SteelBlue Posted May 13, 2020 Report Share Posted May 13, 2020 Yeah, the coupler portion was what I was trying to refer to as the most difficult part of the process. Couldn't think of what it was called. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2020 10 minutes ago, P_Roloff said: When I did the front suspension on the e30 last summer, I dropped the rack and resealed it while I was in there. I had to bend the tabs down to get the rack out, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. I used a big flathead screwdriver in the gap in the splined coupler and the rack came out without much issue. Definitely easier with two people, for both install and removal, one holding the rack and the other holding the coupler and prying it open. That's good to hear that it wasn't too bad. Just glancing at it it looks nearly impossible to do with the engine in the car. I'm going to pull it in the garage tonight and will hopefully be able to remove it pretty quickly. I'm also swapping out the Bosch/Behr AC compressor with a Seiko unit. My Behr compressor is on the do not fly list for r134 compatible compressors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted May 13, 2020 Report Share Posted May 13, 2020 20 minutes ago, gilber33 said: I'm also swapping out the Bosch/Behr AC compressor with a Seiko unit. Like the watch company? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2020 28 minutes ago, SteelBlue said: Like the watch company? lol Exactly. It tells time and cools the cabin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 With the car in the air, it was very notchy. With the car off it had the exact same feel. Took off the belt for the PS pump and it felt like it had some resistance when I spun it. With it having the same feeling with the car on or off I feel like I can rule out the pump. I spun the rack by hand on the steering knuckle and there was no visible binding on the joints, but it felt like the resistance was coming from the rack and not the universal joints. It felt like it would hit resistance below my hand before above it. So I’m pretty confident it’s the rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 So hopefully someone can give me some input here if this looks right. The top u joint has free motion back and forth in one direction and the other direction seems to be very limited and to get beyond that limited range of motion I have to give it some force. IMG_9971.MOV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted May 14, 2020 Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 input: that u-joint is f*in toasted. Jdesign 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 7 hours ago, straight6pwr said: input: that u-joint is f*in toasted. Well, allllllrighty then. And the OEM coupler assembly seems to not be available anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaiserRolls Posted May 14, 2020 Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 When the steering shaft is bolted to the rack, is the circled area fouling on one another when you turn the steering wheel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2020 2 minutes ago, KaiserRolls said: When the steering shaft is bolted to the rack, is the circled area fouling on one another when you turn the steering wheel? It is not. I looked carefully for that because I know you have to grind out some material on there when you do the rack swap. The video might now be showing up (at least it's not for me) but I tested both directions of motion for that joint and one direction was very smooth and seemed to have full motion and the other direction had very, very little free motion and anything outside of this small window of movement required a lot of force. KaiserRolls 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdesign Posted May 19, 2020 Report Share Posted May 19, 2020 I would find a used replacement, or opt for a flaming river U joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2020 7 hours ago, Jdesign said: I would find a used replacement, or opt for a flaming river U joint. I have decided that I’m going to avoid used parts whenever possible. The seem to be too much of a gamble. Went with the Condor solid steering joint. Jdesign 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc43089 Posted May 19, 2020 Report Share Posted May 19, 2020 Solid choice. gilber33, SteelBlue and m42b32 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 Solid burn. Now that I read that back, solid joint is pretty contradictory. While I wait for the Rack Doctor to ship my rack that I ordered over a week ago, I swapped these in and they were plug and play, so that was neat. m42b32, Jdesign and SteelBlue 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted May 21, 2020 Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 Looks good against the silver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 6 hours ago, SteelBlue said: Looks good against the silver. I like them better than I thought I would. My rack still didn't go out today. "Hopefully tomorrow" is what I was told. After being told last week Friday that it was going out on Monday, then yesterday that "there's no reason it won't go out tomorrow (today)". Not only do I want to drive my car, but I need it out of the fucking garage so we can keep moving shit out of the house. /rant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc43089 Posted May 22, 2020 Report Share Posted May 22, 2020 13 hours ago, gilber33 said: Solid burn. No burn intended. Only pun intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2020 Purple tag e46 rack in and the Condor steering thing. It was a pretty significant PITA. The splines on the rack from the rack doctor weren’t great. They give them a coat of paint and I’m not sure they cleaned them before doing that so they were all goobered up. And then one side of the shaft between the two joints would not fit into the joint without some major assistance. But it’s in so hopefully I won’t have to worry about any of the steering stuff for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2020 How bad is this? IMG_0048.MOV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungCR Posted May 26, 2020 Report Share Posted May 26, 2020 that's gonna eat belts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2020 6 hours ago, YoungCR said: that's gonna eat belts I tightened up the belt some and it got significantly better. It was a used eBay into and the seller is going to see if they have another. Otherwise I guess I’ll get a rebuilt one. Idk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 Gooder picture with the new headlights. Ran great. Took it to Tom’s on Monday to align it in his garage and it turned out really good. Today’s thing was I realized the aux fan wasn’t kicking on at all. I also turned on the ac (it’s not charged yet) just to see if the fan would come on as it should. While diagnosing that tonight I realized I wired in the temp sensor plug into the cars harness wrong. Basically flipped the low and high fan settings. Once that was corrected, I could jump the plug and get high to work but not low. Started at the fuse box and traced it down to the fans wire harness. I have 12v at the body harness for the fan. But from the connector to the resistor it drops to .3 volts. Yes. Point three. The ohm readings was scattered all over but never got close to 0. Once again, a used part bites me in the ass. Now to source a new fan. I am ordering an ac manifold and vacuum pump so I can try charging it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekpoint Posted May 27, 2020 Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 2 hours ago, gilber33 said: Gooder picture with the new headlights. Ran great. Took it to Tom’s on Monday to align it in his garage and it turned out really good. Today’s thing was I realized the aux fan wasn’t kicking on at all. I also turned on the ac (it’s not charged yet) just to see if the fan would come on as it should. While diagnosing that tonight I realized I wired in the temp sensor plug into the cars harness wrong. Basically flipped the low and high fan settings. Once that was corrected, I could jump the plug and get high to work but not low. Started at the fuse box and traced it down to the fans wire harness. I have 12v at the body harness for the fan. But from the connector to the resistor it drops to .3 volts. Yes. Point three. The ohm readings was scattered all over but never got close to 0. Once again, a used part bites me in the ass. Now to source a new fan. I am ordering an ac manifold and vacuum pump so I can try charging it myself. Was the cut off I sold you causing problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilber33 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 4 hours ago, Rekpoint said: Was the cut off I sold you causing problems? Not at all! The color of the wires are different and I wasn’t paying close enough attention and swapped the low and high signal wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc43089 Posted May 27, 2020 Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 So you determined that the low speed resistor on the fan was bad? I think I removed a failed resistor on an e30 once and just connected the wires. Then when the temp sensor calls for low or high speed it will just run high speed. Costs nothing and the fan runs on high speed right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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