Steering rack/sway bar issues [S50]

[Rsully70sev]

I recently got my oil changed at my regular (reputable) vintage BMW shop and he alerted me of a few issues.

I have a 1989 325i with a S50/ZF swap. It has the e34 oil pan and e28 motor mounts which he said were perfect, but it also has a 1995 m3 steering rack. The M3 steering rack is rubbing against my oil pan and will (apparently) eventually wear it down till it cracks.

Another issue is my down pipe is hitting my sway bar. I assume I need to get another one custom fab'ed but I'm wondering if I can kill two birds with one stone-if I space my motor and steering rack it may clear my downpipe/sway bar. This also blows because I was going to buy F&R IE sway bars which are significantly larger...

A few ideas I had were adding some washers to the motor mounts for extra clearance, going with Treehouse CAB's, etc. I'm not really sure what to do...any advice?

Cliff Notes:

-M3 steering rack is rubbing against e34 oil pan
-Stock sway bar is rubbing against down pipe
-What can I do?

[giantkeeper]

You'll want to check and ensure that both upper and lower rack tabs are being utilized and that there is proper shims for spacing on top of the rack and between the top tab.

Most (not all) people shim their motor mounts to raise teh headers off the subframe and sway bar. I made shims for my swaybars and a buddies that worked very well. We also are both running shims on the motor mounts.

[RobertK]

The steering rack should not touch the E34 pan unless the engine and/or steering rack are not properly aligned.

Have any pics?

[e30rapidic]

did you use spacers?

or over tighten the brackets on the subframe causing the rack to raise up?

[Rsully70sev]

I have no idea, unfortunately the drive line was bought not built. I'll have to get it up on the rack again