As part of my two-year-long track car conversion project on my '92, I re-sealed both the power steering pump and rack, and now that I finally have everything back together, this is the one major thing that's not working on the car, as I have no power assist whatsoever. Other than the high effort below about 20 mph, the steering feels great - very smooth throughout its range of travel, to "dead spots", and no noise whatseover, even at the extremes of travel.

I've confirmed that I can see fluid flow inside the reservoir when the engine is running, and I've taken the pump off and set all the vanes to the correct orientation, which, according to Travis from Rennbay, is with the rounded sides pointed outward, but this didn't make any difference. I made sure I've bled the system by turning the wheel to both extremes several times with the engine running.

Any suggestions as to what to try next? Is there a way to test the output pressure of the pump? What should the reading be? And if the problem is, as I suspect, with the rack, any ideas as to what in the rack could prevent the creation of assist?

Alternatively, I understand that if I wanted to permanently convert it to manual operation, there are some modifications I need to make to the rack, otherwise the effort will be higher than it needs to be. I know I should do a search if I get to this point, but any thoughts on this would be welcomed as well. The car is down to about 2800 lbs, with over 100 pound having been removed from the front end, but the 18 x 8-1/2" wheels with 255 section tires make turning the wheel at low speeds a chore, and it will get worse once I get my 350 mm wheel. Thanks.

 

Are you sure the rack isn't binding up, and are you sure there is fluid in the rack itself?

 

Cloud, double check that the hoses are in the correct location on the rack?

 

To check for binding, you could get both front tires off the ground and see if it turns back and forth easily.

If this works, I'd check closely to make sure no lines are pinched, and make sure they are run correctly.

 

The rack definitely isn't binding - it's very smooth throughout its range. One thing I have noticed, though, is that it doesn't have much self-centering action, even though I asked the alignment shop to give it as much positive caster as allowable (per Karl Poeltl's recommendation). I'm pretty sure fluid is getting to the rack, because the level in the reservoir did drop when I started it up after first filling it. No idea how much pressure there is, though.

Kwikt,

I'm as sure as I can be that the hoses on the rack are in the correct positions, because most of them are hard lines, that can only go one way. And I took lots of photos, and was careful to put all the hoses back as shown in the pictures.

 

Sent you an email