I doubt I am the first one to do this, but I had spare parts laying around and thought I would see if I could get the Bilstein M3 front shock inserts into the strut housings of my 91 E30 318 non-M. I have no idea if those shocks are a match for the springs and everything else about the E30 - I am not a suspension expert by any means (maybe someone could throw some comments my way about this). I just wanted to have some fun and to my amazement, it actually turned out extremely well and is only about .25" shorter than the originals, which is fine since I am lowering the car a bit anyway. No welding was needed - it was very easy. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will take pics and post a DIY.