E30 Zone

Hi ,have any of you guys with ,or working on m30 conversions got the e36 rack fitted ? it looks tight with the stock steering coupling just wondered if its possible with the rack conversion without spending a fortune at btb or somewhere ?

cheers ,paul.

Try PM'ing DRIFTBOY, he's doing an M30 conversion and using an E36 rack.. He's got a thread YET ANOTHER 335, could be worth a look

I'm here!

Yep, I'm having a bit of trouble with this too!

I'll just go and take a photo and be back to explain what I plan to do!

Right, here we go!

Firstly the standard coupling won't fit, the splines on the E36 rack are different. And the splined bit (can't remember it's proper name!) coming out of the rack is longer, so I'm afraid you need a coupling from an E36 to cut up.

Now there is a way of doing it that retains the rubber coupling, I think there is a thread on the zone here or www.335i.de that shows it.

I have gone my own way but don't know how it will turn out yet but it was much easier!

I simply cut the u.j. part off of both the E30 and E36 couplings but leaving on the (2 hole) flanges where the big rivets/stakes (?) go through.

As the two u.j.s have to be at 90 degrees to each other to work you cant just bolt the two parts together. I cut a square of thick (5 or 6mm) steel and drilled 4 holes in it and bolted it together using high tensile bolts and self locking nuts (not nylocs, they might melt with the heat from the manifold!). The rack end is adjustable for length as the pinch bolt on the bottom u.j. does not go through a groove as on the top u.j. pinch bolt.

Mine looks like this.



[img][img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g307/ ... OLUMN1.jpg[/img][/img]

Sorry it's a bit blurry, and there aren't any nuts on the bolts at he mo!

To be honest I don't know yet if the coupling with no rubber in it is going to transmit harsh vibrations through the wheel or any other nasty stuff so I can't exactly reccommend my way of doing this yet, maybe other zoners can help us both out here!?

The power steering hoses took a bit of time but I used one E36 return pipe (top one on rack) which went straight on no problem. I used the E30 feed pipe (bottom hose on rack) which took a couple of hours bending to the right shape and routing it to the rear of the rack and along the rear of the cross member (hard to explain but clearer if you look under the car).

And then I found that the front exhaust manifold (with the long steel part attached) would not even go on the head until I cut off the downpip flange.
And now that pipe aims at the steering coupling (my engine in position 3 on 335i.de mounts - furthest back). I'm either going to cut the steel part as straight as I can, turn it slightly and re-weld it or weld in a 'chicane' kind of shape around the coupling and make that downpipe a sleeve fit perhaps.

There you go, that's where I'm up to at the moment.

I hope this helps - although I welcome comments from others who have thoughts on this or who have done the same thing!

Good luck!

Thanks guys ,that looks even worse to get around than i imagined

going to take my tiny brain a bit of getting around

just wondered if its possible with the rack conversion without spending a fortune at btb or somewhere ?

What is btb?!

If you can get your head round the M30 conversion then the E36 rack shouldn't be too bad with a bit of patience and experimenting (I've had my rack in and out a few times).

I forgot to mention you need to use the E30 track rods and track rod ends (they screw straight into the E36 rack) and I used universal gaitors as neither standard E30 or E36 ones fit.

i got a e36 rack in mine withy a m30 in there aswel, i used half the e30 coupling and half the e36 one and made a spacer inbetween to join them up but it hits the manifold, i think that may be nakered engine mounts tho

So do you run without the rubber in the coupling? If so is it much different to having rubber there, vibrations etc.?

ant2 wrote:i got a e36 rack in mine withy a m30 in there aswel, i used half the e30 coupling and half the e36 one and made a spacer inbetween to join them up but it hits the manifold, i think that may be nakered engine mounts tho

When i first fitted the rack conversion it touched the m20 downpipe on hard cornering , fitted 635csi engine mounts and it sorted it

cheers ,paul

no thet steering is nice and tight, not excessive vibrations from doing it