[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by tetsuo111

So a tip of the hat to Biginboca for conducting the experiment.

+1. I'm very interested in the results!

[Biginboca]

Ok my results are in. I did about 8-9 test hits both with and without the power steering pump connected. Then I threw out the slowest numbers for each and averaged the rest. In the end the it did make a difference I could measure.



The low down is this... it’s gonna cost about $400 all in and take maybe 5 hours of tinkering to get this mod done and going by my “guesstimate” based on my prior dragy experience it would yield the ~3hp that was found in the bmw figures.

Averaged over 6 fastest runs deleting the steering pump gained 0.09 seconds on the same 50-80mph pull on the same road going the same direction about 30 mins after making runs with the pump. (The red is the average of the 6 runs for each)





To give some frame of reference (as mentioned in my other thread “Using Dragy as a dyno...”) I found that simply removing the 2 torx screws that attach the snorkels and pulling them out of the car so the Airbox was not connected to the kidney grill intakes slowed the car by 0.14 seconds average in the same kind of 50-80mph pulls, and I estimate that’s a maybe 5hp *tops* gain. (Basically having the motor draw air from behind the headlight/radiator vs drawing it from the oem position just behind the kidneys).

So deleting the pump makes like 2/3 the difference (0.09” vs 0.14”) the removing that snorkel section makes. Guessing that’s pretty much exactly the “less than 3hp” BMW quoted in their documents.

So is it worth $400 and 5 hours tinkering for that gain? Not to me, but I can always come back to it later if I change my mind.

[Tambohamilton]

[Noir]

Good work!

[sam9116]

Originally Posted by Biginboca

You would give up no feel. You keep your rack. You only swap your pump.

lol, I would just change out the rack to electric entirely. Not having power steering fluid leak onto my driveway beats any "feel" hydraulic rack might offer

[Runnin'Rich]

Great idea
Great testing
Great conclusion
Thanks biginboca for your contribution to N52 community

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by sam9116

lol, I would just change out the rack to electric entirely. Not having power steering fluid leak onto my driveway beats any "feel" hydraulic rack might offer

Lol. How often does your car leak PS fluid? Never had a PS leak in any of my cars or any of my parents cars...or any of my friends cars, that I'm aware of...it just doesn't happen often. And that's despite me reusing crush washers on the lines etc. I'd 100% take hydraulic feel and everything that goes with it, over a numb electric rack.

[sam9116]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Lol. How often does your car leak PS fluid? Never had a PS leak in any of my cars or any of my parents cars...or any of my friends cars, that I'm aware of...it just doesn't happen often. And that's despite me reusing crush washers on the lines etc. I'd 100% take hydraulic feel and everything that goes with it, over a numb electric rack.

Crush washer doesn't matter when the inner seal in the rack fails

I have to swap out the the power steering rack twice over the 6 years/73,000 miles I owned my car. Using genuine BMW racks. Currently tallying at 6000$ spent on replacing two racks and other related items like fluids/tie rods .

So at this point I could care less about "hydraulic feel"

[Tambohamilton]

Bummer. Small wonder you're pissed at that bill. No way I'd be paying retail for a rack - I'd much sooner go recon or used for one. They're pretty damn quick to swap. Not even sure how that's happened to you...I just never hear of them going bad, other than bushing play.

[Biginboca]

I agree with Tambohamilton the rack issues you have are not common.

The reason I say this is, I had an accident in my car in 2017 and the steering rack was replaced with a remanufactured unit. About 3 months later I decided to do the M3 steering rack swap, so I listed the remanufactured one for sale on this forum. I listed it for $150. Never received a single inquiry about it. When I moved 2 years later I tossed the rack in the dumpster. So as far as I can tell there isn’t much demand for the 3 series steering racks lol

One other thing. The M3 rack I bought had over 100k miles on it and I’ve put another 50k on it since and it’s still working great with no leaks or issues.

Maye there’s another reason besides poor manufacturing that your racks fail, like potholes in Alberta or the cold weather ruins the seals or something. I’m in Florida with no potholes and warm temperature, and I never hear about steering rack problems.

[sam9116]

Originally Posted by Biginboca

I agree with Tambohamilton the rack issues you have are not common.

The reason I say this is, I had an accident in my car in 2017 and the steering rack was replaced with a remanufactured unit. About 3 months later I decided to do the M3 steering rack swap, so I listed the remanufactured one for sale on this forum. I listed it for $150. Never received a single inquiry about it. When I moved 2 years later I tossed the rack in the dumpster. So as far as I can tell there isn’t much demand for the 3 series steering racks lol

One other thing. The M3 rack I bought had over 100k miles on it and I’ve put another 50k on it since and it’s still working great with no leaks or issues.

Maye there’s another reason besides poor manufacturing that your racks fail, like potholes in Alberta or the cold weather ruins the seals or something. I’m in Florida with no potholes and warm temperature, and I never hear about steering rack problems.

the reason nobody buys the rack from you is because shipping without a business account is atrocious, not because there is no demand

I bought my second rack from FCP euro, thought about sending my old rack back for core charges...... low and behold. Fedex estimated the shipping to be about $500 minimum.
Steering racks are heavy and takes up space. It's not like you're sending an envelope

so whatever prices you were charging for your used rack, unless it's local, there will be no buyers for it.

[Tambohamilton]

I have a used rack on eBay right now, same reason as Biginboca. It's £30 all in including shipping, but it hasn't sold in over a year. Nobody is even watching it. My M3 rack cost £120 inc shipping - cheapest on eBay, from a breaker business - zero issues with it so far (about 10k mi on my car). These things would be £$£ if they were a common failure item.

[Noir]

Honestly the whole argument is silly. Drive your car.