S54 Custom Oil Pan BMP Conversions

[E30SPDFRK]

Looks like they moved the tie rod mounting points forwards on the knuckles too

[TobyB]

Y'know, with a little Paint geometry, ASSuming the pic is at 90 to the plane of the steering,
that would work. It WOULD have very little Ackerman angle, as the near-
parallelograms formed by the rack, arm, hub and body are pretty much parallelograms,
but, barring the tie rod ends being other than where they SEEM to be, it'll be OK.

A bitch to park, tho, I'd expect! Lighten up nicely at speed? Prolly.

I dunno. I'd drive it before I bought it, certainly!

t
thinking it'll be easier to wet- sump it... but certainly not cheaper!

https://drysump.com/index.php/oil-pans/bmw/60-bmw-m-50-6-cylinder

[Motheye99]

So Arc Asylum isn't making sub-frames any more?

So it seems Tyler @ ArcAsylum disappeared.

And BMP Conversions just may have your answer. I saw this on their Facebook page, and it looks like they have made a few versions. Not sure which is current, or how the pan is modified, or how the ackerman is affected due to placement of the rack, not sure how far forward it is of the knuckle point.

Here's their Facebook

And Website

No affiliation. Best of luck with your builds. BTW if you need DME coding, check my sig. No one should pay for swap coding anymore. I'll also offer to walk you through via a remote session.

[R3Z3N]

He took several cores and payments and disappeared. A few got their product. Not all.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Ackerman is NOT effort.

Ackerman geometry turns the outside tire further than the inside tire so that they're both turning around a common center point and aren't fighting each other.

A car with bad Ackerman will shudder as the tires chatter when turning at full lock, but that doesn't equate to particularly high wheel effort.

It really comes down to this: Will you accept the parking lot behavior in order to have an S54?

[The Dark Side of Will]

This is a RHD car.



This is a LHD car. Packaging the spool valve on the rack appears to be what requires cutting the oil pan.

[BeirBrennerE30]

It really comes down to this: Will you accept the parking lot behavior in order to have an S54?

I am not sure why everyone is trying to reinvent the wheel with this and moving around the rack. Tyler had a good design despite disappearing, someone just copy that.

[ForcedFirebird]

The geometry of the steering rack is copied from an e36 as he states in this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iD9RxhgnrE

He talks about how he recreated all the e36 geometry, not just slap 5 lug struts on an e30 "and hope for the best".

[TobyB]

Ackerman is NOT effort.

Nope. But a car without enough Ackerman angle will, as you note, not want to turn
at low speed, as the front wheel(s) scrub.
I made the ASSumption it was unboosted, and having removed the geometry that creates Ackerman
from a race car with a rack conversion, it WAS hard to steer at low speed. But that
car had tires like our victim. And was unboosted. Went great at speed, tho.

Ackerman geometry turns the inside tire further than the outside tire

Fixed that for ya. The inner radius is smaller, so the inner tire needs to be steered
into the corner more.

t

[BMW_TUNER]

The geometry of the steering rack is copied from an e36 as he states in this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iD9RxhgnrE

He talks about how he recreated all the e36 geometry, not just slap 5 lug struts on an e30 "and hope for the best".

What an amazing piece of work.

[nando]

This is a RHD car.



This is a LHD car. Packaging the spool valve on the rack appears to be what requires cutting the oil pan.

Look closer. They are completely different designs. One kept the original tie rod location, the other moved it to the other side of the struts.

[R3Z3N]

I just posted stuff from their facebook, as I too am looking for an alternative. I have Tyler's setup, but want a spare should I crack the pan.

[wazzu70]

The geometry of the steering rack is copied from an e36 as he states in this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iD9RxhgnrE

He talks about how he recreated all the e36 geometry, not just slap 5 lug struts on an e30 "and hope for the best".

Its hard to see but copying the E36 geometry for rack placement only works if the upper strut mount is in the same location. The E36 damper tube is obviously much more vertical than the E30 which “reclines.” This impacts the caster/mechanical trail of the suspension and has a big impact on steering feel & wheel centering.

Maybe all this was taken into account, but if someone wants to replicate the setup its something to be aware of.

For all these reasons I still feel that keeping with the factory E30 suspension geometry and parts is the best path. The OE geometry is not perfect, but the negatives are well known and the solutions are known as well. Once you start mixing and matching you open pandoras box, especially if you don’t understand the implications of the changes. Getting things to bolt in and having the wheel centered is the bare minimum to consider 😃

[The Dark Side of Will]

Its hard to see but copying the E36 geometry for rack placement only works if the upper strut mount is in the same location. The E36 damper tube is obviously much more vertical than the E30 which “reclines.” This impacts the caster/mechanical trail of the suspension and has a big impact on steering feel & wheel centering.

I don't know exactly what the parts are, BUT if he took struts with steering arms designed for a specific caster and used them in a body with way more caster, he's going to end up with bump steer unless he changes the steering arms or otherwise fixes it.

Fixed that for ya. The inner radius is smaller, so the inner tire needs to be steered
into the corner more.

t

Yep, my bad.

Look closer. They are completely different designs. One kept the original tie rod location, the other moved it to the other side of the struts.

I get that they're completely different designs and one obviously moves the rack forward compared to the other, but LHD/RHD packaging can play into those decisions in a big way.