Whats missing from my steering column?

[Chris@MAC]

Hey, When I disconnected my steering rack to pull my stock motor I noticed a lot of play in the bottom of the steering column where it goes through the fire wall.

When I bought the car it did not have an airbag.

My my questions are, is this how a normal airbag steering column should look? Or is something hacked up from p.o.

I have compared real oem diagrams between airbag/no airbag e30s and its hard to see a difference.

[kts]

Looks normal to me, or at least that's identical or what my 91's steering column looks like.

[Chris@MAC]

Looks normal to me, or at least that's identical or what my 91's steering column looks like.

Is your car an airbag car?

I just feel like its missing a brace it doesnt seem ok to have that much play in the steering column.

[kts]

Is your car an airbag car?

I just feel like its missing a brace it doesnt seem ok to have that much play in the steering column.

Yes my car originally had an airbag (anything mid-90 production on will have an airbag.)

The PO of my car installed a Momo hub and wheel but otherwise appears to have left the steering system alone. There is no brace on my car, the column looks identical to yours.

Poke around the exploded part diagrams on RealOEM (http://realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?mo...id=47309&hg=32) to see but I do not see a brace.

When the steering rack is installed and connected to the column and the column is bolted to the metal part of the body around where the ignition key/wiper stalk/etc is that whole area is pretty solid.

If you are having a ton of movement perhaps take a look at the steering guibo? Maybe it's shot and is what is giving you that play. (Poly guibo install write up but will show you the basic ideas. You can google for images of failed guibos. http://www.e30performance.info/viewt...hp?f=23&t=1831)

[vpilarrt]

Looks like you're missing some parts around where the column goes through the firewall. I'll check my airbag car this weekend and see what you're missing.

[Chris@MAC]

Looks like you're missing some parts around where the column goes through the firewall. I'll check my airbag car this weekend and see what you're missing.

Thanks!

[Chris@MAC]

Looks like 5 and 6 on this diagram. I'm going to pull my carpet and check if anythings there.

Also Im swapping the manual pedals from my 89 e30 into this 91 e30. Will the old manual pedals fit into a car with an airbag column? or should i swap in the old style column as well as the pedals?

[Rose E30]

You are definitely missing some parts! I have an 87 (non airbag) manual, and I took a photo of what my column looks live on the passenger compartment side. I am not sure how much the columns changed, but it does not make sense that there would be that much wiggle room through the firewall.