E30 with E46 CA's, E30 steering rack, E90 inner/e36 outer T.rods

[ROLLingKING]

....so ate a curb haaaaaard while driving a few weeks back and my control arm was broken and sway bar link was bent and oil pan cracked. I replaced the oil pan, control arms with e46 ones/AKG poly CA bushing, E92 inner rods, E36 outer rods, and UUC camber plates to bring the camber back in.

My problem is my driver side toe is waaaaaaay off. like its toe'd out like im turning left, except only the left wheel is toe'd out.lol

I could have bent the steering rack i guess but it looks fine. plus i feel like since i hit the curb turning right, while at almost full lock on the left rim, wouldnt it bend shit IN, not toe out? everyone at the shop says the rack doesnt look broken. idk

Is my tie rod combination wrong or....has anyone done the E46 CA swap with an E30 rack? is it even doable. it looks like the E36 rack doesnt come out to the wheels as much as the E30 rack so im getting an E36 rack friday to get rid of all possible broken parts. plus it may be enough to bring the toe back in. its my only option at this point I think.

any ideas would be great. ill upload pics later. thanks R3vers

oh and its an 87 325is

[E30_fiend]

Is there a reason why you're mixing all these parts?

When using an e30 rack, you need to use e30 tie rods, inner and outer. It's only when you swap to a different rack, say an E36, that you need to mix and match tie rods. Even then, you're still using e30 outer tie rods and E36 inner tie rods.

As for the e46 arms, they would effect caster but not toe iirc.

My recommendation, change your tie rods back to e30 parts. If that doesn't fix it, I'd say your rack is bent, or broken internally.


Taylor

[bmwguy325is]

Alignment rack time.

[ROLLingKING]

Alignment rack time.

it was racked up for alignment but i forgot the print out at home..idk if e30 tie rods would reach either. thanks for the help

[ROLLingKING]

Is there a reason why you're mixing all these parts?

When using an e30 rack, you need to use e30 tie rods, inner and outer. It's only when you swap to a different rack, say an E36, that you need to mix and match tie rods. Even then, you're still using e30 outer tie rods and E36 inner tie rods.

As for the e46 arms, they would effect caster but not toe iirc.

My recommendation, change your tie rods back to e30 parts. If that doesn't fix it, I'd say your rack is bent, or broken internally.


Taylor

im going to try the e36 iner and e30 outer rods when i get the e36 rack.
does the e30 rack reach out toward the wheels more than a e36 rack by any chance?

[jlevie]

If you hit a curb hard enough to break a control arm I'd suspect that there has been damage to the frame of the car and/or a bent strut. The way to fix that, if it isn't excessive, is to put the car on a frame machine and pull it back to where it should be and replace the strut. The result might not be perfect, but it should be close enough to correct any camber errors with camber plates using E30 parts elsewhere. Trying to correct errors by other means is just going to cause other problems.

[ROLLingKING]

the frame isnt bent and my camber/caster wasnt off.

it was a tie rod issue which i fixed using the E90 inner and E36 outer tie rods.

i found out today my sway bar is bent, not the frame. and strut housings were swapped out also. and trying to fix the broken parts is going to fix things, or lead me to figure out what else is broken. i have to replace the shit anyway. i dont think the frame is damaged at all considering only my toe was off.



dead thread

[jlevie]

Well if there wasn't any structural damage, replacing the control arm, strut housing, and tie rod with E30 parts would have worked without there being camber or toe errors.

[jeffnhiscars]

When using an e30 rack, you need to use e30 tie rods, inner and outer. It's only when you swap to a different rack, say an E36, that you need to mix and match tie rods. Even then, you're still using e30 outer tie rods and E36 inner tie rods.

Respectfully, this is incorrect. You cannot mix e30 & e36 inner and outer tie rods anywhere as the threads are opposite and they will not fit together. You CAN however use the complete e30 or complete e36 tie rod assemblies on either an e30 or e36 rack.

[E30_fiend]

Thanks for the correction dude. I appreciative it.


Taylor