E28 steering rack

[Silver Fox 43]

Looking at doing the conversion away from the box. Seems I need to find a rack which mounts behind the cross member, anyone got any ideas?

Other option would be to change the whole front to an E36, only 8mm diff in track.

[E30-323ti 66]

Looking at doing the conversion away from the box. Seems I need to find a rack which mounts behind the cross member, anyone got any ideas?

Other option would be to change the whole front to an E36, only 8mm diff in track.

You might need to look into other marques for a suitable donor that has the rack on the back, similar length (inner tie-rod to tie-rod) & a ratio advantage.

[Silver Fox 43]

Hey Dan, Nissan R32 and R33, and sylvia S13 and S14, is the steering rack behind the front cross member?

If so, which is the quickest of these racks?

Edited November 24, 2009 by Silver Fox

[topcat 11]

Hey Dan, Nissan R32 and R33, and sylvia S13 and S14, is the steering rack behind the front cross member?

If so, which is the quickest of these racks?

no,no,no. use e39 rack as we discussed a while back.

from memory the japs use different p/s pressure,hate to blow the seals driving the car on the trailer.

[Silver Fox 43]

E39 rack is the wrong way around, unless you know of a left hand drive one I can turn upside down.

[topcat 11]

E39 rack is the wrong way around, unless you know of a left hand drive one I can turn upside down.

e39 sits behind the the cross-member. everyother model sits in front.

needs to be the 6 pot engined e39,ofcourse

[Silver Fox 43]

So, do you know anyone who's parting one out?

Edited November 24, 2009 by Silver Fox

[kerry 10]

im prity sure e39 sits in front of the cross member. e21 would be more suitable in this case i think!

[Silver Fox 43]

E21 is 4.1 turns lock to lock, too slow.

[kerry 10]

hmmmm.??! its a hard one

[Silver Fox 43]

It seems that the nissan racks do mount behind the subframe, so that's the path I'm going down at the moment.

[tibbs.james 1]

This is from my own car David.

From a quick google image search most nearly all Nissan rwd steering racks mount up this way.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Jimmy

[BM WORLD 1258]

yes e39 520i 523i 528i 525i etc .

rack looks like this .

also nice ali subframe .

[tibbs.james 1]

From 300zx.net it seems a 1990 - 1996 Z32 steering rack could be a potential swap

This is quoted from 300zx.net.nz

"Nissan have given their US-spec cars stiffer damping and quicker steering - 2.5 turns lock-to-lock than those intended for Europe- 2.7 turns lock-to-lock. According to the company's market research, those American drivers who buy sports cars value responsiveness above all else, while European buyers can make more use of high-speed stability."

I am not sure where this puts Jap models I would assume the same as the europe models at a 2.7 lock to lock ?

[Silver Fox 43]

2.7 would be ideal if the other measurements fitted, quicker than most of the BMW ones.

[CamB 48]

Those Nissan racks do looks promising.

Its not just needing to be rear mount and the number of turns lock to lock - the tie rods need to attach the same distance from the bottom of the strut to ensure the same steering angle per turn (if that makes sense), then the tie rod ends may need spacing downwards to avoid bump steer.

Anything can be sorted with enough effort though.

[Silver Fox 43]

Hope so Cam, the bump steer problem can also be sorted by lowering the steering rack itself when the new mounts are set up, if needed.

Anyone know of a source of nissan zx racks?

[Silver Fox 43]

Sorted myself an E39 rack after confirming it does sit behind the cross member. Should be here by the weekend I hope, will take pics and document for anyone else who wants to do it, if it works. It does need to be the 6 cyl model, the 8's have a box.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Silver Fox

[Silver Fox 43]

Ok, have done the mock up and found the bits to make it work, I hope.

Have used the E39 rack, and mounted it up to the E28 front member. I'm using E30 inner arms, with E28 outer ball joints, everything seems to match up, thank you BMW for making most of the fittings universal. The E28 is 1180mm from outer ball joint to outer ball joint, as is the unit I've put together. I've had to roll the whole unit a bit to get the steering universal as good as I can, and, yes the E28 u joint at the end of the steering column does fit straight on to the E39 rack, thanks again BMW.

Hope to take the motor and box out of the E28 after Hampton downs and then start putting the new stuff together, will let you know how I get on.

ps, 3.25 turns lock to lock.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Silver Fox

[CamB 48]

How does the length of the tie rods on the rack compare to the length of the tie rods coming off the pitman (I think that's what they're called) arms for the box?

(edit) and while I am at it, how's the other geometry look (eg, arms roughly parallel with the lower control arms)?

Edited November 27, 2009 by CamB

[topcat 11]

Sorted myself an E39 rack after confirming it does sit behind the cross member. Should be here by the weekend I hope, will take pics and document for anyone else who wants to do it, if it works. It does need to be the 6 cyl model, the 8's have a box.

cool,it works.

you can thank me at any stage.home all weekend

[Silver Fox 43]

How does the length of the tie rods on the rack compare to the length of the tie rods coming off the pitman (I think that's what they're called) arms for the box?

(edit) and while I am at it, how's the other geometry look (eg, arms roughly parallel with the lower control arms)?

The ends are about 30mm shorter on each side now, will be ok I think at this stage, and I think I've got it sitting so the ends of the rack are close to what was already there, if you know what I mean. Most of the final setup will be done when I get the new rack in the race car.

[DRTDVL 0]

Can you steal the inners from anouther model to get the ratio down?

I find it really interesting that most jap stuff has a lock ratio much less than the euro's...

i know misty have a high ratio rack of 2.8 in the mirages and the evo rs's have a 2.2 ratio rack in them. different models have anything in between those... i know the mirage boys hunt down the 2.4 and 2.6 racks for their cars...

Edited November 27, 2009 by DRTDVL

[Silver Fox 43]

Would make no difference, the rack is what it is. The tie rod end lengths are dictated by where the wheels are.

[DRTDVL 0]

interesting i was under the impression that it was the size of the rack and pinion teeth/gearing that dictated the ratio...

I might not be explaining what i'm thinking correctly... but the larger the gearing within the rack the more horizontal distance the rack will slide with less steering turn required... i'm only getting confused because of the quiafe upgrade kits you can get.

http://www.quaife.co.uk/shop_category.cfm/...ategory_id/1281

<--- for a mk2 golf

Edited November 27, 2009 by DRTDVL