How To Guide - E36 Steering Rack Swap

[bataangpinoy]

sounds like you have alot of caster, and might have positioned the rack a little too far downward

[Wanganstyle]

Yeah, I'm not sure, haha.

On another note, I'm running it unpowered at the moment and MAN is it hard to steer. Everyone is saying "oh you won't notice it above 5 mph!" This is definitely BS in my case. It could be the fact that I need to get it aligned, or maybe it's my E36 M3 front suspension + large wheels.

Anybody know if misaligned front toe would cause a massive increase in steering effort? It isn't pulling at all, but it re-centers very aggressively and there also seems to be a huge amount of bump steer. ANYTHING on the road surface will almost violently jerk the wheel (correct me if I'm wrong on using the term bump steer). I'm guessing (it looked like it) that it is very toe-in at the moment.

E36m sucks terrible to drive without power steering.

If your car has not been aligned it us dangerous to drive and should be aligned before anything else.

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[FLG]

Get an alignment first. Do you track the car at all? I run - 3.5 degrees of camber and zero the toe. Is perfect.

If stock everything you'll just be able to adjust toe

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[jalopi]

My guess is that you're used to the progressive racks in the e30s - they technically have an, 'assist' if you will, but it's more so for being stable in straight lines. z3 racks are all response, all the time.

[kwseattle]

I looked at it again today, my right front toe is CRAZY in. Like visible from a distance. That'd be fault of my hasty tape-measurements. So I definitely won't be driving it anymore until I can get it in for an alignment. I've only really driven it so far to test how the new rack has felt. @bataangpinoy: I'm not sure how I could've mounted the rack too far down, that isn't really possible.

E36m sucks terrible to drive without power steering.

Good to know, hah. I'll probably reconnect once I determine if it's the alignment or not. I'm suspecting it definitely has a part to do with it, since it's so bad at the moment.

Get an alignment first. Do you track the car at all? I run - 3.5 degrees of camber and zero the toe. Is perfect.

If stock everything you'll just be able to adjust toe

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I'll be autocrossing it once it dries up a little bit here in WA (if it does? hah).
Front camber is set probably at about -2.5 degrees, not sure. It looks pretty aggressive. Think I should run zero toe or slightly out? It's mostly a daily driver, so I'm not sure.

[jalopi]

Zero toe. Look up how to do a string alignment (technically meant for live axle cars... but whatever, it'll work well enough), it'll get you by pretty good until you can get into a shop for a real alignment.

[FLG]

Yep two tape measure you can get it pretty good.

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[kwseattle]

Alignment is done, it's set at zero toe. I forgot to ask what the camber was, haha.

Still a bitch to turn, though, that power steering is definitely being reconnected asap. That would be fault of the M3 suspension.

[KVF]

Alignment is done, it's set at zero toe. I forgot to ask what the camber was, haha.



Still a bitch to turn, though, that power steering is definitely being reconnected asap. That would be fault of the M3 suspension.

I tried that power steering delete w/stock set-up and it was still a bitch. At speed it's not that bad, but most definitely an overrated experience. There are simply no gains to be had.

[kwseattle]

I just finished reconnecting my power steering, and man do I agree with that. It's a whole different car now, I could barely turn the wheel before.

On the first drive I was sitting in my car laughing at how crazy fast the steering is now!

It's unbelievable. I definitely recommend the Z3 rack.

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[jalopi]

So how horrendous is the bump steer supposed to be after this swap is done? I did align (string method, did the same when I put my tie rod spacers in and it turned out fine) here's what I did:

1. e46 shafts cut to length
2. z3 rack, it's something under 3 turns lock to lock
3. Used approximately 50mm of washers on top of the rack as a spacer (rough measurement of the height difference between the two racks)
4. IE camber plates (the ones with the urethane)
5. IE delrin CABs
6. e46 lower control arms
7. Stock e30 tie rods

Still haven't finished the PS bracket and lines, so it was unassisted at the time I did my shakedown. Camber is set to max positive (still probably -1.5 to -2* or so)

It's got a very, very slight pull but otherwise drives fairly straight, so either the toe is a bit off or the camber is a bit off. Regardless, as long as the road is smooth I'm good... but as soon as I touch a pebble on the road it's almost as if the car tries to throw me into the nearest tree. Is this something that'll get better once the PS is installed and running? Because it didn't seem to make much of a difference with the e30 rack, though that was progressive, not linear.

[FLG]

Get your toe dialed in first. Bad toe will do just that.

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[KVF]

So how horrendous is the bump steer supposed to be after this swap is done? I did align (string method, did the same when I put my tie rod spacers in and it turned out fine) here's what I did:

1. e46 shafts cut to length
2. z3 rack, it's something under 3 turns lock to lock
3. Used approximately 50mm of washers on top of the rack as a spacer (rough measurement of the height difference between the two racks)
4. IE camber plates (the ones with the urethane)
5. IE delrin CABs
6. e46 lower control arms
7. Stock e30 tie rods

Still haven't finished the PS bracket and lines, so it was unassisted at the time I did my shakedown. Camber is set to max positive (still probably -1.5 to -2* or so)

It's got a very, very slight pull but otherwise drives fairly straight, so either the toe is a bit off or the camber is a bit off. Regardless, as long as the road is smooth I'm good... but as soon as I touch a pebble on the road it's almost as if the car tries to throw me into the nearest tree. Is this something that'll get better once the PS is installed and running? Because it didn't seem to make much of a difference with the e30 rack, though that was progressive, not linear.

Bump steer does feel more pronounced without the ps hooked up. Also, sounds like you placed the washers/spacers on top of the rack. To most minimize bump steer you'd want them on the bottom (moving rack upward). Having said that, I can't imagine 1.5-2 inches is going to make a world of difference...

[jalopi]

I could swear there's a post somewhere in this thread about some dude that put his car on an alignment rack so he could see the toe change as the suspension was loaded up. He said it was getting roughly 1.5* of toe changes when the spacers were on the bottom, and less than .5* with the spacers up top.

However, that was just one post - I'm assuming it isn't too bad for you with the spacers on the bottom? I guess I can give it a try, not exactly hard to change the spacer location.

[jalopi]

Top tip of the day: spend the extra money and get a decent rack. The z3 AAE brand rack I bought made it 10 feet out of my driveway before completely blowing out the (input shaft?) seal.

Couldn't expect too much out of a $250, no core charge rack, eh?