E36 M3 rack conversion problem

[louielouie]

having abit of a problem...
basically ive fitted the E36 M3 rack to my e30 2.5.. but the UJ joint is slightly rubbing on my exhaust!!

ive now raised the engine up abit and its abit better but still slightly touching with the engine play.
i dont understand why this is happening? ive followedd the how to from the wiki.

anyone had this problem?/?

[gromgsxr]

Had exhaust rubbing on uj with e46 rack swap so I made a bit of space by re shaping the down pipe. But I had to get home that night no was no way I was swapping it back, not the best solution but was sun night at 9pm and was running out of options.

[louielouie]

yeh im tempted to start with reshaping the exhaust too. ive got a stainless from the manifold back, maybe this is the reason its rubbing because the stainless is different to the original?

[Duke137]

Buy a linkage off DanThe rather than taking a lump hammer to your manifold/exhaust

[louielouie]

thanks mate, ill get in touch with him

[DanThe]

Recently had the same issue with another M20B25, the aftermarket frontpipe was a different shape and there was no way the linkage was going past without modifying the exhaust.
With the M20 just removing the rubber section from the standard linkage is usually enough to get the rack working, just make sure you use 'all metal' locking nuts and not nylock when bolting it back together.

Uprated mounts for an M20 - http://www.burtonpower.com/parts-by-cat ... fp292.html

Using taller mounts will help with clearance also, E28 M5 cylindrical for example

[louielouie]

thanks danthe, it seems that if i used the original UJ it would still be rubbing, if i buy these engine mounts will it sort the problem u rekon? i only raised my engine up about 10mm so hoping these mounts will sort it?
cheers!

[louielouie]

as you can see in the picture it is just the lower part of UJ that is rubbing, you can see where i tried grinding it a little too

[DanThe]

Yep, same place as the one I said about. If it was my car id rather mod the frontpipe than alter engine height/angle, the Burton mounts in the link above are cheap and V good quality, more importantly they are the same height as original M20 mounts.

Another thing to point out is those nylock nuts you have used will soon melt and start to undo themselves once they have been through a few hot/cold cycles

[Kedge]

There's a good chance that your old engine mounts aren't sitting at the in the right position anyway.

I had the E28 mounts on mine briefly and really didn't like the extra height they put on the engine, now got the Burton ones waiting to go on.

[louielouie]

Think I'm goin to go to burton tomoro an get the mounts, then ill see how it's sitting then, if not ill have to try summin with the downpipe. And thanks dan ill change the nuts!

[DanThe]

Easy to cut/rotate the pipe a bit if you know someone that can weld

[louielouie]

I was thinking more 'hammer

[ajay]

Remember to get a decent amount of clearance. My old set up was all good until i did a hard right turn, the engine would move a little and there was slight contact. Not something you want to be worrying about while driving!

[gromgsxr]

I got the hammer out and flattened the pipe a bit when I did mine been fine for bout 4000 miles so far and that was with the Dan the linkage it was hitting may be tied engine mounts though on my list of things to do