How To Guide - E36 Steering Rack Swap

[xikyle]

what i want to know is do i REALLY have to replace the High pressure lines and the resevoir? or can i get by with what the little monster came with?

[ROLLingKING]

just go to autozone and pay the 2.99 per hose. they cut it to length for whatever u need. just get 2ft and cut it down. and u know theyre fresh pressure lines

what i want to know is do i REALLY have to replace the High pressure lines and the resevoir? or can i get by with what the little monster came with?

[65Matt]

I swapped my rack the other day on my non-airbag car. I bought an entire E36 rack from Toms FAP on ebay for $100 including the tie rods. I got the aluminum spacers from E30tech, and used chrisnxl185's method of modifying the u-joints which removes the guibo and keeps the collapsing pins.



The hardest part was getting the old knuckle off the steering column. I have learned the hard way, remove the u-joint clamp bolt, don't just loosen it. (On the E36, the bolt will damage the splines if you leave it in) I then used tons of PB Blaster, a pry bar pulling down on the rack, and wedged pickle forks between the firewall and the u-joint to pull the thing off the splines.

I was really confused about inner/outer rods, boots, c clips, so I thought putting the whole E36 rack would be simpler. I haven't driven it yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

[Aahj]

Ok, I've done some research and am still a bit confused and don't have time to go through 47 pages on this thread.

Just received my Z3 rack and a set of new E30 outer tie rods. My remaned rack comes complete with rack boots and inner tie rods. I don't see how these E30 outer tie rods will work with the inner tie rods on this Z3 rack. Am I missing something?

Do I need to remove the stock Z3 inners tie rods and install E30 tie rods instead? Or send back my E30 outer tie rods and get some E36 outer tie rods to mate to this rack?

Thanks y'all,
Aahj

[cobraken]

Ok, I've done some research and am still a bit confused and don't have time to go through 47 pages on this thread.

Just received my Z3 rack and a set of new E30 outer tie rods. My remaned rack comes complete with rack boots and inner tie rods. I don't see how these E30 outer tie rods will work with the inner tie rods on this Z3 rack. Am I missing something?

Do I need to remove the stock Z3 inners tie rods and install E30 tie rods instead? Or send back my E30 outer tie rods and get some E36 outer tie rods to mate to this rack?

Thanks y'all,
Aahj

Remove inner and outer. Replace with either all Inner and outer E30 or all inner and outer E36. Since you have E30 Outers you will need e30 inner tie rods. Good luck

[ToPLeSS(e30)FeinD]

Damn this threads been kickin for a long time. Thanks OP for starting this all. I used this to do my swap. Just waiting for my spacers to come in and I'll be done. Will definitely post results.

Just a quick question though. As I've never done this myself before, to take out the inner tie rods you can simply use vise grips and they just pop off? I'm replacing mine but I didn't know if this method was correct or not. Seems a bit brute.

[ToPLeSS(e30)FeinD]

Just a quick question though. As I've never done this myself before, to take out the inner tie rods you can simply use vise grips and they just pop off? I'm replacing mine but I didn't know if this method was correct or not. Seems a bit brute.

[Landrunner]

Just had this done, what a difference! I did a new steering yoke, refurbished e36 rack, new steering pump, all new lines, and a new reservoir. It takes a tiny bit of driver input to get the steering wheel to center after a light turn, nothing crazy. Is this normal?

[Aahj]

Just put mine in today, does the same thing as well and seems like they make the racks a tad tight when they rebuild them. I'll give it a few weeks for it to break in and see if it helps at all.

[Landrunner]

Just put mine in today, does the same thing as well and seems like they make the racks a tad tight when they rebuild them. I'll give it a few weeks for it to break in and see if it helps at all.

Cool, glad I'm not the only one to experience this. I figured that with all new steering components it'd be a tad tight, after visually inspecting the u joint, it's straight as an arrow and moving freely do the mild lack of return action must be due to the freshly rebuilt rack. Keep us posted!

[Jacksontheogre]

i have been able to find every part but the low pressure line anyone have a part number or a link?

[bmwcalvin]

what i want to know is do i REALLY have to replace the High pressure lines and the resevoir? or can i get by with what the little monster came with?

You can keep the lines you have, but you'll have to bend them a little to make it bolt flush on to the rack. As long as nothing was leaking before you should be fine. I ended up buying a new reservoir since mine was leaking...

[cobraken]

i couldnt use the same oem hi pressure line, i had to get a custom line done.

[mbc325]

Just had this done, what a difference! I did a new steering yoke, refurbished e36 rack, new steering pump, all new lines, and a new reservoir. It takes a tiny bit of driver input to get the steering wheel to center after a light turn, nothing crazy. Is this normal?

Mine was like this. I adjusted the steering lash (big bolt i think 22mm? on the bottom of the rack) and it acts like normal now. Just a very slight adjustment was needed.

[mbc325]

I'd recommend buying a new reservoir just because theres a nonreplacable filter inside of them. No use running a dirty filter on a new rack.

I tried using a e36 high pressure line but honestly it was harder to fit than the e30 one with a slight bend.