316i rear trailing arms...

Wed Sep 17, 2014 3:27 pm

I own a e30 316i 1990 and I need a new rear axle and rear trailing arms, now the car has rear discs (which suprised me as it was unmolested) but I've found a rear axle and rear trailing arms for reasonable money but they are off a 325i and don't want to commit if it's going to be a pain in the ass to fit (: ..

Will I have trouble fitting the 325i parts to my 316i or will it just be a case of bolt-off then bolt-on?

Hope someone can help with this

Thanks for reading

Wed Sep 17, 2014 3:35 pm

Bolt on if it has them already. Why do you need new ones?

Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:43 pm

Thankyou, the car had been sitting for nearly 2 years when I bought it just had it checked over , the rear axle has no bushes at all, And the trailing arms are the same story so they have just worn terribly and rusty.

Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:48 pm

Then you don't need a new beam, you just need new bushes.

Taking the whole rear end off is a right ballache, as it means disconnecting the handbrake cables, dropping the diff, then struggling to get the old beam bushes out of the shell. For a first-timer it's never just "bolt on/bolt off".

Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:24 pm

+ 1 but the hard work seems to be done (removing the old bushings) dropping the whole rear end is quite quick. clean up what you have and slap some paint on it, new bushes/bushings. just read plenty about it first. ie. handbrake cables as mentioned.

Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:11 pm

Okay guys thanks for the help (:

Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:53 pm

To actually answer your OP: The only 316is that were fitted with rear drums were saloons without ABS. All others had rear discs, so it's not that unusual. The rear disc/beam assemblies are the same across all the range (M3 excepted, as always), apart from there being ABS and non ABS versions. You can use ABS parts on a non ABS car, but not the other way around, and don't forget that ABS is now MOT testable.
The only other difference concerns the brake calipers fitted to touring models. These have slightly larger pistons than on other models, but this makes little difference in practice, as long as a matching pair are fitted.