E36 Rack into an E30 Conversion Write up

[FIAT 131R 223]

Well that answers that one then. Are there any other racks out there that dont do this? Atm it looks like im "downgrading" to a manual e30 rack.

Fair point but im sure theres got to be other ways out there of fashioning that spacer, as it seems to me that spending $110 on a stick of plastic is a bit too much considering the rack costs $100.

When i say minimize i mean reduce cost and effort to a safe point. With your reasoning maximize would have you making the spacer out of solid gold.

I have done a number of these and simply removed the outer cover on the steering knuckle and instead of using urethane used alloy. Make sure you use strong hardened alloy. The alloy has been threaded and the bolts go right through rather than riveted like the original part. By doing away with the outer cover you gain quite a bit of space around the manifold. About 12mm on each side from memory. This is great when you use after market manifolds and need more room. I have a knuckle I have converted for sale for $145 plus freight.

I used a rack from a Z3 1.9 litre and the lock to lock is 2.7 turns on my conversion. They are not easy to find and bought the last two from the UK.

[darrencnz 10]

Just bought a 95 E36 rack to go in my E30, am waiting till the motor goes in and will do this all at once.

Cheers for the info

[darrencnz 10]

I've been working on my steering rack conversion today. I did mine slightly differently and my hoses lined up much nicer than this tut so im thinking i might have a different rack, mine was from a 96 E36 and one of the hoses just needed to have the banjo bolt removed to go up to the M52 power steering pump as the inlet from the PS resevoir is not banjo like the M50.

I removed the rubber flex bushing as i had to actually shorten my knuckle quite a bit. I removed the step in the centering shaft so i can bolt the 2 sections up directly to each other. I am getting high tensile bolts, wahers etc tomorrow and bolting it all up to the rack tomorrow and getting some new E36 tie rods.