z3 rack. with or without power assistance?

[grants50]

I have a z3 rack that I want to use. Question is should I bin the power steering?

The car will be mostly track car but will be road legal.

Pros and cons of no power assistance

Cheers

[maxfield]

Keep the power steering.

[grants50]

Z3 rack too heavy without it?

[maxfield]

I've driver with E36 and E46 rack without power steering. And found both very heavy, a hell of a lot better when connected up to the pump.

[grants50]

Cool cheers mate. I'll keep it

[DanThe]

As above, I've recently made PAS pipe kits up for a couple of local cars that started out with E36 racks and no power steering because it was easier at the time when converting to M52 engines, several track days has changed their minds!

[grants50]

I'll be able to use my s50 pas pipes though?

[maxfield]

You will need to buy custome pipes from DanThe. ^^

You can bend/butcher then to get them to fit, but it's not the right way to do it.

[HairyScreech]

Can I suggest a Z3 pump as well?
I have basically the same rack on the Z3 and the E30 and the steering on the Z3 has a lot more weight to it.

I think the reason is the Z3 Pas pump is listed as a unique part to the Z3 and it would appear to have a lower assistance pressure (perhaps a lower pressure bypass?)

[grants50]

I'm doing s50b32 swap pal and running z3 rack on the e36.

[HairyScreech]

I think the M5x/S5x pumps all fit the same so you might be able to use a Z3 2.8 pump on the S50 for a lower level of assistance if my theory is correct.

Better than full assistance and more usable than no assistance.

[reggid]

Can I suggest a Z3 pump as well?
I have basically the same rack on the Z3 and the E30 and the steering on the Z3 has a lot more weight to it.

I think the reason is the Z3 Pas pump is listed as a unique part to the Z3 and it would appear to have a lower assistance pressure (perhaps a lower pressure bypass?)

direct swap?

maybe you could just add a bigger pulley to the e30 pump to slow it down?

[HairyScreech]

Pumps are identical as far as I can tell, will get some pictures of the one on the Z3 tomorrow.

100% the steering is heavier on the z3 than any e36 or e30 I have driven with or without a rack swap.

http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/32411093039/

Bearing in mind the Z3 is just an E36 under the bonnet and the pump units look swappable between several of the BMWs why do they have unique part numbers.
I have been wondering about it for a couple of months and the only thing I can come up with is that the output pressure is tweeked to suit the desired feel of each car.

Edit - Don't know if its a direct swap, for an M5x engine it should be as the 2.8 Z3 is like the front of an e36 328i lifted into another body.
M20 it may be more work than it is worth but a pressure relief valve mod may be possible.

I am going to look into it as the E30 is intolerably light now I have the Z3.

[reggid]

I'm interested in this as a little heavier would suit me. IE in the USA sell a bigger pump pulley to reduce parasitic losses but don't know what kind of effect it has on steering feel

[HairyScreech]

That's just the trouble isn't it, if you under drive the pump your actually going to suffer at lower engine speeds and when you need the assistance the most (parking), but by dropping/capping the peak pressure you should still be able to get a good low speed feel without having to rev the engine to get the steering light enough to park the car properly.

I am off work for the week so might look into it, if I find anything I will let you know.

[grants50]

Learn something every day

[TriggerFish]

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/STEERING-Power-S ... 0964868696

^ Z3 pump. States 98 bar on the sticker/label.

Both the E30 pumps I have (off M20B25s) have a 110 bar rating.

There's the extra resistance

[DanThe]

Epic info

[TriggerFish]

Watch the price of z3 pumps sky rocket now...