let it sit for a bit as well. Make sure to get your rpm's high and let the Vanos do some full sweeps so the seafoam can make its way through all the oil passages. Then change your oil. Make sure its nice and hot





















I'm a little, anal... drop the passanger side of the car to get that extra bit of oil out of the oil pan

oh yeah...... ROKKORS ARE COMING IN 2 DAYS

*subscribed* I'll be ordering my rokkors here pretty soon! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out man!

Got the Rokkors!!!



Well I wanted to talk a little bit about Rokkor Coilovers...

Everyone has there own opinion about coilovers.... Some people like having exceptional handling whether its for street use or track use. Some people like going low, some people like being Slammed. Some people have deep pockets, some people have, well not so deep pockets..

Rokkor is a sister company of Raceland. They are known well through the VW/Audi scene and it appears to be making its presence here well noticed. They make coilovers very affordable. Very affordable.

On my Passat: I used to have KW-V1's and Man I loved those coils. They road great, handled great and were a quailty product. Then I started going lower and lower. Down to the last thread. I was sitting on my bump stops. My car bounced everywhere, of course a car cant really be all that comfy when you are sitting on your bumpstops. By then I sold them and was going for airride.

I built my own set up and had it ready to go and installed... Only thing I needed I was airlift to release the protoype bags for my car... they said next month so many times I got so tired of being on my stock suspension, I decided I need coils again. I wanted something more inexspensive at the time and I saw the Rokkors were gaining popularity. The fact that they had aggressive dampening and a highspring rate made me really interested for being slammed. I had them piece together a kit for my Passat. B5 A4 front Coils, B6 A4 rear struts and E36 rear springs. I was in love!! Especially since I got them for $279 shipped to my door step. I didnt even unpack the perches, I threw those suckers on, las thread and just springs in the rear and it was incredibly surprising, they road way better being that low then the KW's. The KW's are fantastic coilovers, they are great for handling just not necessarily being slammed. the higher dampening and spring rate, keeps your car under control when you go over rough roads or a free way over pass. yes its a stiffer ride due to the higher spring rates and aggresive dampening but it doesnt let your car bounce all over the bumpstops for 4 seconds after every bump. Which in my book makes them excellent.

They arent the lightest coilovers out there, I dont have to deal with snow in So Cal, so I cant say how well they take the Harsh weather but they do come with a 3 year warrantee. They do have very good customer service from what I have experinced so far. My buddy ordered a kit for his GTI awhile back and they accidentally sent him 2 left struts. He called and they sent him a right strut in 2 days with a return label!!

SO when it came to my e46, It wasnt a hard choice for me I still did research and checked out the market for these cars. I do airride installs for a lot of people, everything from management fabrication to upholstry, so I plan to go airride down the road on this car. Yet another reason to not invest in some $1000+ coils.

I ordered the coils from Rokkor for $349 + $28.80 Shipping = $377.80

I ordered shortened Sway Bar End Links for Raceland for $49.00 + $10.80 Shipping = $59.80

$377.80 + $59.80 = $437.60 for Bolt On Coils that slam you to the Earth.

Now I was so damn excited when I got these. I would have ordered these the day I bought my car but moving in with my girl at the same time took up a bit of my extra cash getting things settled in so this was the back burner...

First Thing I will say is, I am very IMPRESSED!!!! Granted I am on my big ol meaty tires, These things ride AMAZING!!! I could not be any happier with them. I wish I go tmore pictures, but more will come of course and there are plenty of DIY's on doing coil install's so I wasnt going to get all in to it.

Front Suspension:

Strut tower Mounting bolts: 3 - 13mm Nuts Per Side

Strut Spindle Mount: 1 - 18mm Bolt Per Side

Sway Bar End Links: 2 -16mm Nuts Per Side (Will need a 16mm wrench to hold the ball joint)

Strut Top Hat: 1 - 21mm






Front Struts Out!












