E36 lock mods: E46 lower arms

from what i can gather ad they give a wider track. i shouldnt have thought they would make any difference to anything else though

 

more negative camber and an increase in KPA. You my be able to counter these effects with adjustable top mounts.

 

Lower unsprung mass is a nice bonus too.

 

If your currently hitting the inner arch with your lock spacers (I still do with et5 wheels) then they will help you get the most out of your current lock.
I was taken out in a 323 with e46 arms and lock spacers and he had more lock than me.

 

The lower offsets shouldn't really Help with the wheel fouling the inner arch. It will move where along the arch it fouls, but not how far it turns untill it fouls. Unless the inner arch changes in which case it could help.

I've got 15's on mine and they still foul

 

Actually no your right, it should help. Ignore my first post!

 

This post might be of help

http://www.driftworks.com/forum/technical/161071-e30-e36-lock-increase-guide-my-try-photos.html

 

Your half right in what your saying db. It's def not as simple as moving the wheel further out.

 

aye, i was thinking in terms of the wheel being at 90 degree lock. But if you're at 45 degree lock, spacers will move the wheel out a bit, but not by the thickness of the spacer. 46 arms are really the way to go. Means you can run decent camber without using shims which i dont like the idea of

 

Without:



With:
(notice the wheels came out further and camber increased allot)



Lock (4mm rack spacers):

 

so does the e46 lower control arms bolt straight up to the e36?

 

from what ive heard you'll need an M3 arb and shocks (i can't confirm this though)

 

The bush on the back of the e46 arm is different. An e36 has two bolts in line going across the chassi rail, the e46 has two bolts in line going ALONG the chassis rail. You can't just use an e36 bush on the e46 arm as the arm has a hexagonal cross section where it slides into the bush, the e36 one is round. People grind the arms to become round, or you can get a certain year of e46 bush and fit it into your e36 lollipop holder/frame.

The rest bolts up AFAIK. Not heard about the m3 droplink thing, theory is that m3's ARB's bolt to the struts, whereas non-m3's bolt to the wishbone. The e46 wishbone might not have a hole for the ARB to mount to.

Anyway as above they just push the wheel out a bit more from the bottom, so just help with clearance. Not much, but every little helps if you're rubbing. I run e34 bbs on the front with max of 205/50/15s and they don't rub on full lock, well the paint's gone on the chassis rail but that doesn't count. lock spacers but standard wishbones and bushes.

 

E46 w/b doenst have a hole for the Anti roll bar. And (this was on a e30) but the drop link lined up perfectly with one of the massive holes in the wishbone, I didnt look at it for to long, but im sure enough time spent on it could figure something out. Alt just run M3 suspension so a m3 drop link can be used.
Was going to do that on the E30 but i ditched the front arb all together..

 

do you need drop links at all? seen few cars without them and don't have front ones either to save weight etc

 

People indeed use them without. We just drilled a whole to fit it, simples.
What you need the fit the E46 arms.
60mm E46 rear LCA bushing, that one will fit the E36 lollipop.
Rest of the mounting points is identical to the E36.

But I don't have enough lock so went for a full kit from Sean Love.

 

Did you ever mod your hubs? I'll be getting the e46 arms and e46 60mm powerflex bushes (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320606062220) soon after I buy a trailer.

 

Nope, because wheels where allready touching lca's. U'd need early e46 lca's without the reinforcment. They are much thinner
Or just modify the e36 arms