Z3 1.9 Steering rack conversion

[Mick]

I'm considering going with the Z4 manual rack in my street car while the motor is out. Based on posts in this thread it sounds like these parts will do it:

Rack
Z4 manual rack (2002-2008): 32 11 6 777 506
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=32_1373

Flaming River Parts
3/4"-48 X 3/4" DD STAINLESS STEEL U-JOINT
Part No.: FR2528DD
https://www.flamingriver.com/fr2528d...-steel-u-joint

17MM-54 X 3/4" DD STAINLESS STEEL U-JOINT
Part No.: FR2563
https://www.flamingriver.com/fr2563-...-steel-u-joint

18" STAINLESS DD SHAFT - MILL FINISH
Part No.: FR1850SS
https://www.flamingriver.com/fr1850-...ft-mill-finish

Questions for anyone who has done this:
- I didn't see an answer on whether you can use the E30M3 tie-rods with that rack. Anyone know?
- It sounds like the Z4 rack hangs lower than the OE rack but it could be shimmed up slightly. I'd love to install this while the motor is out of the car but it sounds like I might have to do it after the motor is installed so I can check clearance to the oil pan unless anyone has specifics on the shims. Anyone have more info?

[jimmy p.]

Hey Mick, I did this exact swap in my race car. Engine out is the perfect time to do it (thats when I did mine).
You have the parts list correct.
The only caveat I found with mine was you need to put the spacers above the rack not below. When I put them below they placed the rack too close to the upper oil pan for my taste.

The one mitigating factor here is that I use the Gruppe A engine mount arms on that car, I dont know where they place the engine relative to stock mounts, I never measured the difference.
I think the Z4 rack is really nice setup,,, now you have me wanting to do it to my street car LOL.

[jimmy p.]

ADDING: I realized I did not answer the tie rod question. I used all stock e30m3 everything. Screwed right together like it was made for it.
the only difference is there is no notch for the locking tab so I just used Loctite in place of the lock plate.

[Mick]

Thanks for the input Jimmy. ..and great to know the E30 tie rods work.

I still don't understand the spacer issue and I feel like there is something very basic that I'm not getting. Since the rack hangs from the subframe tabs it seems like the only place a spacer could possibly go is above the rack. So it's not clear to me why I've seen spacer placement specifically mentioned in a few posts. (Unless some people opt to mount the rack on top of the tabs?) I'm sure it'll all make sense to me once I have a Z4 rack in hand.

[jimmy p.]

I think it will become obvious when you have it all in hand. All the later e36 /e46 racks have a smaller mounting pad than the e30 racks thus they are too small in the space between the e30 subframe mounting tabs. I’m going to guess from memory the delta is about 10-12mm. So you need two small round aluminum spacers. Those spacers can either go in top of the rack spacing it down in between the two tabs or below the rack moving it up in the space. The e30 M3 rack has that spacing built in. The later racks are just smaller. The smaller mounting pad could allow the rack to be spaced up closer to the oil pan. When you hold them both in hand you will see exactly what it needs.

[Mick]

Oh! Got it. I should have looked at the stock rack more closely. Looking from above I assumed that the rack was hanging from a single tab on each side. I didn't notice that the rack is actually sandwiched between 2 tabs on each side. Thanks

[irdave]

Doing it right now. Flaming River parts exactly as Jimmy listed.

[Mick]

I got my rack today, just waiting on the Flaming River parts. At first I thought the black plastic sleeve on the steering shaft was just protection for shipping, but it looks like it's meant to stay in place. Did you guys trim it and leave it on?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=32_1371

[jimmy p.]

I got my rack today, just waiting on the Flaming River parts. At first I thought the black plastic sleeve on the steering shaft was just protection for shipping, but it looks like it's meant to stay in place. Did you guys trim it and leave it on?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=32_1371

Mick I didnt use it, mine is in and working with the bare metal just steering shaft. I dont think you can insert Instagram photos to forums but link below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfCKqrtB..._web_copy_link

You may notice in the photo I have it installed with spacers below so the rack is as high in the subframe as possible, which was my initial plan, but when I dropped the engine in I had to switch the spacers to above the rack spacing it away from the upper oil pan.

You might also notice in that photo is before the boots were done up, because I am using a 3rd Gen Gruppe A suspension with 15" wheels I needed to add 1 1/2 Turner steering rack limiters, well it was 2 kits, and I modified the 2nd kit to what thickness was needed to have the inner barrel of the wheels not contact the thrust rods at full lock. With the stock e30M3 rack it only required one kit.

[PRustan]

Mick,

If I may ask, where did you get the rack from? I'm looking at either eBay or FCP (rebuilt).

Peter

[Mick]

I bought a remanufactured unit from ECS Tuning. When I bought mine a few weeks ago they were $560, now they have it priced at $860.

I was tempted by the used units on Ebay, but I've been burned on used parts, and since those could be coming from wrecked cars I didn't want to risk it.

[PRustan]

I was also a little concerned about the $200 racks on eBay which said that they were out of 160K mile vehicles. So I just bought a reman one from FCP for about the same price ($400 + $150 core). More parts to install!

[irdave]

I got my rack today, just waiting on the Flaming River parts. At first I thought the black plastic sleeve on the steering shaft was just protection for shipping, but it looks like it's meant to stay in place. Did you guys trim it and leave it on?
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=32_1371

I trimmed mine- street car- figured anything to help keep the road crap out is good.

[Mick]

Just getting to install this rack. It looks like the E30M3 boots are too small for the Z3 rack and the Z3 boots don't look like they'll fit over the M3 tie rod fastener without cutting.
What did you guys do for boots?

[PRustan]

As I don’t have the parts in front of me, I take it the Z4 inner can’t work with the e30 outer tie-rods? Probably a stupid question.