318iS Part 6: Brakes and suspension

After I finished the interior I went to take the car for its first drive and discovered that my brake pedal would go right to the floor and not return. After checking the fluid and adding more I eventually looked under the car and found that there was a break in the line and brake fluid was spraying everywhere. I knew I had to drop the rear subframe to do the brakes properly so I took that as an opportunity to swap the car from 4 lug 4x100 to 5 lug 5x120 which allows me to run most other BMW wheels.

The broken lines:

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The rear subframe took me a whole day to get out, the subframe bushings seized and broke, the parking brake cable needed to be drilled out, and a few other little complications

I got some 318ti trailing arms which I cleaned up and painted with POR15

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Same with the dust sheilds

I bought brand new 318ti calipers, rotors, parking brake pads, and regular pads. Then I painted those along with some E36 M3 calipers for the front. Note how much bigger the new calipers are!

To press in the bearings and hubs I machined a couple aluminum disks that I tightened together with some threaded rod

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Everything ready for install. New swaybar links, IX swaybar, Garagistic poly bushings, Braided stainless lines, new parking brake cables

Bushings installed

BC Racing springs. I will be running BC Racing coilovers up front

The rear diff was pretty dirty. The stamped white "S" indicate it's an LSD.

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Cutting out the bushing with a hacksaw blade

Old vs New

Fresh fluids

Cleaned up the axles. Before and After:

Everything assembled. I went with all Nickel copper brake lines for ease of install and rust resistance

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Undercoated the wheel wells and underbody

New brake lines and fittings all the way back

Lifting in the rebuilt subframe with my tractor

IN! I had to pull it all apart once because I flared the brake lines wrong. Reflared them al and everything bled and held pressure

Running some Koni shocks

Brand new e36 m3 front control arm with garagistic poly bushing ready for install

New sway bar links

BC Racing coilovers up front with E36 M3 Brembo rotors, New braded lines, and garagistic poly lolipop bushings.

Done! The wheels are a bit bigger than I thought they would be, I’ll be switching to smaller tires. But as it sits now it should handle amazingly! Really hoping to take it to the track this summer as well as some shows planned.