In the 944 world there is a factory manual steering rack with a different turn ratio for less effort without the power assist.

I've driven both of my 928's with the belt off a few times, not bad but definitely too much effort for regular driving.

This may be in the realm of impossible, but what would it take to modify a 928 rack to be more like a traditional manual rack? Has anyone ever changed the rack to pinion ratio before on any make / model of car?

I'm thinking for my track car, just one less thing to worry about not having that pump, the lines, fluid etc.. on there and less weight.

 

Add another to the curious list. Drove my S4 for a while when the rack went south. It wasn't too bad. Low speed maneuvers were a pain, but once rolling along, it wasn't bad at all.

Have since rebuilt the rack but have not installed it (in the midst of a bunch of other repairs). If the rebuild fails for some reason and it still leaks, I'm considering going the 944 route and just converting it to a manual rack. I like the idea of one less system to fail.

Hadn't considered the idea of changing the turn ratio to lesson the amount of force to turn the wheel. Only trade off I could see is increased amount of steering wheel turn needed for the same amount of steering change.

 

make that 2... power steering is nice but unless you are consistently doing enduro events than there is really no need for it on a track car

 

Funny, just bought an 89 Turbo S as a daily driver that needs a little work. It needs a power steering hose and I'm mulling "looping" the power steering hoses to use it as a manual box.

 

I think it is unlikely that a whole assembly out of any other car would work, so I would look at replacing the rack and the pinion in the 928 assembly. Some chance that you could just swap these parts from a different car, but if not it would be possible to have them cut. Not super cheap, but possible.

 

Why not take out the AC and heater also?

The steering effort is the biggest gripe I have about the 928's.
Enough so that I am going to change to a GTS setup soon.

 

I did. Well almost. The core / blower / blend door thingie are still in the car but not connected to anything. Previous owner was really good at starting projects.....
Since I'm planning on this winter to overhaul my 79, thought it would be a good time to investigate the rack.

Maybe we should all chip in and buy Greg a ShakeWeight for Christmas.

 

Maybe I need to go to the gym more often, but when my PS pump belt broke I found the steering on my 89 was a challenge even when moving along pretty fast. Getting onto the freeway, holding the line in the cloverleaf, was a major chore. I wouldn't be too thrilled trying to make any quick turn-ins on the track.

 

I should point out I did test my car without the belt installed with 265's on the front.

I get bored, just the other day I put 285's on the front of my Replica Cobra to see if they would work. Yup....time for new tires!!!

 

Why wouldnt you on a track car?
I dont see F1 cars or LM cars with them

You can add about 40lbs of lightness by ditching the a/c and heater alone

I looked into this a while ago and it will technically work but its not good for the rack. PS racks need to have fluid pushed/pulled through constantly otherwise the rack will wear out at an accelerated rate.

 

I would add that with a smaller after market steering wheel it will be much harder to turn also.

 

I had a 350 mm Momo (much smaller then the stock 928 school bus steering wheel) in my S4 when I was running my rack without power steering assist and loved it.

The smaller wheel quickens up the steering nicely, I think these cars should have come with that size steering wheel stock.

 

Some of the 944 and Miata guys have done various versions of this. Some leaving some fluid in, some greasing all the friction/wear surfaces.

I think if you put some thought into it and greased it up nicely, the wear would be minimal. I've have an interesting pdf doc that one of the 944 guys created that documents how he did it (note the 944 rack is very similar to the 928 rack), but its about 7 MB, so can't attach it to this post.

I'll see if I can upload it somewhere were it can be easily downloaded.

This Miata link shows a very similar approach to the 944 pdf doc that I have: http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php?x=1

I haven't found any info on any type of gear reduction to reduce steering effort which I think is the gist of the OP's original request.

 

The stock shifter in my 81 already feels like a big rig, might as well install the matching steering wheel......

 

Bill