ldt1

I am curious about what alll is involved parts-wise, to convert to manual steering?? The power steering. pump on our cars looks like it was added as an afterthought.Mine has been giving me fits, and I would love to get rid of the whole shebang.

NZ951

There are a few threads on this already, a quick search should answer your questions.

tifosiman

What year is your car?

If it is early offset (pre-87), and LHD, you would need:

Manual Steering Rack complete with mounts, boots, etc (from a 1983 944 or some euro/cup variant).
Inner and Outer tie rods for each side (different parts specific to the manual rack)
Manual Steering Intermediate Shaft (longer than the power rack shaft)

The rack you can find used and *generally* they don't wear out (although I have seen one used one where the ring and rack gears were toast). I would purchase the tie rods and intermediate shaft new. Those are wear items that generally are not good on a take off unit (although you may get lucky). In particular, there tends to be greater incidence of wear on u-joints of the manual intermediate shaft compared to the power intermediate shaft, due to the added strains of turning a non-assisted rack.

If it is an 87 or later car, the list is basically the same *except* for the tie rods. The late offset cars have longer tie rods, of course. The rub here is the fact that not many late offset cars had manual steering, except the cup/race cars. The factory tie rods for these are NLA or difficult at best to find. Some have had some success by contacting Andial in California (do a google search for their website and contact info). They supply these, IIRC, by extending/modifying the early manual tie rods.

If it is a RHD car, I cannot speak from experience. I know that the Manual Rack is a different part number (of course). I am uncertain as to the steering shaft and tie rods. A quick check of the PET would confirm those parts.

The manual rack is certainly a cleaner, nicer set-up. The feedback that it gives you while in flight is very nice. It takes some time to get used to the slight bit of extra steering wheel input (due to the lower ratio), but once you spend a few days with it, it is not bad. I have noticed that is is easier to feel the car stepping out around a corner and also easier to feel the amount of correction needed to counter-act it.

I must say that the manual rack is not for everyone, though. While it is certainly easier to turn at low speeds than a power rack that has had the pump or hose disconnected, it is still no piece of cake. For a daily driver, I really wouldn't suggest this swap. Parking in tight spots, and hard/slow 90degree turns into sloped driveways are difficult. For a track/DE car that sees occassional street use, it's a no-brainer. Some will argue that it is not ideal for auto-x cars, and my decision on that is still up in the air. I will let you know after I spend a full season with it. Right now, "bus-stops" and slow 180degree corners seem a bit more challenging, but I think as I spend more time that issue will go away.

I'm sorry for the long answer, I hope that it has been helpful in some way though.

yoyoguy2

it's a royal pain to disconnect the intermediate shaft at the top joint. you can barely see, let alone reach, the bolt on the u-joint. i had my crossover pipe off, which makes it much easier, and it's still hard to do. not to be discouraging, but budget some time for messing with it, and don't expect it to be a walk in the park

also, i thought the early power and manual racks had the same tie rods? i had new rods on my manual rack so i didn't check them against the power ones i took off.