josephsc

I know, I know.... the whole subject has been beaten to death before and I've read all the past threads. I still can't make up my mind, though...

I've already sourced everything needed for a late-offset manual steering conversion (including an intermediate shaft and the rare late-offset manual tie-rods). They are easy enough to sell if I choose not to do the conversion.

My alternative is to fix the PS. The rack was rebuilt a year and a half ago, but I've now sprung a new leak somewhere (probably the pressure hose). Honestly, I'm sick and tired of plugging up the leaks all the time.

Right now, I'm running with the PS belt off and the steering is mated to an AJ 930S steering wheel. I love the feedback while driving, but it's totally unacceptable for getting around town. It feels like I'm getting a work out each drive. I shudder to think what it'll be like to parallel park on a hill in San Francisco....

Is a true manual going to be significantly better than the pseudo-manual steering? Or shall I go and hunt down that leak? This is on a car that is current a street car (an occasional driver) but slowly evolving towards a track car (a fun weekend car) as parts wear out and are replaced.

Sam Lin

You might as well try it since you have everything, it's not a hard swap.

Sam

User 41221

If you are running tires that are wider than stock, you will probably want to keep the power steering, otherwise, if you want manual, do it right. The manual rack works a LOT better than a power rack that doesn't get the assist it was designed to have.

Regards,

Granite 944

Do you by chance know of anyone who has the true manual steering in their 944, I would sure recommend giving that a try out first, if you can. I have manual steering in my '83, power in the '85. Manual isn't all that bad, but it is still a PITA for parking lot/parallel parking IMO. I've never tried a power/ unhooked car, so I can't say how much different it would be, but would guess the true manual has to be better. I'm also running 245x16" tires. If your going to lean towards tracking the car anyway.........go for it. Much better feel in the wheel at speed with the manual. Just hang on to all the power stuff for a while till ya got a good handle on it.

josephsc

Yea, I guess I might as well do it -- the worst case scenario is I spend another weekend reversing everything. The whole 'try the pseudo-manual steering by disabling the PS' experience has been very very disappointing. I don't see why some people just go with the pseudo-manual steering...

Luis de Prat

It really depends on the quality of the roads in your area. My manual steering 83 has gone through complete tie rod assemblies and ball joints like crazy from pothole ridden Caribbean roads. The manual rack is tough, but it also takes a lot of stress.