E36 Steering Rack + BTB2 Manifold Success

[Kedge]

Finally getting my car back together and today was the day the engine went back in on the refurbished subframe with the E36 steering rack fitted.

As most of you already know there are clearance issues when using a BTB2 manifold and any non E30 steering rack. As my donor car came with the manifold and i was given an E36 rack i decided to try the following after reading Andy's Restoration Bible.

So what I've done is use one of Dan's custom steering linkages and then followed Andy's advice with regards two lefthand E28 M5 engine mounts to move the engine over slightly to the nearside and also lifting the engine up higher.

The clearance is still only a small amount and I'm not able to drive the car yet to make sure it's still OK under cornering. I'm also hoping that with the full exhaust system fitted the manifold will get pulled in towards the engine and away from the linkage a bit more as only the crosspipe is fitted in the below pics;





Only slight issue I've come across so far is that the engine mounts lift the engine quite a bit and the top of the throttle body catches the foam on the bonnet so i think that's going to wreck my chances of fitting a 325e bonnet liner and result in me having to cut a hole in the stick on insulation when i come to change that.

[bss325i]

That looks to tight to me. I reckon that will touch under hard left hand cornering.

[polsta]

how much did the rack conversion cost mate all in all ? can you list parts bought/needed , with prices you paid, if pos please

[Ziggy]

That looks pretty close. You could take a bit off of the corners of the coupling though if needs be...

[Duke137]

how much did the rack conversion cost mate all in all ? can you list parts bought/needed , with prices you paid, if pos please

It's all in the group buy section, all made by DanThe but you have to supply UJ's and Steering couplings so you can't put an exact price on it

It's all been asked 1000 times before

[Duke137]

Dave, nice going just rip it out and stick an S50 in

[Kedge]

That looks to tight to me. I reckon that will touch under hard left hand cornering.

Yea, I am half expecting it to do that to be honest. I was looking at the corners while I was under the car and thinking along the same lines as Jon's suggestion, taking the corners off.

Can you get poly E28 M5 mounts? Maybe they would be an option and hold the engine better in the corners.

[Kedge]

how much did the rack conversion cost mate all in all ? can you list parts bought/needed , with prices you paid, if pos please

It's all in the group buy section, all made by DanThe but you have to supply UJ's and Steering couplings so you can't put an exact price on it

It's all been asked 1000 times before

Plus there's also information in the Wiki!!

As Ferg says, you can't put an exact price on it. I got given the rack, i chose to replace the complete track rods, i got the E34 UJs relatively cheap, i bought custom pipes instead of bending my own.

[Kedge]

Dave, nice going just rip it out and stick an S50 in

Clio servo is nearly ready to go in, just need to make a spacer! Future proofing

[polsta]

i know its on the wiki etc, but like you say it can vary, which is why i asked you the parts you bought and prices, as to just get an idea of costs

[Kedge]

I don't keep much of a record of part costs also bare in mind I've done things that don't HAVE to be changed to aid manifold and brake clearance. Also I'm pretty sure Dan has had to up the prices of things since i bought mine ages ago.

E36 Steering Rack
E30 Track Rods
E36 Dust Shields
E30 Securing Plates
E28 M5 Engine Mounts
E30 Steering Linkage
E34 Steering UJs (x2)

Custom Parts;
Rack Mount Spacers
Feed & Return Pipe (DanThe)
Steering Linkage (DanThe)

Now can we keep this more on topic with regards to the specific issue of clearance on the BTB2 manifold rather than another "how to" thread on rack swaps, there's already loads out there which is what i used to research doing this myself and also for writing the Wiki.

[capri_rob]

Does it run Dave ? Does it touch when you rev the engine ?

Could get a couple of mm machined off the UJ to give you a bit more clearance ?

Nice work BTW

[Kedge]

Nah not running Rob, only mounted at the moment.

UJ slimming is definitely an option. I'm sure i can make this work properly somehow as a BTB3 isn't an option I've got any intention of taking.

[e301988325i]

The corners are gone from mine, I increased the clearance by about 2mm like this. However it doesn't look great, and I'm not keen on purposefully misaligning the engine.

Get the pipe hot and flatten it slightly if you don't want to fork out for the half of the btb3 you'd need (only one section is different).

[Kedge]

The corners are gone from mine, I increased the clearance by about 2mm like this. However it doesn't look great, and I'm not keen on purposefully misaligning the engine.

Not too fussed if it doesn't look perfect, not something you can really see anyway. As for misaligning the engine, the only issue mentioned in Andys book is it putting stress on the prop center bearing but that'sapparently solved by shifting over the gearbox which I've done, all other movement should be taken up by the prop UJs I'd have thought

Get the pipe hot and flatten it slightly if you don't want to fork out for the half of the btb3 you'd need (only one section is different).

That's also something I'd considered earlier as a real last resort. BTB quoted about £400 for the modded section on its own and that was during a group buy

[Brian28]

Have you tried it with a bolt through, it adds more than you think. The BTB2 is by far and away the better design, even if you end up heating and putting a few mm depression in the header it will be better than the BTB3. Good result

[e301988325i]

Have you tried it with a bolt through, it adds more than you think. The BTB2 is by far and away the better design, even if you end up heating and putting a few mm depression in the header it will be better than the BTB3. Good result

have you seen the two side by side? There's very little difference!

[Brian28]

They are very similar (one set of three headers looks identical), except for the god-awful job done on the BTB3 to bend around the E36 steering linkage.

[e301988325i]

The corners are gone from mine, I increased the clearance by about 2mm like this. However it doesn't look great, and I'm not keen on purposefully misaligning the engine.

Not too fussed if it doesn't look perfect, not something you can really see anyway. As for misaligning the engine, the only issue mentioned in Andys book is it putting stress on the prop center bearing but that'sapparently solved by shifting over the gearbox which I've done, all other movement should be taken up by the prop UJs I'd have thought

Get the pipe hot and flatten it slightly if you don't want to fork out for the half of the btb3 you'd need (only one section is different).

That's also something I'd considered earlier as a real last resort. BTB quoted about £400 for the modded section on its own and that was during a group buy

it's not about the visual it's the mechanical misalignment. Why are you shocked about £400 that's half the price of a manifold, big boys toys these. . .

[Kedge]

Have you tried it with a bolt through

No not yet but that end of the linkage is well away from the manifold so shouldn't be an issue.

it's not about the visual it's the mechanical misalignment. Why are you shocked about £400 that's half the price of a manifold, big boys toys these. . .

But surely the two UJs are there to dial out any misaligment issues. How many E30s are out there with shagged engine mounts causing the engine to be out of position and no other issue coming from this. There is also room in the mounts for the gearbox and center bearing to allow sideways adjustment when they are fitted.

I was shocked at £400 that was more than half the group buy price, originally that was to have mine modified but then they said they had half a manifold on the shelf i could of had

[Kedge]

Shaved the edges off the bottom UJ, it's probably doubled the clearance. I did take some pics looking up at it in place but they don't really show any clear difference.

[Duke137]

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[Kedge]

Sounds like Stewie from Family Guy!!

[G-Bear]

Was just researching on rack swaps and dug this up.. How much more clearance did you get in the end from filing the edges off o the UJ?

[Kedge]

I'd say about 3-5mm. Not really enough to stop me still considering having the BTB2 modified to BTB3 spec.