R&P steering

[dan101smith]

What's the easiest way to get rid of the steering box and replace with a power assisted rack on an E28 M535i?

[dan101smith]

The 525iX uses an E36 rack, which doesn't line up particularly well. Almost all other 5ers use a box, so they're out. An E21 has a rack, but that's something like 4 turns lock-to-lock, so too slow.

I'm wondering if going custom is the way to do it.

[dan101smith]

Looking into this with a friend who has an M535i.

The problem with the standard steering box is that it has a load of dead travel around the straight-ahead, that means you always end up loading the steering slightly one way or the other, and so end up making constant corrections and having extra travel when changing direction. Annoying, particularly on a B-road blat.

The ideal solution would be to find a rack that lines up, and allows the geometry to stay within tolerance. From looking at something like an E36 rack, it would introduce a significant amount of bump-steer.

It may be that there's nothing off-the-shelf that can be bolted in with minimal work, in which case custom-made might be the way to go.

But if there's something else out there that is a nuts and bolts job then that'd be preference, obviously.