Bad day for the iS

[polsta]

on my old is, and a common fault with e30s, is the hand break shoes in the rear drums, its held in via a pin in the backing plates, the hole rusts through and the pin comes out and the break shoes come loose, and make a funny noise

I believe that's the issue yeah...something's come loose in the o/s rear brake department, and the gubbins inside the shoe are all rattling around.

you just aswell replace the shoes depending how the hole has rusted,you can hold the pin with a long pin washer type bodge, but to properly fix it you need new backing plate and to change them is a ball ache and removal of the hubs and everything i think

[Brianmoooore]

you just aswell replace the shoes depending how the hole has rusted,you can hold the pin with a long pin washer type bodge, but to properly fix it you need new backing plate and to change them is a ball ache and removal of the hubs and everything i think

And make sure your mechanic knows how to adjust the handbrake afterwards, which is NOT by playing with the adjuster nuts on the cables at the handbrake lever!

[magpie]

you just aswell replace the shoes depending how the hole has rusted,you can hold the pin with a long pin washer type bodge, but to properly fix it you need new backing plate and to change them is a ball ache and removal of the hubs and everything i think

And make sure your mechanic knows how to adjust the handbrake afterwards, which is NOT by playing with the adjuster nuts on the cables at the handbrake lever!

[HairyScreech]

Poly is always a bone of contention on here.

The rear suspension was designed to flex and provide passive rear steer.
BUT it was designed at a time when tyre technology provided less traction.
Thus more traction = more lateral force = more flex = more rear steer than expected from the design spec.
This flex is used to design passive rear steer into the suspension, as the lateral force is applied to the bushes the rear beam will shift, clockwise for a LH turn and anti for a RH turn, effectively toeing the wheels to the outside of a turn.
This effect is desirable up to a point, and sticky modern tyres may result in too much rear steer. (No one has really done any proper testing to confirm or deny)

Which I expect is where the e30s reputation for being a bit snappy on the limit comes from, the Peugeot 306 gti-6 is a classic example of this, they suffer from too much rear steer so when the rear steps out and the force is lost your well into a spin already as the rear effectively turns in more, its known that putting Polly where rubber used to be at the rear end can help a lot by reducing the tendency of the rear to point towards the outside of the turn.

Which is why people say the void fillers help.
The voids in the bush are fore-aft in the car so allow more flex back and forth than left-right, when the voids are filled with nylon inserts the space for the bush to flex is gone, meaning it’s like having a smaller solid rubber bush, the void fillers simply limit the rear flex.

It depends on how you intend to drive the vehicle and how you feel about NVH.
If it’s a cherished daily driver that you polish and go for a drive in the sun with then stick with normal rubber ones.

If you use it more enthusiastically then a normal bush with void fillers or one of the 75a duro poly bushes from here may be more appropriate
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=207349

Imo there are few places that a poly like powerflex do are suitable, they are too hard (90a) and are pretty much limited to places that have pure rotary motion.

[HairyScreech]

on my old is, and a common fault with e30s, is the hand break shoes in the rear drums, its held in via a pin in the backing plates, the hole rusts through and the pin comes out and the break shoes come loose, and make a funny noise

I believe that's the issue yeah...something's come loose in the o/s rear brake department, and the gubbins inside the shoe are all rattling around.

you just aswell replace the shoes depending how the hole has rusted,you can hold the pin with a long pin washer type bodge, but to properly fix it you need new backing plate and to change them is a ball ache and removal of the hubs and everything i think

Bmw do an official repair kit for them that consists of pretty much the washer "bodge"

[redcar]

If you've lowered your car then it's worth buying subframe bushes designed the raise the subframe 12mm higher into the car.

This will put the geometry closer to standard and correct the roll centre

[bassjamm]

Woah...this is all getting a bit hefty now guys, way over my head...ha! But I did ask so thanks for all the input.

From the sounds of what you guys are saying on the weird noise front, it's something else that's happened. All in hand though.

And the oil leak is definitely from the head gasket. I went down to the workshop and my mechanic put it up on the ramp, it's clearly coming from the head. He's going to change the profile gasket out whilst he's doing the head gasket though.

As for the bushes, I'm none the wiser, but from what's been said I think the void fillers with the rubber bushes may offer a good solution

Thanks guys...

[bassjamm]

If you've lowered your car then it's worth buying subframe bushes designed the raise the subframe 12mm higher into the car.

This will put the geometry closer to standard and correct the roll centre

The car's lowered 40mm on springs all round...

Are the subframe bushes different from the rear bushes I've been talking about?

[HairyScreech]

nope the same, but the guys in the link i posted do a version that moves the beam up a little, thus reducing the camber caused by lowering an e30.
Again though i noone on here has really tested them, the american boys have though.

[redcar]

nope the same, but the guys in the link i posted do a version that moves the beam up a little, thus reducing the camber caused by lowering an e30.
Again though i noone on here has really tested them, the american boys have though.

I run the raised subframe bushes on my car!!!
My brother said its a massive improvement over many e30s he had driven. Said it drifts and handles better than the gug car

[HairyScreech]

its something i have been considering for mine for a while

[redcar]

its something i have been considering for mine for a while

well it is amazing.

The roll centre correction is the most beneficial effect of it though.
Camber and toe reduction are also fairly good, and the fact that the trailing arms are moved closer to their stock position so the camber and toe changes upon compression are much less than using the camber correction tabs.

I think the raised subframe bushes along with the camber and toe correction tabs would make for a much improved rear suspension setup.

[318isPMK]

I'm totally lost now

[bassjamm]

I'm totally lost now

Same...all sounds rather exciting though. Ha!

[bss325i]

I run the raised subframe bushes on my car!!!

Are these raised bushes polly or rubber?

[redcar]

I run the raised subframe bushes on my car!!!

Are these raised bushes polly or rubber?

Theyre ertalon.
A material very similar to delrin

[HairyScreech]

they do a soft poly as well, somewhere between rubber and normal purple polly crap.

the ertalon ones are hard.

[redcar]

I don't like poly crap.

Solid ertalon bushes are the closest thing to what I wanted. Ideally I'd want solid aluminium ones

[bassjamm]

Should be getting the car back today finally...been a mad mad few weeks, but all should be cool now.

Had to source a new head as the old one was too corroded!

[Loony]

on my old is, and a common fault with e30s, is the hand break shoes in the rear drums, its held in via a pin in the backing plates, the hole rusts through and the pin comes out and the break shoes come loose, and make a funny noise

I believe that's the issue yeah...something's come loose in the o/s rear brake department, and the gubbins inside the shoe are all rattling around.

you just aswell replace the shoes depending how the hole has rusted,you can hold the pin with a long pin washer type bodge, but to properly fix it you need new backing plate and to change them is a ball ache and removal of the hubs and everything i think

Brake drums on an is?
Shoes and not pads?

[Brianmoooore]

Rear brakes of an iS has drums, discs, shoes and pads. Drums are formed inside the bell of the disc, and the shoes are operated by the handbrake.

[Loony]

Rear brakes of an iS has drums, discs, shoes and pads. Drums are formed inside the bell of the disc, and the shoes are operated by the handbrake.

You learn something everyday and i use to own one.
Thanks.