Central CA 1990 325i build

[2mAn]

Eventually you will fix all of the dumb-ass previous owners "fixes." I just discovered that I had the wrong rear calipers on my car. Ive had my car for 4 years already and thought I had fixed everything... haha

[MrBurgundy]

I'd just cut that hanger off.. I'm assuming you're going to ditch the weird fart can exhaust.

[BFT_Boyle]

Looking forward to seeing your progress. My 86eta came from central CA (lemoore) towed her back home to Nevada County and just started test driving a couple days ago.

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[bobaflesh]

Long overdue update.

Last weekend I decided that I am going to go ahead and tackle the steering rack swap.

Started by cleaning new components.



M3 rack cleaned up pretty nice IMO, decided to reuse existing E36 tie rods on it, since they were in good shape and the rack only has about 90k miles.

Removing old, crappy tie rods.



Free!



Old vs new



Since I have an airbagged car, I had to grind out some material from the firewall and steering column plate (i decided to just grind out some material from that instead of fabricating a new one, since i have no means to perform that kind of work)



Lower part of steering column out of the car *this is a PITA*



Then I used my dremel and cleared about 1/2 an inch of space for the column to freely rotate. I forgot to take pictures of this, but its pretty self explanatory.

I decided to use the M3 reservoir with E30 lines. Cleaned up pretty nice.



Then I mounted the new rack into the subframe. This wasn't too bad, just had to wiggle it around enough that it fit properly. Aligning the subframe spacers was tedious, but I eventually got it in. Massaging the column into the universal joint was not too bad actually!

New rack mounted



Close up showing the spacer



So the power steering lines were a nightmare... Its impossible to tighten down the banjo bolts and have the lines align properly. I had a horrible time with this, ended up using the E36 line for LP.

Here is my setup (man I need a new ground cable)



Had to bend the PS hoses a bit, because they were hitting the universal joint!



Now I just need to fill the reservoir up with ATF and have the car aligned by a shop.

Excited to see what handling will feel like.

[bobaflesh]

Filled the reservoir up with Mobil 1 ATF



Turned the car on and turned the steering wheel back and forth to circulate PS fluid. Checked for leaks, and refilled ATF.



Took car off the jack stands and torqued wheels back on. They don't seem TOO out of alignment, but I am still taking the car to the alignment shop.

[bobaflesh]

Took the car to the alignment shop and was told that my wheels are mismatched, so they are unable to do a proper alignment job on the car. I have never noticed this (never really paid attention), its a huge bummer! The guys over at Hinson's Tires in Morro Bay were super nice though and helped me at least eyeball align the wheels so the car is not a complete wreck to steer.

Also, after driving the car around a bit and parking it in my garage, I noticed a power steering fluid puddle under the car. Cool! I will have to go ahead and trace that down...

[bobaflesh]

Went under the car this evening to trace down the power steering fluid leak and found that it is leaking from where the Banjo bolts thread into the rack. It is my stupid mistake, because I re-used the washers I had...



I don't know how well it can be seen, but ATF is seeping out on the bottom of the bolts. Anyway, I placed on order on rmeuropean.com for the right washers, they should get here soon.

[berlow94]

For a couple more dollars you can get stat-o-seal crush washers for those. They never leak!


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[bobaflesh]

Installed the new crush washers that I ordered from RMEuropean and I am happy to report that the rack is not leaking anymore.
Took the car to a local alignment shop to get it aligned properly, they only charged me 50$.

Car feels great since the swap, I have been driving it around quite a lot. More updates coming soon!

Stupid brake light is still on even though I replaced the sensor when I did the brake job.