Power Steering to Manual Rack - Whats involved?

[pixie*porsche]

Found my rack is leaking power steering fluid from my 1984 square dash 944. I stripped it off the car today.

Not really sure what to do - whether to keep the power steering system or convert to a manual rack, does anyone know what would be involved in this conversion?

I believe that the steering shaft is the same but the rack itself, track rods and ends are all different. What I want to know is if the cross member / 4 mounting points for the rack are the same and I also need to know if the arms on the stub axles will take the manual type track rod ends.I also need to know if the splines on the input shaft of the manual rack will match the splines on the UJ fitted to the bottom of the steering shaft.

If anyone has done the conversion from power to manual or manual to power I'd love to know your thoughts.

 

[Northern924]

Never heard of anyone going PS - non PS, but I can understand your reasons, I always have prefered the none PS in the '24 but not sure if I'd prefer it in a '44...

In a Square dash car can't see it being that big a job as it would in a later oval/alloy arm car, hopefully someone who understands it more will be along shortly

 

[pixie*porsche]

Thanks [] I've found a couple of (American) articles that seem to suggest the shaft is actually different but can't find the part?! Would it perhaps be the same as a 924? The shaft says on the parts website for all 944s 1982-1991, also says it's fine for 924S and 968. Would the OPC perhaps know the answer to my question?

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: Northern924

Never heard of anyone going PS - non PS, but I can understand your reasons, I always have prefered the none PS in the '24 but not sure if I'd prefer it in a '44...

Very popular on race cars but you do it by manualising the rack rather than swapping to the manual rack i.e. remove all the PAS gubbins and fill the rack with grease. The improvement in steering feel is astronomical, really is a night and day difference but on the negative side the steering is amazingly heavy at parking speeds.

 

[pixie*porsche]

That would be the logical mod on a race car to reduce the number of turns lock to lock but the gear ratio would totally unappropriate on a road car - it's the original manual rack I want to fit, rather than a modified PAS unit as this will have a more appropriate gear ratio for road use.

 

[944 man]

Manual cars have a different crossmember; if I recall correctly.

 

[pixie*porsche]

I've not seen any reference to a different cross member. I am following this article from someone who has wrote the artcle from the job they've done - http://porschehybrids.pbworks.com/f/944+Power+To+Manual+Steering.pdf

Does confirm I do need a different steering shaft, though.

 

[944 man]

Allow me to re-phrase; cars which have unassisted steering racks do have a completely different crossmember. Lack of confirmation in PET only means that the part is now NLA...


Simon

 

[sawood12]

Why not get your PS rack refurbished? It's not that expensive and saves all the hassle of conversion. The PS rack is a common part to quite a few other cars too, so not a dpecial part for 944's. Manual rack will have more turns lock to lock as it will have to be geared lower.

 

[Hilux]

You will not believe how heavy the steering is when parking without PS

You actually need to move to turn the wheel at all. A quicker rack will reduce any mechanical advantage and increasse the resistanc I would suggest.

On the plus side (only from driving Fens car) the feel is vastly improved.

 

[Neil Haughey]

+1 to all of that, heavy oh yes but worth it. It reminds me actually I need to work out more last year my arms gave up after about 10 minutes which is a bit of a problem when that covers the warm up part of qualifying and still leaves 20 minutes quali + a 40 minute race left to go [].

 

[FistsOfHam]

ORIGINAL: Hilux

You will not believe how heavy the steering is when parking without PS

You actually need to move to turn the wheel at all. A quicker rack will reduce any mechanical advantage and increasse the resistanc I would suggest.

On the plus side (only from driving Fens car) the feel is vastly improved.

My 944 has no power steering and the only reason it was that heavy was because one of the universal joints had seized up. Once freed up it wasn't that hard to turn really and I'm used to driving a new fangled VW with its wimpy electric power steering.

 

[edh]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

ORIGINAL: Northern924

Never heard of anyone going PS - non PS, but I can understand your reasons, I always have prefered the none PS in the '24 but not sure if I'd prefer it in a '44...

Very popular on race cars but you do it by manualising the rack rather than swapping to the manual rack i.e. remove all the PAS gubbins and fill the rack with grease. The improvement in steering feel is astronomical, really is a night and day difference but on the negative side the steering is amazingly heavy at parking speeds.

I read some stuff on rennlist a couple of years ago - Tony Garcia (the cap who swapped in an LSx) talked about some timing they had done - manual vs PAS among some racers. Although the manual "felt" faster, they were 1 sec faster with PAS...

 

[pixie*porsche]

Conversion has been done.

The car now has a manual rack. My car is an early one, car was fitted with PAS as an option, the manual rack bolted straight on.

Hilux - heavy to someone used to modern cars (and Rover P6's ) perhaps but it really isn't that bad and I'm a 5'2" girl - manage just fine with manual steering in a 944 so come on, guys, your not telling me anyone really NEEDS power steering are you?

 

[FistsOfHam]

I've been enjoying the lack of power steering in my MR2. It gives you a much better feel for what's going on under the front wheels unlike the Passat which has a strange false weighting thing going on.

Don't find it bad when stopped (although I do tend to avoid turning the wheel when stationary in all cars) but then I have no engine above the front axle.

 

[Lowtimer]

I used to have a quick rack, 1.9 turns lock to lock, on my Manta B, which had a big heavy tuned 2.2 cam-in-head lump in it, and that was heavy when parking, lovely on the move. I could cope with it fine at low speed but am a biggish sort of chap. My wife is only dainty and was physically unable to move the wheel when stationary. That was on 195/60 14.

I imagine the 225/50 16 on the front of my Turbo would not be amusing for parking with the PAS removed but that the 205/55 16 S2 tyres would make things a lot easier. I would quite like to give it a try actually, but it's a lot of work for an experiment.

 

[944 man]

Driving without power assistance jsnt as much of a chore as some people are suggesting... I drove for a week on 235 section tyres and on the open road it was virtually undetectable. Parking requires a little moe effort, but thats it.


Simon (6'3") []

 

[Hilux]

Driving a lowered cambered 944T without PS is no issue

Parking a lowered cambered 944T without PS is no issue

Neil is absolutely correct in his post above so please dont tell me when turning the wheel at a standstill its not heavy - I`m 6' 1" and a fit/strong 14 stone

My current Mk 1 with 195`s is like having the wheels bolted to the tarmac when at a standstill but as soon as you move its fine.