Quick racks,Z3 conversion-now with pics! for 4 and 6 cyls

[schuey]

I've got a mate who had a mk3 Escort once and, due to rust, has rack mounting gave up

The car is the clue there! I will be keeping a close eye on the mount to see if any stress marks appear......
I was talking to my best buddy in the pub about this last night-he is a design engineer with a extreme knowledge of anything like this-gave him all the measuerments so he is going to work out loads/pressure etc.
I may be the case that a little strenthening gusset from the front of the mount back to the cross member may be needed.

We worked out that the change in toe in as the wheels turn with the new rack position,will improve turn in at the expense of tyre wear,obviously bmw make the cars user freindly rather than track ready so if the maths is right could have an added handling bonus!
Off out to find some pipe joining device now!

[jmc330i]

may be the case that a little strenthening gusset from the front of the mount back to the cross member may be needed.

That could be a plan.

Let us know how you get on, I think a lot of iS owners will be interested in this if it works ok.

Good luck

[schuey]

On the road tomorrow I hope! Just booked track day at cadwell in dec(10th) that will be the real test-I anyone wants to come and have a ride when its proven safe they are welcome!

The improved turn in is no doubt going to lead to more oversteer,but why else would you have a rwd car!

[schuey]

finished! (or so i thought.........)

got it all done today apart from track rod nuts(will come to that in a mo)

moved the pipes so they run along the chassis leg under afm and pas tank,then down on to the undertray across the car to the rack.
Because my garage is about 100yds from my palace there is no electrickery in there and due to the stupid forward opening bonnet I couldn't see fook all.I took the not so good descision to push the car out in to the sun to tighten everthing and check for leaks.
Started the car and put some fluid in all seemed cool.........
turned the wheels a bit so it drank some more and topped up again,turned again and then BANG the thinner hose blew off,fookin fluid everywhere frantic switch off,much swearing etc etc(stop laughing you vultures!)

the return pipe held fine it was the pressure pipe that came off,back to the drawing board... I just need to secure it better,I am considering brazing some metal pipe in instead.

It was at this point I pushed it back only for the wheels to point different ways- yep no nuts on the track rods(what a cnut)
so car is now stranded in the street bleeding

Oh well it nearly works

will fix it again tomorrow!.

Would be interested to know what other people have done for pipes?

[DRIFTBOY]

I fitted an E36 rack (same as Z3 externally) and just re-routed and carefully bent the standard E30 pipes to the right shape to fit. Took a couple of hours trial and error but they are on there now and I've had no problems with the fluid / piping.

[schuey]

I had tried to bend them and one cracked,hence my butchery,the return low pressure hose is fine(to the bottom of the pas resevoir) its the one from the pump thats a prob.

I have access to some aircraft hoses and fittings but the banjo's are different.I think i am going to take the pressure pipe off both ends(or the end thats still attached ) and take it to the radiator spot across the road as they do pipes for jcb's and such.Hopefully he will be able to fashion one a bit stronger than mine without raping my arse on the price.....

[schuey]

IT WORKS!!!!

[tim_s]

[schuey]

Will post some more info/pics when I get a min.

Car is transformed,my quickshift arrived today too

[cubic]

finally found your thread dude, no one worse at computers than me nice pics cant Wait to see the vid

[reggiegasket]

How does it drive?

G

[schuey]

Absolutely ace!

Got tracking and sh1t done its miles better, will finish the pics later,got ot go and do my cinderella bit for a while

[schuey]

Here we go....



My new pipe made by local radiator place,4700psi strong-won't be coming off any time soon! Ԛ£10!



This the route across the undertray,in the breeze,have attached them properly since pic.




Pipes on my forward facing rack pipes.



Finished article note all the bloody fluid everywhere from when the pipe blew off on first try! I cleaned it all this aft,I even polished the car

Overall it was a ballache to do but when I had it on the ramp today everything was miles easier to get at and sort all the loose ends-ramp is the way.
Like others have said,you could bend the standard pipes which would look nicer,although mine will benefit from being from being in the airflow under the bumper.

A little tip would be to make sure the rack is central when you put it on,obvious I know but mine was a bit out and it made the tracking job pretty tricky.

I have tracked it with 1.5 deg toe in (about 6mm from front wheels to back wheels alignment according to the laser) which is ideal in handling terms.
There is no apparent bump steer issues and the car turns in a lot sharper than it used to.
I have about 1.3 turns each way now to full lock,as a result you can go around your average roundabout with less than1/4 turn of lock on,the steering is also a bit heavier but nice as I found it was too light before.

In general it has made a huge difference and well worth doing,it cost me Ԛ£110 in total but I reckon Ԛ£100 was a bit pricey for a rack.......

If you need to replace the standard rack due to the usual leaks there is no reason not to do this conversion as its almost a straight swap.
I still want to overbraid the pipes and will be watching the mounts.If they show even a tiny bit of stress I will weld a plate across them.

