W202 steering rack conversion

[190E4332]

The title was meant to say W201 not 202 if anyone can change it that would be great!!


Hi all, just thought I would throw a question out there about putting a w210 rack in a 190E .
I’m in the process of putting a Lexus 3UZ v8 into mine and have been for a year or so. I’ve had to change to rack from box because of the fitting issues. My question is about how if anyone has done the rack conversion, mine is in but I have very bad bump steer readings so has anyone got an idea of how to get round this?
ie tie rod length and positioning on hub . If anyone could help that would be very much appreciated
Rob

 

[Will]

Hi Rob and welcome.

Sounds like an interesting project. Have you looked into any of the W201 specialist forums/owners groups (ie facebook nowadays)?

I know of an older guy named Roy who was based near Uxbridge who ran a bodyshop and spent a lot of time and money converting his with a 1UZ FE engine and rack conversion. It was setup for track use so would probably be a good point of reference for the steering and suspension side of things.

Likewise there was a member who built a 5.0 M119 based example many years back, but unsure on the steering arrangement (I know he had to modify the bulkhead/firewall etc)

Post some pics up if you have some, always nice to see

 

[190E4332]

Hi Rob and welcome.

Sounds like an interesting project. Have you looked into any of the W201 specialist forums/owners groups (ie facebook nowadays)?

I know of an older guy named Roy who was based near Uxbridge who ran a bodyshop and spent a lot of time and money converting his with a 1UZ FE engine and rack conversion. It was setup for track use so would probably be a good point of reference for the steering and suspension side of things.

Likewise there was a member who built a 5.0 M119 based example many years back, but unsure on the steering arrangement (I know he had to modify the bulkhead/firewall etc)

Post some pics up if you have some, always nice to see

Hi will and many thanks for that, I will definitely look into that.I’ll try and post some pictures up now!

 

[grober]

In effect the position of the "steering rack" movement plane in the 190 is the transverse steering link 89 [yellow] which is offset from the bulkhead vertically and horizontally by the steering box arm and the idler arm . The track rod arms follow its side to side movement and the suspension vertical movement is accommodated by their ball joints. This places the 190 "steering rack"quite a distance from the bulkhead. The closer you can position the new rack in dimensional space to the old transverse steering link the better. The new engine may of course prevent that, and the only way you may be able to get round it is to fabricate some form of offset brackets at the front hub uprights compensate for a change in rack position. People who have done this sort of thing often model such changes by roughly fabricating such a setup in plywood first to see if that achieves the desired effect

 

[grober]

190E Steering Geometry

Hi, when turning towards full lock the steering reaches a point when it starts to pull itself quite sharply to full lock rather than centering. Can anyone tell me if this is normal on these cars or is it a sign that the steering geometry is out? Thanks, Neil.

forums.mercedesclub.org.uk

 

[190E4332]

190E Steering Geometry

Hi, when turning towards full lock the steering reaches a point when it starts to pull itself quite sharply to full lock rather than centering. Can anyone tell me if this is normal on these cars or is it a sign that the steering geometry is out? Thanks, Neil.

forums.mercedesclub.org.uk

Thanks for your input grober, I will look into this further after work today and try and get some images up explaining where I am with it!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I can’t offer any help, but that looks like very interesting project

 

[Petrol Pete]

Hello and welcome , please keep us updated on this project , looks like it will be fun.

 

[grober]

Bump Steer Explained - What Is It and How It Works - Hot Rod

Learn more about what Bump Steer is, explaining the basics of the process and get into advanced concepts about how it works from the staff at Hot Rod.

www.motortrend.com

 

[190E4332]

Hello and welcome , please keep us updated on this project , looks like it will be fun.

Thanks Pete and Bobby , I will do if there’s interest in it for anyone!
The below sketch is what I have got and the other is something I’ve been working from. Can anyone shed any light if this should work because I’ve got about 1-2 mm of toe for every inch of suspension travel and at full droop which is about 6 inches!! It goes very bad. I’m not sure how good it actually has to be because I’ve not driven it to see how it feels, I don’t want to drive it because it’s very much mocked up on the tie rods at the moment. I’m going to have to make new tie rod to front hub brackets and I don’t want to do that twice.
I can’t place the rack anywhere else because there is no room for it to go anywhere else and to be honest to me it seems like a pretty good location anyway. I’ve had to notch and strengthen the lower arms as it is ….

 

[190E4332]

Bump Steer Explained - What Is It and How It Works - Hot Rod

Learn more about what Bump Steer is, explaining the basics of the process and get into advanced concepts about how it works from the staff at Hot Rod.

www.motortrend.com

Thanks Grober that’s a very good article but I think it agrees with what I’ve done ….?

 

[Will]

I like the badging!

 

[190E4332]

I like the badging!

 

[190E4332]

I’m pleased…. It took a few quid and a lot of time to get right!! Lol