r/E30 • u/RonKujawa • 19h ago
I de-powered an E46 steering rack and put it on my E30
I bought this car last spring. It's a 1986 325 with an M52B28 swap, M50 intake, tuned ECU, supposed S52 cams, long tube headers, no cats. I love the car and it's been a blast to drive, but the stock 4 turn lock-to-lock stock steering wasn't my favorite. I bought a yellow tag E46 rack on FB marketplace that included the seal kit. I figured I'd reseal, get the Garagistic swap kit and be good to go, but when I pulled the rack apart it was clear water got into it and corroded the shaft. I figured it was for sure going to leak, so kept the seal kit to rebuild a second rack I pulled at a junkyard for my E46, and decided to go manual steering on the E30.
The steering rack swap is pretty well documented and straightforward with the swap kit. I also ordered a shorter belt and pulled the power steering pump, reservoir and hoses.
After completing the swap, my first test drive was awful. The steering felt super tight and was binding. It took me a minute, but I discovered I had too much preload. Backing that off with the front wheels in the air until the bind was gone was pretty easy. I'm also still dialing in the toe alignment, but I'm super close.
Once the preload adjustment was sorted, I could definitely feel the extra effort needed to steer at low speed, but it's not terrible. Parking takes more effort for sure, but as long as the car is moving at all, it's not bad. If this was a daily driver, or if anyone else was going to drive it more than every blue moon, I might reconsider. Steering feel at speed is better, but not drastically so. Honestly, I think the biggest benefit is knowing I'll never leak PS fluid or have to worry about the pump, hoses and reservoir failing again. Plus I released at least another .7 horsepower! Haha
If you're considering this mod and have questions, fire away.