Legoland951

I have a 1983 manual steering rack along with the arm going to the steering column I was going to replace my 83 944 I am building for future 944 spec applications. I just found out the leak was coming from a loose hose clamp and was wandering if its worth the while to swap it out anyways before I go thru all the trouble. Anyone with a manual steering track car and how much of an advantage if any over the power steering? If I don't do the swap, I am gonna sell the manual rack setup. Thanks for any pointers.

Manning

I have a manual rack on my car, though it isn't a track car. You have much better feel for what the front tires are doing, that is if they are pushing or not. Also, at speed you don't really notice any difference in steering effort. Supposedly the manual racks are about 3/4 of a turn slower lock to lock, though when I installed mine I compared the two (power versus manual) and didn't notice so much of a difference.

I you decide to sell the manual rack and shaft let me know, i'd be interested in having a spare.

Manning

Oh yeah, it is a pretty simple swap, except the pump and the cooler loop are kind of a bitch to get loose.

josephsc

What would be the potential weight savings by going to manual steering? All that power steering stuff has got to add up to be quite a bit. Anyone know?

Travis - sflraver

A rack ships at around 15lb with box and packing. Thats no arms and no fluid. The manual rack itself should be just about the same weight wize so you would be just adding up the lines, tank, pump and fluid (2.2qt.)

Manning

I think the power rack is maybe a pound heavier and the lines and pump add something in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 pounds, plus the weight of the bottle and fluid (mostly the fluid).

Manning

Now ditching the air conditioning system is another story altogether. When I removed mine (everything, including the evaporator under the right side of the dash) and sold it on e-bay, the shipped weight was well over 50lbs.

nine-44

I read that the manual and power racks had the same ratio of turns to lock.

Manning

And that's my actual experience as well, but someone posted the actual factory specs and they are different. If memory serves me the manual rack is supposed to be closer to 4:1 and the power had two ratios listed, both closer to 3:1.

dualblade

can you turn a power rack into a manual rack by just looping the lines? i think i'd like to ditch my power steering but if i don't actually have to install a manual rack, it'd save me a bunch of time

ERAU-944

andrew, just drain the fluid and take the belt off. voila! instant manual power rack. expect it to be HARD to steer, way more than the standard manual rack. my ps died, and i drove it that way for a bit. the straight manual rack is way, WAY better.

-Michael-

dualblade

wouldn't looping the lines make it easier thought? i mean, then there's still fluid in there to provide some hydraulic pressure. it may not be pumped through but if i was to really seal off the lines and fill the rack, wouldn't that help? if not, and i was to get a manual rack, it will fit my s2 right?

ERAU-944

when it happened i drove with no fluid, it sucked but it didnt hurt the rack. the residual fluid lubricated it. later we put grease in it, and it was fine for a bit. i broke down and installed a manual rack, i didnt wanna break my steering wheel. you need the tie rods and the steering column shaft to make it work.

-Michael-

M758

I run a manual rack in my 944-spec car. I love it because it provides alot of feed back and this helps me balance the car at the limit. I do not notice the extra turns to lock.

I had a power rack and when quit using the powersteering pump I enjoyed the added feedback. It nicely weighted on track, but tough as hell in pits.

The manual has even better feed back an light enough in the pits. The ideal solution for a track car IMHO.

Also the 944 Turbo Cup Factory Race cars came with a manual rack (not sure of ratio however).

Sam Lin

Sounds like the steering column needs to be changed along with the rack? I'd be interested in converting to a manual rack, but the column sounds like extra work.

Sam