eBay has a few from China. I installed one last year and it's working well.

 

I saw those, I suppose for the price it may be worth the risk absent other options? I also saw Lauber units on ebay - I wonder if those are worth the small premium over the Chinese parts?

 

You can definitely try those as well. Honestly though, the pump doesn't get heavily stressed so my thought is that whatever you can get your hands on new that fits your budget, you should be good.

 

I went down a rabbit hole with these and found Audi, Benz and others use similar ZF LF-30 pumps but with slightly different pressure/reliefs and low side inlet orientations. I do feel like the E46 M3 version has an inlet orientation that's close enough but haven't confirmed. Bimmer world offers a rebuild of that IIRC.

The problem with rebuilding these is the pulley side bearing, which hides a shaft seal, is held in by the casting somehow. You would have to machine down the lip that retains the outer race of that bearing in order to press it out.

https://www.m5board.com/threads/power-steering-pump.618944/

 

I went down a rabbit hole with these and found Audi, Benz and others use similar ZF LF-30 pumps but with slightly different pressure/reliefs and low side inlet orientations. I do feel like the E46 M3 version has an inlet orientation that's close enough but haven't confirmed. Bimmer world offers a rebuild of that IIRC.

The problem with rebuilding these is the pulley side bearing, which hides a shaft seal, is held in by the casting somehow. You would have to machine down the lip that retains the outer race of that bearing in order to press it out.

https://www.m5board.com/threads/power-steering-pump.618944/

That is some very cool information, unfortunately I'm not in a position to experiment right now. Out of curiosity, do all the ZF LF-30s run the same pressure?

 

The Lauber pump is good. Buy one and don't look back. No need to go to a different type of pump.

 

That's good to know. Have you run one before?

 

Anyone have a link to the Lauber pump? I'm curious and there are SO many knock offs on ebay I couldn't find this one..

 

I looked into it a little. They’re available on German and Polish ebay, but both plainly state that they will not ship them to the US. I also tried to go directly to Lauber’s website, and it blocked me. Probably something we would’ve had to purchase 6 months ago.

 

I just bought this one: Hydraulikpumpe, Lenkung LAUBER 55.9911 für 5 4.9 1998- | eBay

We'll see if 1) they actually ship to the US and 2) it arrives and is what it says it is. I'll report back in a few weeks....