Corsa steering link and E36 rack

[DHFiS]

I have fitted an E36 rack in my car with modified link between the column and rack. It's fine on the road but on track days the exhaust manifold can come into cantact with the lower UJ and you feel the vibration through the wheel. This modification gives extra clearance between the steering link and exhaust manifold.

Here's the old set up.



I bought a Corsa C link and seperated the top UJ keeping the bearings and rollers.




Then swapped the top piece of the E30 link back onto the Corsa link. I reused the bearings saved from earlier and restaked them into the aluminium with a punch.



With the car on axle stands and the plastic cover panel below the engine removed I was able to pull the steering rack forward enough to free the old link and swap the hybrid Corsa/E30 into place.

The rack needs a little grinding to allow the pinch bolt through the lower clamp, the top piece is E30 so pushes straight on.

The lower clamp also needs a bit of work with a round file to get it to slide over the splines on the rack - there is one thick master spline that needs removing but it is fairly easy to file it away.



I can see now I need to push the top piece further onto the column splines. The Corsa part is telescopic so that's no problem.