a bit of play in the rack!!!!!!!!!!

[e30bmlover]

hi all, apparently i have got a tiny bit of play in my steering rack. gonna change it. how easy is it to stick a z3 rack in there?and how much is one? or would i be better off getting a 320/325 rack. thanks in advance, tim.

[WillG]

rack will bolt in but shaft needs shortening abit, pretty easy to do tho.

Z3 rack is 2.8 turns, e30 ones are 4 turns so its ALOT quicker

[e30bmlover]

whats the price of one? might as well put one in. what year of z3 can be used?

[WillG]

will be about £150 for a new one i expect but i dont know if that includes exchange, whatever you can pay for one from breakers really, any Z3 or E36 one should fit and give better turn

[e30bmlover]

thanks for your help mate, appreciated, will i have to use a z3 pas pump? or just the rack?

[liam012]

is this z3 rack easy to fit or exactlu the sae as the e36 rack in the articles section which is no good for us 6 branchers?

[Templ8e30]

Iirc the Z3 rack has the same gearing ratio as an E36 rack but has built in lock stops so the wheels don't turn as far giving a much larger turning circle

You're better off using an E36 rack, they're all the same bar the M3 which has even less turns lock to lock if you can find one.

The E30 power steering pump works with these racks.

Cheers,

Iain T

[e30bmlover]

right, e36 rack it is! will i have to modify it? or is it straight on?

[Templ8e30]

right, e36 rack it is! will i have to modify it? or is it straight on?

You'll need a modified steering coupling and I have one that i'm not going to use (shameless plug for a sale !).

You'll need a handful of 10mm washers to fit the rack into the e30 mounts too.

I believe the original pipework can be fitted with a little modifications to the bends. You can get a brake pipe bender from your local motor factors that should have scope for bending the larger pipes for the power steering.

Have a look in the tech articles for more info http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... 6rack.htm

Cheers,

Iain T

[dazleeds]

You're better off using an E36 rack, they're all the same bar the M3 which has even less turns lock to lock if you can find one.

The E30 power steering pump works with these racks.

Cheers,

Iain T

Iain do ya know what lock the m3 rack has??
im gonna pas the tech 1 when shes on the road this could be the perfect rack

[jmc330i]

Iain do ya know what lock the m3 rack has??

I think the M3 Evo rack is the same as all the other E36 racks, but has limiting tabs to give 3.2 turns lock to lock rather than the 3.4 of the regular E36 - the M3 Evo will have a slightly larger turning circle.

The 3.0ltr M3 rack is different again, with 3 turns lock to lock - I have this on my Sport and its definately 3 turns.

[dazleeds]

3turns ya say

sounds good tome

was it an easy fit or a nightmare??

do i still use e30arms etc?? pump?

cheers

Daz

[jmc330i]

Same fitting as the other E36 racks, so fairly easy once you get the spacers made up.

Use the E30 tie rods which fix onto the E36 rack no problems and the E30 PAS pump. I have the E36 pump fitted in my E30, but its attached to my E36 M3 engine

The conversion pipes that Ian332i had done made things easy. Ive heard of people modding the E30 pipes, but Im not sure what needs doing.

The only difficult bit will be finding a 3.0ltr M3 rack - I was lucky and the E36 M3 that my engine came from had the correct rack fitted.