I had my M2 converted to use e21 rack and pinion steering for two reasons: one, I've always thought racks provide sharper, more responsive steering - especially around the straight ahead position. Secondly, with a fat exhaust manifold and right hand drive there would have been little or no room for the original steering column and box!

I'm getting my car up on ramps in the next week or two and will get some measurements of the column and where the rack is mounted to the subframe - a lot of people have enquired about this conversion and I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

Here's the best overview shot. We had the 02 column shortened and re-splined, and one of the trickiest bits was engineering a bearing where it exits the bulkhead. The original column takes a direct route to the steering box and therefore doesn't need this bearing.





Below you can see the original s14 manifold and why I had to have a custom one made. It's still quite a tight fit, but nothing rubs, and the exhaust shop made the manifold as a two piece item for ease of installation.



Here you can see the mounting plate about to be welded to the sub frame - no, I wasn't too impressed to see the bare arse of my new expensive motor exposed to all this grime either.





Problems are finally being ironed out - more coming soon.... March 2006