Rack Conversion query

[Dan318-is]

Iv been reading about this rack conversion stuff, an purchased myself an e36 rack, however im not fitting until my engine has been removed.

It says in the article that some pipe working is needed, what modifications to the fluid lines has to me made exactly? is it an easy job?


Any help gravely appreciated.

[Brianmoooore]

Nothing to difficult, but easier to see than describe.
The oil feed and return lines to the E36 rack are in different places on the pinion housing to those on the E30 rack.
More complicated job is making up the adaptor piece between the pinion stub shaft and the bottom of the steering column.

[Dan318-is]

i think i need to study steering racks before i attempt this, most of that was blabber to me!

[Andy325i]

Here is the Steering joint Brian talks of



Brain are you running the E36 rack in your 24v mate?

I fitted my joint properly the other day and it looks very tight to the bulkhead and not very far onto the rack at all

Will put some pics up when I get my other pc up and running shortly

The rack is currently sitting in place with no spacers (so is as low as it will sit), but from memory the spacers go above?


Andy

[Brianmoooore]

i think i need to study steering racks before i attempt this, most of that was blabber to me!

Steering fluid goes from resevoir to pump to rack and then back to resevoir. Pipe connections to the E36 rack are in a different place to the E30 ones, therefore pipes need to be modified.
The steering column ends at the front bulkhead, about 300mm away from the rack. The gap is filled by a piece with a universal joint and a flexible disc coupling. This piece has to be replaced by a hybrid mix of E30 and E36 parts, plus the odd custom bit.

[Dan318-is]

i have to make that joint? or modify it?

[Andy325i]

The new joint is a mixture of the Original E30 joint and the E36 joint

[Dan318-is]

any welding required? i can do it but dont have equipment

[Brianmoooore]

Here is the Steering joint Brian talks of



Brain are you running the E36 rack in your 24v mate?

Andy

No, tried it but the pinion shaft fouled the exhaust manifold.
Might try again on the mark 2 M54 version!
(That last blue tourer's all straightened out, and that's the one it's going in. Came with virtually new rubber on the (15") rears, 2/3rd good rubber on the fronts and a FULL petrol tank!)

[Andy325i]

Nope no welding mate

Just some machining, Ian has done a great article about it in the tech articals mate

[Dan318-is]

ye thats what iv been reading.

what sort of machining is involved, i have access to some good machines at college i may be able to use, thanks for your rapidresponse and help by the way

[Andy325i]

Good buy Mate!

I have yet to mod the manifolds

Does anyone know if it will go into an M20 engined car without mods to the exhaust manifold?

My 2.8 is still sitting outside still unfinished

I have bought an S50B30 to have a play with, but will do the 2.8 first as the ///M Engine needs totally rebuilding

[Brianmoooore]

Just the round metal disc directly behind the rubber disc , IIRC.

[Dan318-is]

my lecturer says that moding manifolds is the cheapest way to get real power gains, especially new headers some companies claim 12% gains. AS for inlet manifolds, port polishing iv heard just improves the gnein at high speed as its bettr flow

i know nothing about m20's mate, my speciallity is 4 pot 318/318is thast all i can afford insurance on lol

[Andy325i]

No worries mate

There is a 10mm (approx) disc that needs making to allow the E30/E36 parts to be fitted together as the bolt centers are different on both parts.
Its all in Ian's write up mate

[Brianmoooore]

Does anyone know if it will go into an M20 engined car without mods to the exhaust manifold?

Pretty sure E36 rack goes into M20 with OE manifold OK.
S50B30 should be awesome!!

[Dan318-is]

S50B30 - wot car is that out of?

[Andy325i]

I can't wait to drive the 2.8 let alone the ///M

[Andy325i]

S50B30 - wot car is that out of?

Its an E36 M3 3.0 litre lump mate (non Evo)

[Dan318-is]

mother trucker of god. thats almost as good as the m5 lump in an e30! what brake is that standard? are you putting it in standard? and what the hell do u tell the inurance company??

u lot are bonkers!!

[Andy325i]

Its 286 Bhp as standard, everything is relative, and there are bigger toys on here already Ian and Glenn are the M power Masters.

As for modding, totally unsure as yet, got to see how things pan out. As I say won't be doing it for at least a year or so. My first thoughts would have to be a pair of cams

[Dan318-is]

thats gona be a monster. some of the prejects on here are just epic.
i never even new m5 and e36 engines would go in e30's.

i cant wait until the day someone puts the new v10 in an e30, that will be the best day of my life

[Andy325i]

I have seen a pic of a V12, so anything is possible

[Dan318-is]

christ, is that the V twelve out teh e31 8 series? my old man had one of them, rapid but his was one of the first it had laods of faults, rapid things tho. any one seen that m5 racing a nissan 200sx?

[Andy325i]

The 8 series are great cars, but like you say lots of electrical faults.

Amazingly quiet for how powerful they are.

Not seen the Nissan, but have seen an article on a RB26 engined E28

[Dan318-is]

RaceBred 2.6 as in Double over head cam fuel injected twin turbo engine out of a skyline? i dont htink iv read it but iv got a picture of it i think, no bonnet rite? how fast is that thing? i saw a video - dont no if it was this one - but it was wheel spinning in fourth!

[Andy325i]

Its a white one mate, was in PBMW mag a while back

check this 5 out:

http://www.vsmotor.no/avi/vsmotor-m5-ru ... tember.avi

[ian332isport]

Here is the Steering joint Brian talks of


I fitted my joint properly the other day and it looks very tight to the bulkhead and not very far onto the rack at all

Andy,

After reading this, I went and had a look through some of my conversion photo's, and noticed that my rack is mounted using the inner set of mounting holes. I vaguely remember you saying yours was using the outer set. This would make a difference to how far the joint fit's on the splines.



You also said it was very tight to the bulkhead. Is this with the bolt fitted ? You will find the upper joint can only fit in one position, as the securing bolt needs to sit in the groove on the shaft.

This is not the same on the lower joint though. There is a groove in the steering shaft, but the screw does not need to sit in it.

Here's my joint fitted. As you can see, it's not tight against the bulkhead.



Ian.

[jmc330i]

Yup, Andy.
My rack is fitted the same as Ians. Mounted in the inner set of holes with the spacers at the top.
And the joint sits about the same as in Ians pic, with the bolt going through groove on the shaft, it doesnt sit tight to the bulkhead.

[MR_SAZ]

i am about to do this conversion as well....ive just picked up the rack and looking for a place to have the spacer made up...

can i just say thankyou for posting all the info!!! i cant wait to feel the difference!! i was lucky and found an E36 M3 3.0 rack! mint condition!

[Andy325i]

Hi guys, thankyou for checking for me, here are the pics I took earlier:

Where the joint mounts onto the E30 steering shaft it goes through the bolt hole on the shaft.











Double checked today, and it appears that the rack is mounted in the rear holes, so I am well confused

[ian332isport]

Andy,

To be honest, I would say that is pretty much how it should be.

It's hard to see on those pictures, but the splined shaft on the rack appears to be most of the way through the lower joint. You don't want it sticking too far through, or it could bind on the inside of the lower UJ.

I don't think mine is any further on than that. If you are really concerned, you would need to get a thicker joint spacer made up to push the spline further down.

Cheers,

Ian.

[jmc330i]

Mine looks about the same as that mate.
The end of the spline on mine is just about level with the hole in the joint.

To make things a little more confusing, my spacer is only 8mm thick. Ive been thinking about making a thicker spacer, but as Ian said, there might be an issue with it catching. I may be able to go to 10mm or 12mm, but the 8mm spacer seems to be ok as it is and it fits fine.