E36 M3 Steering Rack Upgrade

Posted 13th july 2015.

E36 m3 steering rack upgrade.

The steering racks that can be swapped in from the other chassis make the car feel sportier and become a bit more nimble. New boots and inner tie rods are included. There s no better way to upgrade your bmw e36 m3 than to upgrade its brakes most of these mods require a significant of of time or cost involved but not the brakes. At low speeds i didn t notice any difference at all in fact i had forgotten i d done the work then i got it up to speed and the difference was instantly noticed much better turn in better steering feel and feed.

The mounting face of the m3 pump bracket had to be milled down by almost an inch to line up properly. This steering rack is also popularly used as a quicker ratio rack upgrade on the 1992 1999 e36 3 series and 1984 1991 e30 3 series models. This is desired because the lock to lock ratio on the e30 is quite large. Since the z3 used so much 3 series componentry under the skin the steering rack is a direct bolt in replacement but it s used as an upgrade because the steering ratio is much quicker for a faster steering response.

The z3 rack is 2 75 turns lock to lock while the e30 and e36 racks they interchange with vary between 3 0 and 3 9 ltl. This steering rack was used in many z3 roadster models including the z3 1 9 z3 2 3 z3 2 5 z3 2 8 and z3 3 0 models. Bmw e36 power steering upgrade. I ve just changed the rack on my e36 for a purple 067 rack and removed the rubber bush and replaced with a solid aluminium part.

The stock brakes on the e36 m3 are more than large enough to handle everything but the most extreme duty even e36 m3 race cars run stock calipers. This guide was created to explain how to swap an e36 e46 or z3 steering rack into an e30. Updated 4th august 2016.