How To Guide - E36 Steering Rack Swap

[atomic]

Alright, I just bought a rack from a 96 m3. it's going in to my SRS-equipped vert this weekend, I hope it's not too much trouble! After reading all 15 pages, it seems like airbag cars are very straitforward, but i am a bit worried about having to cut the firewall Hopefully that won't be that case.

Here is a separate write up on e36 racks into a airbag car.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=69536&highlight=airbag+steering+rack

[iXBeater]

You may not need to replace your pump. As I found out that the power steering resivor has a filter in it that is supposed to be replaced at the 75k service and its the same part number for an E30 as its is for an E36 and probably E46. But replacing that and the fluid and I dont have any power steering pump problems anymore. Mine was wanting to seize at half turn or so before full lock.


But if you want to replace it heres what you do:
Remove the banjo bolt that is attached to the soft line coming off the power steering pump going to the resivor. I believe this was a 17mmor 19mm head on the banjo bolt. Make sure you have a pan there to catch all of the fluid that is going to come out of the hose. If you have turkey baster that has designated for auto use you could use that the extract most of the fluid out of the resivor and saving you from making a huge mess of things. But next you want to remove the high pressure power steering line that goes the steering rack and take time to let the fluid drain from the hose. You dont need to remember which hose goes where because one is bigger than the other so you cant get them confused.
Next is unbolting it you should have a 19mm nut on an adjuster, and two 13mm nuts on a the bottom bracket. Loosen and remove them. The PS pump should be free now and you there wont be any tension on the belt. Now is a good time to replace the belt if its more than 3 years old, the belt is only like $5. You need to run by the dealer or local auto parts store and pick up new washers for your banjo bolts. Otherwise install is the same and removal. Its almost 4am so I am sorry if I missed anything, let me know if you get mixed up anywhere and I will touch on it some more.

edit:I will take some pictures and we can create another write up, that hopefully will get a sticky :)

Very cool - sound like something even a noob like me can handle. Where is the filter you mentioned? Don't see it listed on REAL OEM or my WorldPac system?

[e30love]

does this work on the airbag cars?

[LovableSheep]

does this work on the airbag cars?

See here and here.

I just picked up a rack yesterday, once I get new tie rods and some spacers, I'm going to attempt the installation.

[tjts1]

I'm in the middle of installing an E36 rack into a airbag equipped M42 318i. Instead of bending down the tabs, I unbolted the engine mounts from the Xmember, opened the airbox and jacked up the engine by the oil pan by 2". I didn't have to do anything to the firewall.

[LovableSheep]

I didn't have to do anything to the firewall.

I hope this will be the case with my car too, I would rather not have to deal with cutting up the firewall.

What spacers did you use to mount the rack? I'm wondering if that has something to do with why some people have to modify the firewall and some don't.

[e30love]

yea i liked to know more too

[tjts1]

I'll post a more detailed write up in when I get a chance in the next couple of days.

[CorvallisBMW]

A few words of warning:

I got my new rack in, but I can no longer get the bolt holes to line up. Because I had to bend the tabs, the alignment betwem the upper and lower holes on the front subframe is no longer perfect. Which means getting the bolt to go through all 4 holes (2 on the subframe, 2 on the rack) is damn near impossible. To anyone trying to do this, I would recommend unbolting your engine mounts, placing a piece of wood on your jack and lifting the oil pan/engine. It's probably much easier than bending the tabs when it comes to reinstallation.

[tjts1]

As promised, here come the pics. E36 rack with E30 U joint ready to go in.


A closeup of the unmodified E30 U joint along with a pair of freshy fresh E36 outer tie rods.


Unbolt the engine mounts from the subframe, jack up by the oil pan and insert. No bending required.


I removed the circular black plate from the firewall which is held in with 2 bolts. See the first post in this thread. This gave me enough clearance to install the E36 rack without having to cut into the firewall. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of it.

Rack is bolted into place with 4 3/8" washers on top and 2 on bottom. This moves the rack up about 1/4" of an inch or just enough for the column to clear the firewall without cutting on an airbag car.


Once the rack bolted into place its important to adjust the position of the U joint up or down in order to prevent any binding. Once the steering is smooth tighten the 13mm bolts on either side of the U joint.


Since I'm using this rack for manual steering, I slid a short length of 5/8" hose (red was the only hose I could find in the garage) onto the banjo bolts to seal the rack.


On the tierod end, I bent part of the dust shield away from the joint because it looked like it was about to cut the rubber boot. Its hard to tell here but the bend doesn't interfere with the rotor.


Finally a quick home alignment

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/Borrowed/home_toe_in.htm

And its good to go. The conversion cost was $45 for the rack (JY) + $32 for the new tie rods (Pelican Parts) + $1.50 for washers (home despot).

cheers
Justin

[e30love]

do you have to put e36 tie rods on or can e30 ones fit?

[tjts1]

You can use E30 tie rods on E36 rack but you have to change both the inner and outer tie rod together. I replaced the outer tie rods that came with the rack from the JY because they were worn out. Changing the inner tie rods on either rack is a pain in the ass.

[e30love]

what rack do you have and did you put the plate back in the firewall?

[tjts1]

Regular E36 rack from a 93 318i. Nope, didn't replace the plate.

[nefarious7907]

what plate?