J Silverman

I have one if you need the measurements, but I just bought it a few months ago, are they NLA? Paragon still advertises their manual steering conversion kits so I assume they have the lower shaft available. Probably much cheaper than getting one custom made.

Spidey944

With these cars you always seem to be chasing steering leaks. Between all the lines, pump, and rack, there are just a ton of places to leak. Plus from my research, the manual rack has a great ratio for the track, and the only adverse effect is the steering effort at low/no speed, like when parking.

I will be resealing the pump and p/s rack at a later date, but I got such a great deal on the manual rack, I could not pass up at least trying it out!

jharding

Did you get the tie rod ends too? They are different from cars with power steering.

Spidey944

It was a complete rack. And because the manual racks are early offset, and so is my car, it's a direct bolt on.

MAGK944

Doug, need the overall length also, idealy if someone has one off the car, best to send it to borgeson so they can take the measurements.

I think Paragon are out, they will only sell them complete with their kit. The same goes for Ian at 944online, spoke to him last week. Porsche say they are no longer available, maybe some dealers have old stock, but I couldn't find any on thier dealer network system.

As they are NLA, and they do break/wear, it might be worth getting borgeson to manufacture a batch (group buy?). They will not be too expensive, Gil said they would only charge for the to uj's and the rod which are stock items. + these would be much lighter and stronger, the stanless steel uj's look really well made.

Silverman, if you are not fitting yours soon would you be prepared to send it to them to produce a prototype from?

J Silverman

Im ok with that as long as they dont need it for too long. I have a long list of stuff to get ready over the winter, including the manual steering swap, but Id have no problem sending it out for a few weeks to help everyone out.

MAGK944

Great, ty Jason, I shall speak with Gil after the holidays and email you when Ive set this up with borgeson. They souldn't need it too long.

Spidey944

This will be fantastic! I'm at the shop now, and the one they sent is deff. wrong. Just finished my ball joint rebuild, bigger sway, 968 caster blocks, removing all the p/s components/lines, and am not happy that I'm not driving my car for a while as the weather has been great!

Woulda had it all done in 5 hours if this snafu had not poped up..... grrrrrr

J Silverman

No problem, let me know where to send it and when. Got any info on the company thats going to do the work?

MAGK944

check their website www.borgeson.com, they specialize in custom fabricated steering shafts and are a big name in the hotrod arena.

Spidey944

My lead tech at work has one on his hotrod, quality piece from the looks of it.

Mike C.

You may want to drive one with manual steering before making the swap (or keep your PS rack just in case). I swapped in a manual rack for a few weeks while my PS was being rebuilt and I wasn't too thrilled with the manual for every day driving. It's a slower ratio and parking, slow turns are a pita. I can see it for a track car but not a daily driver.

Spidey944

I'm hanging onto everything and resealing the pump/rack when I get around to it just incase. I did my homework and talked to a bunch of ppl on here that have made the conversion, and I got a lot more positve responses than I did negatives. But I am prepared for anything!

tifosiman

Once you've had manual rack, you never go back.

Spidey944

Finally got the correct steering shaft, actualy i was able to find 2 localy, so i bought both! You just never know when these things won't be able to be found anymore.... Anyway, got it installed, and I very happy with the way it fits, looks, and realy cleaned up the under-engine space on the passenger side. Will make getting to the oil filter a lot easier too!

Weight savings seems to be pretty big from the looks of the pile-o-parts on the shop floor, although I have not weighed anything yet. Have not drove yet as I will be doing the alignment after work, but I noticed the effort in the cars starting seems to be noticably different. Cranks up faster without the added load of the p/s pump, and even shutting off seems smoother.

Will leave my final thoughts after the align is set, but pulling out of the shop, the steering effort does not seem all that different at low speeds, probably due to the poor nature of my previously existing p/s system.

P.S. The top bolt on the steering shaft is a B!TCH!!!! Can not imagine doing this at home and not on a lift....