Steering rack swap for airbag cars...

[FredK]

3.2

[E30_fiend]

3.2

And that's coming down from the stock 4 turn on and 325iS?

Is there another rack with a closer ratio?



Oh and thanks for answering my questions.






Taylor

[atomic]

Modify the firewall plate similar to this picture I drew up... IIRC all I had to modify was just this plate and not the actual firewall itself. I can check on that and update at a later time.

[FredK]

yeah, Z3 1.9 has 2.7, 1995 M3 has 3.0.

[E30_fiend]

yeah, Z3 1.9 has 2.7, 1995 M3 has 3.0.

So realistically, the Z3 1.9 is the one to have? How much could a 97 M3 rack go for if I decided to get it then sell it after a rebuild or at least replacing the seals?






Taylor

[Stephen]

So realistically, the Z3 1.9 is the one to have? How much could a 97 M3 rack go for if I decided to get it then sell it after a rebuild or at least replacing the seals?






Taylor

tsk tsk, jess wont be happy.

No just kidding, i think a good 200, when i was looking at rebuilt ones...

[E30_fiend]

Oh I'm still thinking of doing the swap with the 97 M3 rack. Just seeing if it would really be worth all the works for less than a full turn taken off






Taylor

[Stephen]

Yeah i dunno. although ive heard people say good things about it, not that i can speak from experience.

[atomic]

I have the 95 M3 rack in mine and have driven some friends e30's with both the Z3 2.7ltl rack and the M3 3.2ltl rack. I honestly can hardly tell the difference between the three cars in steering response. They were all an improvement over the standard e30 4.0ltl rack IMHO...

[peerless]

I have done 1 non air bag car and 2 air bag cars. Its a pretty easy swap.

I am still seeing some questions so I though I might turn you guys on to a article that helped me out on both styles of swap.

http://www.rmeuropean.com/bmw-e30-steering.aspx

Thats about all you need to know.

[E30_fiend]

Very interesting and you bring a good point but right now I'm thinking I might just go with the late model e36 M3 rack just because its cheap and its easy to find






Taylor

[LovableSheep]

I had the exact same problem with the rack not lining up. Loosened the big nut inside (very, very, very tight) then everything lined right up. Didn't need to modify the actual firewall, but the plate needs to be.

[E30_fiend]

I had the exact same problem with the rack not lining up. Loosened the big nut inside (very, very, very tight) then everything lined right up. Didn't need to modify the actual firewall, but the plate needs to be.

which rack did you swap???

[atomic]

I had the exact same problem with the rack not lining up. Loosened the big nut inside (very, very, very tight) then everything lined right up. Didn't need to modify the actual firewall, but the plate needs to be.

AH yes I did the same thing now that I think back on the actual job.



:mrgreen:

[LovableSheep]

which rack did you swap???

Regular E36 rack. I think it was out of a 92 325i if I remember correctly.