Steering 90 degrees off

[Slotz2550]

I recently bought a ‘91 318i that the previous owner put a z rack on. It has an aluminum steering coupler. The problem is the steering wheel is exactly 90 degrees left of center. The previous owner didn’t care so never fixed it. Question is, can I pull the steering coupler out, turn the wheel 90 degrees right and bolt the steering shaft back up without the coupler and just put a spacer in there to fill the gap or do I need to leave the coupler in place and pull the rack to disconnect it all and rebuild it that way

[Simple_Smith]

just take the steering wheel off and move it the 90 degrees you need to..

make sure the rack is centered and the tie rods are close to equal length for proper alignment (then have the car aligned or you'll eat through tires)

the solution you're suggesting will introduce a sine wave into the rack movement as the steering wheel is turned. I went through this problem myself when eliminating the steering coupler on a euro column. Check my build thread to get a bit more thorough explanation.

[Slotz2550]

Gotcha. The problem is if I just take off and turn the wheel 90 degrees, my turn signals still won’t trigger off when turning the wheel the normal amount so I was hoping to fix it from the rack. I’ll check you build thread too

[Simple_Smith]

ah gotcha, forgot about the turn signals, just BMW things.. You may have to take it back to square one and center the steering wheel, lock it in place, remove coupler from rack, center rack and verify tie rods are equal on both sides, then reconnect steering coupler to rack. A pain in the ass for sure, but the best way to verify its done correctly

[Slotz2550]

That’s what I expected and also hoped not to have to do. Thanks for the insight

[Striker01]

The steering wheel is what triggers the turn signal off. You should be able to have the steering shaft or rack at any position without affecting turn signal operation. I would check the turn signal reset tab isn't broken off in the housing or on the wheel itself.

Is it an aftermarket wheel? I had to add a little epoxy to the tab on my momo hub to get it to cancel my turn signal.

This is the best picture I could find.

[Slotz2550]

It’s the stock wheel. I’ll have to pull it off and see what’s back there. Would save a lot of trouble doing it that way rather than pulling the rack