tif,
so where did you get the tie rods from then! do you have parts nos, what model uses them.
I have a 924 rack which i presume does not track wide enough for the S2! Can the power rack be canabalised!
I also know of one racecar that has a converted PAS rack (Opump removed so manual now) but i donot have any detail on the plumbing exercise required to block off and loop the fluid pipes, any ideas!
The late-offset tie rods have factory part#'s, I don't have the PET program on this laptop at the moment but I could look it up for you at home over the weekend. I know that there none available in the US, but there is good stock in europe. That means your local OPC will have an easier time of ordering them and getting them in somewhat reasonable time. The tie rod inners and outers are different than a power rack, so those parts cannot be cannabalized. Sorry!
My car is an 85.5 model, so it has "early" offset and therfor can use the early tie rod assemblies that are more readily available. www.paragon-products.com has them in stock for my car.
As far as blocking off the pipes on the power steering unit, just remove all of the piping, pump, cooler, reservoir, etc. The fluid hoses connect to the rack at two points with "banjo" bolts. Simply source some regular bolts with the same thread (I can't recall the thread, but I know they are fairly large) and plug the holes. Be certain to leave fluid in the rack as the power rack needs this for lubrication. But, as I stated earlier, this is the crap way of doing it. A power rack, without the proper ratio as found in a manual rack, is crap to drive and very much un-desirable.
On the PAS question my fettler said I'd need new track rods (I must admit I thought principally because the old ones would have wear where they join the rack) but he also thinks the crossmember is different where the rack mounts. He has a customer with a non-PAS early car that wants to swap parts but I need to confirm the crossmember in that has exactly the same dimensions for wishbone mounting before we go ahead.
Remember Jeremy that RHD cars have different crossmembers to US ones, but do you know if US conversions need a swap and if so, do alloy wishbones fit crossmembers intended for cars with pressed steel wishbones?
Taking the pump off the assisted system sounds like it would be very heavy, or is that just because you have to push fluid through the pump when it's still there but not working? The assisted rack is probably quicker and equally not quick enough so I am slightly concerned about the non-PAS rack adding feel but losing "quickness". i wonder if the best (cost no object I suspect) methid would be to convert the PAS rack internally to be a quicker non-assisted rack?
I realize that RHD cars have different cross-members than LHD cars. That being said, if you source a manual rack for a RHD car, it should bolt to it. There should be no need for a new crossmember. On LHD cars, for example, it is a straigt swap. The mounts are exactly the same and you can even re-use the bolts that mount the power rack to the crossmember provided they are in proper shape. As a practice, I do like to clean up all bolts before re-using and chase the threads on the bolt and the hole.
The rack and pinion gear ratio on the manual rack is easier than the rack and pinion ratio on the power rack (to accomodate the lack of power assistance). Think of the gears on a push-bike. The easier the gearing is, the less work you need to put into pedalling. However, you most rotate the pedals more to go the same distance as you would with a harder gear. This means that on a manual rack, the wheel takes about 3/4 more turn to full lock than the power rack. In driving, you will notice that you need to "turn into" a corner more with the manual rack. I hope that description/analogy makes sense.
One could swap the guts from a manual rack to a power rack, but......at that point, it would be easier to just install the proper rack, me thinks. [
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