Ford or BMW donor

[Theoldman]

Forum, currently I am still not decided on which donor vehicle to go for the sierra which has been well documented by Chris or the BMW route, the main problem being the trailing arm suspension on the BMW version. Currently where I live I can get a 3 series easier and cheaper than a sierra. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions on how to solve the suspension problem before I commit to the Ford or the BMW. I have searched the web looking for an alternative hub for the BMW, but so far I haven’t found anything.


Many thanks

The old man

[Theoldman]

That should read rear semi trailing arm suspension off of a BMW.

[racebreed]

Originally Posted by Theoldman

That should read rear semi trailing arm suspension off of a BMW.

use the whole rear subframe or just use sierra rear components and cut and shut driveshafts

[bobbyh]

there as been a lot of theds about this on hear i'm going sierra dif and bmw the rest and some one is going whole rear sudframe so its up 2 you

[graeme.webb1@ntlworld.com]

Hi all

We are planning a Locost with a BMW 318 E36 donor. Any help or pics would be great. Having machining facilities we are planning to m/c hubs to fit BMW driveshafts/bearings to the Gibbs upright. Once we get thye donor car we will design this. If it works Ok we would look at supplying these.

[aerosam]

I have gone BMW and I thought I would share my experience so far...

Personally I'm using a BMW E34 (5 series) as my donor and I will be using the whole rear subframe - narrowed slightly to fit inside the chassis.

As far as the front hubs are concerned they are not really suitable but I am going to perservere with them anyway and engineer my way around the problem like any proper stubborn bloke.

I have also considered using sierra parts to make life easier but I'm not sure the diff will take the 220bhp and bags of torque from my V8.

I hinsight, and E36 beemer would have made a lot more sense and made life easier but the 5 series just came up at the right time at the right price.

have a look at my build diary at:

www.samsv8locost.blogspot.com

[mr henderson]

The problem with using any trailing or even semi trailing arm set up is that the front pivots for the trailing arms want to go where the seats go in the Haynes roadster. So you need to raise everything to allow room for the pivots and some suspension movement. Then you come to the problem of where the springs will go. These usually bear on the trailing arms about half way along, so that's going to be a problem too

John

Adapt the bmw parts to the roadster set up rather than use all that gubbins which must weigh loads.