E36is steering rack swap INTO E46 328ci

[Kart Racer]

This was not a performance swap or anything else but a necessity. Happened suddenly, needed it fixed, had 3 spare e36 racks laying around so why not.

donor - 1995 325is
recipiant - 2000 328ci

everything was very straight foward.

kacked car, used stands, removed front tires, freed outer tie rods, removed splash guard, removed skid plate/ eng trans cover, drained PS fluid, (left lines attached to the rack side), removed steering coupler (easier to remove top bold and slide off than banging spline side while in car), removed 2 rack bolts, pulled rack.

You can replace your PS pump while in there very easily at this point. Remove pulley bolts, remove belt, 2 front mount bolts 1 back mount bolt, reservior lines poof... it's out

after the rack was out I centered donor rack and reattached coupler making as straight as possible to center.

Now , the only thing to remember - Change the outer tie rod ends to the e46 ones on the e36 donor rack. everything else was "basically" the same.
Swap the E46 lines onto the E36 rack (new crush washers) and re-install was super easy. ( the rack nut on the drivers side is a little difficult to get to but use open end 16mm(mine was) from the drivers side tire and weasle it up on top to hold the nut in place after you get it to bite)

the e46 tie rods thread on a little farther on the e36 rack than the original e46 rack, but still have pleanty of adjustment available.

remember - Refill, 20 turns left to right with car in the air and engine NOT on. Refill, car still in air, engine on, 10 or so left to right. Top off .... lower and check on ground left to right. etc (plenty of DIY's)

recap

E36 rack into e46
E36 inner tie rods remain in place

use E46 outer tie rods
use E46 power steering lines

[pizzaman09]

That is cool information to know. I wouldn't have guessed that the racks would be interchangeable between any model BMW. I guess it does make sense to use the same parts across multiple platforms if it will work.

[Kart Racer]

Thank you for the comment. With the availability of the e36 parts, i figured some people might want to know. I'll add some pics for people to compare.

[Kart Racer]

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