Original Equipment

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<50miles

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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Hello Folks,

After much thought/deliberation/walking in the desert (which is very difficult to do in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in the winter), it is very likely I will be completely restoring my 1972 3.0CSA to original (yes I know, slushboxes are horrible) specifications - except for some minor details. As such, my mechanic has been looking for original parts, most of which are suspension. Does anybody know who sells original shocks and springs? He contacted Coupe King but they had specialized springs that were 1 inch lower.

Any help would be great.

Andrew
 
BMW dealer should be able to get OE springs, no? If not, there must a couple thousand sets lying around in the garages of those that frequent this forum... a quick tank and powder coat.

PS- I for one think it's cool that you're going to restore and keep an auto an auto!
 
Springs

Hello

Great idea . . . anybody with OEM springs that are only slightly used and cluttering your garage.

As for the auto, there are a number of reasons for going this route:

1) My mechanic is a Jaguar Factory trained engineer. He said he is very comfortable with them, and knows how to make them less slushee (spelling?)
2) I love the look of the automatic script on the trunk lid.
3) I would rather take the money that would be spent on changing over to a 5 speed and spending it on the body!

Just my thoughts

Andrew
 
Pretty sound reasons. I've always wondered if a later 6-series auto would fit?


And I just recently threw out my old springs with 40k miles on them because they sat in my garage for 2 years....sorry.

<50miles said:
1) My mechanic is a Jaguar Factory trained engineer. He said he is very comfortable with them, and knows how to make them less slushee (spelling?)
2) I love the look of the automatic script on the trunk lid.
3) I would rather take the money that would be spent on changing over to a 5 speed and spending it on the body!

Just my thoughts

Andrew
Click to expand...
 
I have a 72 3.0 CS with an automatic, and am about to do a 5 speed swap. So, this spring I likely will be pulling from my car pretty much everything you need. I was planning to keep the radiator and modify my driveshaft, but that is not set in stone.

What shape is your car in now?
 
Can the original springs be re-tempered and powder-coated? Original shocks on my '70 were Koni, but shocks are a maintenance item, like hoses and belts so I think it would still be original if you used correct replacement pieces. You could paint the rears the proper color maybe?
 
Spring and Things

Hello All,

The car is the same one that I was discussing a number of months ago. The pictures are shown in the following photobucket link:

http://s938.photobucket.com/?postlogin=true

The bodyshop person looked at it once more and gave the same assessment, however the price went up because his hourly rate increased.

Getting the original shocks is not a problem however the OEM springs have been discontinued. Has anybody used the CoupeKing springs I mentioned before? The car is supposed to ride 1/2 lower and improve handling.

Thank you

Andrew
 
Last edited:
Springs

I have my origami springs, 49500 miles on them. Soft when replaced, but yours if you want
I am in zip code 87401 for shipping purposes
 
I agree with Chris; I would be concerned about the continuing use of 40 year old springs. I have a set of Carl Nelson springs in my car -- don't know about the Coupe King springs -- but I just put a Coupe King exhaust on my coupe. The quality was quite good and service was top notch.

Back to springs, if you want to retain something like stock ride height, perhaps you could incorporate those 20 mm aluminum rings BMW put into the US cars to raise the headlights to meet US DOT requirements along with Carl Nelson springs? I know this works in the front (my car was set up this way when I bought it), not sure if anyone has done this all around. I'm sure there are lots of those rings available.

And speaking of headlights, if you are going to stock I have my US DOT sealed beam headlights I just removed if you want them.
 
The aftermarket springs will slightly lower your car and add 10-15% stiffness... with OE shocks and struts you'll still have a plush ride, better control/feel and it will look better also (subjective I know)... that's the way I'd go for the car you're describing.
 
I believe the CN springs are supposed to be used with Bilsteins. Otherwise they will drop too low because the gas Bilsteins counteract it somewhat, the Boge hydraulics won't.

I have CN springs/Bilsteins and love the stance. But reinforce your rear shock towers!

<50miles said:
Hello All,

The car is the same one that I was discussing a number of months ago. The pictures are shown in the following photobucket link:

http://s938.photobucket.com/?postlogin=true

The bodyshop person looked at it once more and gave the same assessment, however the price went up because his hourly rate increased.

Getting the original shocks is not a problem however the OEM springs have been discontinued. Has anybody used the CoupeKing springs I mentioned before? The car is supposed to ride 1/2 lower and improve handling.

Thank you

Andrew
Click to expand...
 
Photobucket is requesting me to sign up/login.

<50miles said:
Hello All,

The car is the same one that I was discussing a number of months ago. The pictures are shown in the following photobucket link:

http://s938.photobucket.com/?postlogin=true

The bodyshop person looked at it once more and gave the same assessment, however the price went up because his hourly rate increased.

Getting the original shocks is not a problem however the OEM springs have been discontinued. Has anybody used the CoupeKing springs I mentioned before? The car is supposed to ride 1/2 lower and improve handling.

Thank you

Andrew
Click to expand...
 
A couple of spring PN's are still showing up on the Penske site with a price, which means they might still be available. The 116 number corresponds to the "white" springs which are the middle ones from the 3 that were offered: red, white and green in order of stiffness. I can't locate a reference in the parts books to the 122's. Did you call a dealer and ascertain they are not available?

I'd like to replace mine as well (one side sags a bit), and have Bilsteins, but would not want to drop the ride height as the front is stock height. Has anyone bought any of these two or know more about them?

ScreenHunter_03%2520Feb.%252004%252018.16.jpg
 
I have a beautiful brake pedal for the CSA I removed when I went 5-speed.
I mean beautiful in condition and paint, shows how little I use the brakes.
 
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