Yikes!! pretty darn close to the coils with the front wheels mounted up!! These are 16x7 et 47 with a 205/55/R16 on them. Trying to figure out the highest offset 18x10 I can run with out hitting the coil, then space out from there. I'm thinking 18x10 et25 or so.. Still doing some research.





Look at the difference!!! THe raceland end links seem to be of decent quality, Raceland claims the endlinks have heavy duty ball joints, which it seems they are. Nice and stiff! Thise is good for less sway bar movement.



Take a center punch and a hammer, and slam the little metal pin out of your strut tower, it will just fall out the bottum, this allows you to adjust your camber up front the small amount these can do from factory.









I didnt put the Factory rear strut boot on, beacuase I cut my rear bump stops to the little guy, which leaves no place for a boot to mount too.

I also highly recommend that you loosen the inner rear control arm mounts, then use a jack to compress the rear suspension all the way up until you start lifting the car off your jack stands, then torque down those inner control arm bolts. This is to make sure that you your control arm bushing are comfortable being in a lowered state.. nothing can be done for the front, It has mostly ball joints.

















Sorry these were taken with just my point and shoot.... lol Down to the last thread up front, still have helper springs in, helper spring bushings, and both lock rings, with the helpers still i, you could easily get another 1/2 inch of low, and with the helper springs out, you could be on the ground.. Now this is as low as I can go with these huge ass baloon tires lol. When I get a 18x10 up front with a 215/35 it will be about 12.5mm lower up front so i will decide then how I need to work the coils from there to get my fitment. Still need to cut my bumpstops up front.

The rear still has the spring isolaters on the top and bottom, just no perches..

I know..... Hella Sunk....

Holy fvck dude

dude, your thread,
you passat was truly useless too, love it. insane setup.

Holy dumpage!! I'm not a stance guy, but you sir are creating an AWESOME DIY here! Tons of great pics, great info, and part numbers! Nicely done man!

glad to see its finally lowered

That doesn't look good at all..

Ooooh. Like lowering or not, that was one clean job. Subscribed!

Too much low...too much stock rims. Get throw some rims on it and it'll look sweet

Lol..... Well obviously these 16's with balloon tires and super high offsets arent going to be all that flattering....

I aligned it at work the other day at lunch. Got my steer angle and thrust angle zeroed in, camber around -2.4 in the rear and -2 up front for now. I adjusted the front and rear camber to get it a little more positive so I dont ruin these tires as fast... lol





Some more, stopped at the gas station... There's my buddy greg who's an infiniti tech... just fartin around





I figure I would show off some of the fun I get to do at work every day a 06 750Li was burning oil which is caused by oil leaking past the valve guide seals. So I needed to replace them, which requires pulling the heads of course.. Had the heads off in 3 hours. From the minute I lifted the car up to start to dropping it off at the wash rack it took me 16 hours. For those who dont know.. that is fairly fast, considering you have to pull the exhaust, exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, valve covers, intake manifold, engine harness, front timing covers, coolant reservior coolant circuit, vanos assemblys, heads, disassemble the heads which includes: remove oil sprayers, remove cam caps, cams, valvetronic system, remove valve keepers, springs and seals, replace seals and rebuild the head. Then resurface the heads and block and reassemble the engine and time it. The key is to do this quick, without damaging any components, replace all required hardware, gaskets, and seals. To make sure you do not leave anything disconnected, no wires pinched, nothing falls in the motors, and that all procedures are carried out properly. Quality is the most IMPORTANT thing. I've done this job a few times so I know it fairly well.

One time I co worker was holding the timing chain for me while I was pulling a head... and he accidentally dropped the chain.. it came off the crank gear.... Which requireds you to drop the sub frame, and both oil pans, to access the chain and put i tback on the crank sprocket. lol.

Sorry to ramble! Just sharing some stories

Keep us updated on how those rokkors hold up! Love the stance