Good luck

[Andy335Touring]

Cool !

It's just the steering coupling/exhaust manifold clearance on my 335 thats stopping me now

[schuey]

Get it done fella! Took her for a bimble this morn to check high speed handling and its not twitchy or too sensitive at 100,didn't go much faster as I value my hearing!
Will put my quickshift on,on monday and try and do my brakes at the same time-car will be transformed,just need a s14 now....

[reggiegasket]

Schuey, you're a star. How much would you charge to do my 318is?

G

[schuey]

I was talking about this with my mate yesterday who showed me how to do the tracking,we are shortly getting a unit since a vauxhall dealers is not the place for guvvy's!
The place has a ramp so I think I will start doing some along with a quickshift conversion,prob be drive in drive out in a transformed car in a day.
not sure how much tho Will be mates rates for zoners tho

[Martinaston]

Schuey with the spacers (washers) on top of the rack does the pinion housing sit lower than the cross member ?
I tried it that way and the lowest point was the rack which i'm not willing to chance especialy with the hundreds of speed cushions where i am.

[schuey]

It doesn't sit as low as the sump,not much in it but the sump will hit first.Loads of speed humps round here-my sump has a few scars,i have got a mate on the case with a metal sump gaurd but it never fits-trial and error etc.....

I only put the spacers on top so the rack's main weight was sat on the crossmember rather than on a pile of washers,that way there is less chance of it flexing and moving around,in turn accelerating damage around the mounting points.
Had a comedy moment trying to get it off the ramp,it dragged the ramp jack thing along by the pinion,got trapped between the rack and sump which took 4 of us to lift the suspension to full extension and push it over. Much laughs coming from all the corsa chavs who work there,but they can't powerslide of roundabouts eh?

[e30symphony]

I have been looking on the zone for a quick rack now for awhile and this seems to be the easyest option , their is a guy in the Groups Buys section with a post over 12 months old, on about quick racks and still noting . I hav tried the e36 rack on my brothers 318is m42 but had exaust manifold issues so that was a no go.

So is it just spacers on the cross member, modified hoses, track the car then and job oxo??

[schuey]

Yep thats all there is to it,I'm used to it now. The difference is huge,tried my favorite back road yesterday,too dry for my liking but great fun all the same.

[e30symphony]

Thats brilliant schuey, noting like a tight e30 on a tight back road.

[schuey]

Just a quick update after a pm from reggiegasket....(I replied but I doubt it worked!)

The rack has been faultless,I have done about 800 miles on it so far.
No signs of stress on the forward mounting bolts,no fluid loss and no funny noises.
The steering is miles tighter and doesn't have any play,although it does seem to follow cambers in the road more-but then all the best cars do that...veryon for example

Now I am used to it,its great with all these slippy winter roads. You can get really sideways and get it back easy,since you can quickly get enough lock on to catch it but you can get it off quick enough to look cool rather than shooting off the other way like a total gimp.

Doing a track day at cadwell next sunday so that will be a good test,have got a camera mount so will be filming some of my antics!

[Marshall]

Had a comedy moment trying to get it off the ramp,it dragged the ramp jack thing along by the pinion,got trapped between the rack and sump which took 4 of us to lift the suspension to full extension and push it over. Much laughs coming from all the corsa chavs who work there,but they can't powerslide of roundabouts eh?[/quote]

hay were not all corsa chav's! may be alittle council but hell ant we all! just dont tell them wot i drive lol

[schuey]

secrets safe with me!

[reggiegasket]

I got the pm thanks Schuey..

G

[schuey]

Cadwell today(see other tread) the rack was faultless and looked like I was doing a lot less twirling than most!

[Speedtouch]

Is it possible to swop over the Z3 rack internals with the standard E30 rack housing, or are they sealed for life units?

[schuey]

Don't know to be honest???????????

I was told that when the e30 racks are leaking from the pinion seal you need to swap the rack since you cant replace the seal,so its probably the case that they are not meant to come apart although one of these steering rack reconditioning places might be able to do it

[Speedtouch]

Thx schuey. Hmm, interesting thread...might try this conversion myself, as the rack on my car is feeling a bit sloppy at 130K miles and as we all know, there's nothing like a nicely oiled-up rack for cheap thrills

[oldroydsr4]

My 325i is non pas , i guess i cant use the Z3 rack then?

What are my quick rack options?

[Speedtouch]

Amsterdam

[StuBeeDoo]

Nice work Schuey.
So, has anyone done this on a 6-cyl car??

[miniblob]

Tee & Stuartgallafant are gonna be trying this out on my 2.7 touring soon - ain't ya guys

We'll let you know!

The list grows.............

[tee]

Cheers rob! thought this had already been done on the 6 cyl. didnt realise we were the test fitters

at least we will have the engine out so more room.