Fabrication to upgrade suspension, Questions

[bam2002]

Hello all
I have been searching the froums for ways to upgrade the suspension and found tons of suggestions on Coil overs and spring kits.

Here is my situation. I am preping a car for the 24hours of LeMons.

thats Lemons the yellow fruit. For those that know of this event one can only spend $500 on the car. I found a 85 325e for $250 that had been rear ended.
So I have about $100 to spend on upgrading the suspension. Any sugestions???
Now fabrication / time is free. So I was planning on cutting the end of the struts and rewelding them to give me more camber. Making a home made stress bar.
I can cut the springs , the car will be on a track so bumps wont be an issue. I also have read up on doubling up sway bars. IE welding a 2nd one to the original.
Since I will have to use Street tires, I am betting the car will have an understeer issue.

So the question, what is the Cheapest way to make the car handle well. I have read about putting Jag rear springs inside the stock e30 rears to increase the rear spring rate thus helping understeer.
What about using 5 series swaybars welded to E30 ones?
Has any one tried any non standard solutions?

I have 4 months to get the car ready, 3 local junkyards to shop at.. I just need some advice on the best way to set up the car.

Thanks


Barry

[big_jof]

Theres a thread in technical from sat about three pages in called stiffening arbs - i'd link it but im no that smart - have a look might what you after!

[Brian28]

Free front NC - Punch out the three studs on the front suspension top mount, push the top of the strut in towards the centre of the car as much as possible, then re drill the three top mount holes to suit. Either fix with nuts and bolts, or weld the original studs back in place.

[handpaper]

This thread, by any chance? Cheers for the plug, big_jof
I think this chap wants things a bit stiffer still, though. Doubling up ARBs is a common bodge, I know a few people who have done it.
DON'T WELD THEM.
Use lots of Jubilee clips (hose clips to our USian cousin ) to tie the bars together. Welding will either fail through not being strong enough, or, if it is strong enough, the heat used will destroy the temper of the bars, making them too ductile (no longer springy).

Understeer can be reduced by removing as much weight as possible from the rear of the car; happily this is where it's easiest to lose weight anyway - rear seats, boot carpet, spare wheel, jack and wheelbrace can be shifted in under 10 minutes and add up to around 40Kg. Even with the rest of the car left alone this makes a noticeable difference.

I'd take a maximum of one coil off the front springs - more may lower the car too much and raise the roll centre. The rears are pigtail and can't be cut, but losing weight from the rear will increase the effective rate anyway. Pay some attention to the dampers, particularly at the front as a failure here will ruin your handling completely.

Brian28 - the studs are a push-fit in the top mount and can easily be re-used, no welding necessary