A friend of mine is after a uprated steering rack for his E30 M3.

His old 325 didn't have power steering which the M3 does but he doesn't like.

As the rack is just about shagged he is thinking of going down the none PAS route and possibly a high ratio one too.

Problem is Quaife apparently haven't made one before so he would have to supply a rack for them to copy (mega bucks)

Does anyone on here know of anyone that can supply one or point him in the right direction

 

Has he tried fitting a lhd ( if it's lhd ) 4-cyl Z3 rack? About 2.8ish turns instead of 3.6 for the original E30 M3 rack.
People in Aus have done this when they've been saddled with the slow 4.1 turn rack of the normal E30 325i on a rhd converted E30 M3

It's also a useful way to get a quick rack on an E36.

Don't get a Z3M rack though as it is slower than the normal Z3 rack

 

Another place worth trying if he wants a manual quicker rack is Griffin Motorsport in Swindon.
They used to do them for E30s in rhd so you didn't have to use the arm-twirling 4.1 turns lock to lock std PAS rack.

 

Cheers Mike. soe good info there.

He works for BMW so getting a Z3 rack shouldn't be too much bother

 

e36 rack is another common upgrade

 

For a normal E30 (non-M3 )or E30 M3 using a normal E30 rhd PAS (4.1 turns lock to lock )rack I'd say it would be worthwhile.
However, bear in mind the std lhd E30 M3 rack is 3.6 turns lock to lock and an E36 one is 3.4 turns so is not much quicker.

I'd offer up a lhd Z3 4-cyl or 6-cyl non-M rack first before buying to see what work is involved. It has been done on a rhd converted E30 M3 but that also involves a reworked manifold in the first place to fit a rhd E30 non-M PAS rack . Birds converted a number of lhd E30s back in the 80s


What do/did the rally cars use? A stock rack? They used the E30M3 on the Tour de Corse - I'd be surprised if the drivers could put up with a 3.6 turn rack