dmjames

So after 8 years of fighting with leaking power steering systems on about 4 different cars (2 944s and 2 BMWs), I'm pretty much fed up with them in general. As such, I'm looking at converting my 84 to manual steering, and will probably just be converting the rack to manual operation barring a magically-appearing manual rack.

I had an 1983 944 as a DD about 10 years ago, and didn't have any problems with the manual operation there, nor with the manual-conversion in the 88 Turbo I had after that, so I'm well-aware of what I'm getting myself into here.

The real question: Has anyone gone through this conversion process? http://www.cryogenicsmedia.com/Porsc...ering-rack.pdf

I know some people just plug things up and run with it, but I'd like to do better than that, hence the question- is this a good guide for the process?

V2Rocket

Been there, done that, works great...about 10 years now.
Even used the same red wheel bearing grease.

It's even cleaner-looking if you buy allen-head set screws (threaded plugs) to plug all the holes rather than re-using the banjo fittings.

dmjames

Awesome! Yeah, I'll definitely be coming up with the appropriate screws to cap things off. I'd like this to be a 'do once and done' project insomuch as anything on these cars ever is...

I'm assuming this is something that eventually needs to be opened back up and cleaned/regreased?

V2Rocket

not really...just jam-pack it full of grease the first time, its not like it leaks out.

bonus12

Now, I bought my 951 for the purpose of driving. I did a manual rack conversion on my turbo and got rid of every single power steering part. Lifting up the hood in the hot/cold parking lot to fill her up with the red stuff is a thing of the past, and the driving experience is through the roof! I haven't looked back for a second. Best decision I made for my car alongside installing the boost chips/banjo bolt.

If it's within your ability, I advise getting a true manual rack. I wrote a guide with pictures on how to re-grease and convert to a manual rack, if you'd like.

dmjames

Any extra info on the conversion would be great. I'm looking into a parts car in the area that has a proper manual rack, but for the time being a conversion is the most attainable option.

Current plan is to pull the belt tomorrow since that'll be roughly on par with the manual rack effort, so I can remind myself about the effort to expect before doing anything non-reversible.

SamGrant951

Food for thought - my "converted" power->manual rack in my racecar feels much better than my true 83 n/a manual rack in my turbo. Ratio is better.

bonus12

Is yours the power rack with the pump deleted?
I've got the so-called sport manual rack on my turbo. people say it's 3.5 turns lock-to-lock though maybe its actually a bit more. At any rate I'm not sure I'd want to change anything on this set-up.

87944turbo

Guide looks good, although I remember following another procedure that I can't seem to find at the moment. When I did it, I disabled the variable assist. I don't see any reference to that in the guide. I'll keep looking to see if I can find more info on that.

Check out this thread.

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...ring-rack.html

Here is the part I am talking about. Follow 16Valver's posts in the thread.

dmjames

Interesting... I've never even heard the term... Time to do some more reading, I guess.

dmjames

Sneaky editing, Ben... Anyhow, very helpful- thanks for the link.

So far, so good with the feel with just the unpowered rack; just need to get it out on some more involved roads to make sure I'm sold before doing something largely irreversible. Seems like the steering effort should go down fractionally once I go through the whole conversion process.