Calmchaos

The rack leaks, and one of the hoses.
I cant seem to tighten the belt enough to make it not squeak for some reason.
And I'm just tired of worrying about it.

What I want to do is pull the res, pump, and lines and just leave the rack. Is there any downside to this? I don't care how hard it is to steer I just don't want it to destroy the rack or steering shaft.
I just want to drive it like this until I get enough for a manual rack.

Thanks.

ritzblitz

I have manual steering in my '83 and so far I like it a lot. It's a much more pure driving feel. Plus you save a decent amount of weight. I don't know exactly how much but I've heard on FC rx7s removing power steering saves somewhere around 100lbs

Calmchaos

well... if you ever feel like selling that rack let me know

But does anyone know if pulling the hydraulics will damage anything?

Thanks

genikz

I did that very thing...pulled my pump, belt, and most of the lines. I left the res in place with one line going to the top most feed for the rack tower and the other hole in the res was capped. The hole just below the upper most hole in the rack tower was also capped.

I left the res and upper most line in place to allow the rack to vent (air trapped in rack = bad), and kept lubricated.

I've only done one event since I did this, but I noticed the rack took about 1/4 of a quart of fluid from the res. I imagine it was pretty dry, since my pump fell off some 6 months ago and I just got around to adding more fluid...

I can't vouch for any damage done with this setup, but the car steers just fine and I don't feel any binding. It has a steady supply of fluid, so I'm assuming it will be fine for at least a few years.

genikz

Somebody here on Rennlist, can't remember who, suggested that I pull the rack, grease it up and cap all the ports. I thought that was a little too much work for what I wanted, so I went with my method above. That would get rid of the res and all the lines though.

Calmchaos

Cool. What did you use to cap the holes?

Grease what up exactly? Just open it up and pack the whole thing with grease, more or less?

TopherDow

its common practice in the Nissan 240sx communities to fill the rack with fluid, cap and breather the ports and go from there. what genixz posted above would probably be the easiest/safest route to go.

genikz

I ghetto capped the rack tower. I used the banjo bolt that came out of it and filled it with silicone. Once it cured, I bolted the banjo bolt back in place with a washer the width of the former line that fed it. It works because the rack is not pressurized anymore and there isn't much pushing against the silicone 'plug.'

I wasn't clear on what to grease either, so I didn't bother breaking the rack apart to do it.

tyro

I converted my power rack to manual, rather easy.

Basically you disassemble the thing and remove the little piston that resides on the rack, apply a liberal coating of grease and reassemble.

The caps I used were from J.W. Winco, M12x1.5 - I used P/N 120FRD6, ordered nine of them at $1.66 each. http://www.jwwinco.com/products/sect...749/index.html


No problems yet, even autoxing isn't bad.

I had a little help, but not much from Flyin' Miata :http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php?x=1

alex

I have a manual rack as well as the late offset manual tie rods & ends from paragon... but I haven't gotten around to installing it. I was so sick of the leaking I just quit filling & eventually cut the ps belt. Its a little stiff, but you only notice when parking. I'll fix it properly with the aforementioned parts, but for now its ok.

Calmchaos

OK I pulled my belt today and I can still steer it just fine. It almost seems like it never worked at all.

Anyway... I have a couple questions now.
What the crap does the inside of the rack look like? What little piston are you talking about, tyro? Will I know when I get in there? Will I need to have the car realigned after doing this?

Thats all for now... I think.

josephsc

I gutted and capped my PS rack -- there's some threads on this in the past, but I was given this link and followed what the Miata guys do. Our racks don't look all that different:

http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php

Calmchaos

Yeah thats the link tyro sent me. I had no ideas our racks were that close.
I guess I can figure it out.
What about the alignment thing?.. I just had it done and don't want to do it again. Thanks

FRporscheman

You will absolutely need a realignment. If you are very careful and mark everything, maybe you can reassemble things close to how they were (I did this on our old 928, and it didn't come out straight).

I hear that it makes it easier to steer if you gut all the internal seals from the rack.

I am happy to keep my power steering. I tried driving a car with capped PS a few times and I couldn't acclimate. The difference is not just during parking... ymmv

Calmchaos

Ok I have the rack taken most of the way apart. I just have to loosen that spanner ring and take that sleeve off.
But quick question.
What am I not supposed to put back in?
Thanks