BMW E36 M3 h&R Coilover Installation

REAR SUSPENSION
First things first. To remove the rear shocks, it is necessary to basically tear the trunk out of the car. Although this sounds bad, it really isn’t. I had people tell me it would take 2 hours to get the trunk ready for the install, but it took me a whole 20 minutes, tops. I would suggest doing these next couple of steps the night before the install. Yo u don’t want to have to climb in the car and be grabbing the carpet and seats with greasy hands.
1. To start, get in the back seat and gently pry up on the rear speaker covers with you fingers (no tools required) while pulling them towards you. They should come out relatively easily.
2. Once the speaker grilles are removed you will see two (2) Phillips head screws that need to be removed. Use a short screwdriver to maneuver around the rear glass.
3. Once the screws are removed the speaker will be resting on a single spring clip that needs to be depressed to remove the speaker from the rear deck. It may be necessary to use a small screwdriver to “persuade” the clip. Be careful to not puncture the rear speakers in the process.
4. Once the clip is released, unplug the wire plug from the speakers and the speakers are free.
5. With the speakers now out of the way, move back to the trunk. Remove the carpeted tire cover and utility tray that is above the battery on the passenger side.
6. If your car has the factory CD changer, this is the point where you will want to remove it. Otherwise, move on to the next step. Remove the carpeted changer cover if you have it, to gain access to the mounting. There are three (3) 13mm fasteners that hold the CD changer in place. Two will be readily visible parallel to the face of the changer and one will be farther towards the back seat attaching to the rear deck. With these removed, simply unplug the two wiring harnesses and remove the changer.
7. Next remove the two plastic panels that line opposite sides of the trunk floor. The panel on the passenger size has a 13mm nut and a small plastic screw attaching it to the floor while the driver’s side uses two (2) 13mm nuts. Once removed, return the hardware to the studs so you don’t have to keep track of them.
8. Remove the plastic cases that cover the rear of the taillights by twisting the access knobs.
9. Now we can begin to move the carpet away from the rear shock mounts. Reach up high at the corners of the trunk near the taillights and give the carpet a tug. It is merely a press fit into the corner, so as soon as you find an edge, you can begin removing it. You do not have to completely remove the carpet, just pull it back far enough to get at the insulation covering the RSM’s. Whatever you do, do not listen to anyone who tells you to remove the back seats. I was amazed at how complicated people were trying to make this!!
10. On the passenger side there is a small plastic shield that covers the battery cable as it snakes towards the front of the car. It is retained by two (2) 13mm plastic nuts. Undo these and remove this panel from the trunk.
11. With everything removed, gently pull back the insulation from the rear shock towers to get access to the RSM’s. You will now have a mass of carpet and insulation meeting at the middle of the trunk, but you have plenty of room to work.
12. Now that we have the trunk disassembled, we need to get the rear of the car up in the air. If you do not have a jacking adapter for the factory jacking points, it can be interesting finding somewhere to jack the car and still have a location for jack stand placement. Hopefully I don’t have to say anything about the necessity of jack stands. The best way that I have found to get the rear of the M3 up in the air is to use a large floor jack under the rear sub frame. Center the jack under the differential and watch to make sure that both sides are rising evenly. Once in the air, place a jack stand under each of the rear “hockey pucks” and lower the car down onto them.
13. With the rear up in the air, and the wheels removed, you can now tear into the rear shocks. Begin by supporting the rear hub assembly with a jack and removing the lower 18mm shock bolt. The jack will prevent the suspension from flopping into your lap when you release the shock.
14. With the lower bolt removed, move to the trunk and remove the two (2) 13mm nuts that hold the rear shocks to the shock towers. The rear shocks are now free to be removed.
15. With the rear shocks out, we have to transfer the large rear washer from the old shocks to the new shocks. This is the only part that you will be re-using, assuming that you are using new RSM’s.
16. When assembling the new rear shocks, the sequence is:
• Slide new RSM onto shock shaft
• Place new paper gasket onto RSM
• Slide large washer onto the top of RSM
• Tighten top 17mm nut to 10 ft-lb
Go ahead and pre-assemble the new rear shocks and we will move onto changing out the springs.

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