Power to manual steering rack

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself, nor OzHonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!

Reasons behind y someone would do this:

1. Engine conversion and no room for power steering
2. Want that extra bit of power from no extra belt
3. save a little bit of weight
4. Like a better feel to the road

Can't really think of any other reasons.

Well what do you do?

- take off the pump
- take out the stocko resovour
- loop the bits that connect to the 2 above
- add in some sort of breather to make the steering bearable

There is a number of different way that it can be done. There's like heaps cheaper ways to achieve this. I've choosen probably the most bling and expensive way to do it :D SpeedFlow Fittings. Cost close to $150 for the fittings.

Hey man,

There is much cheaper ways of doin it using shitter parts. for example:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...4/fda2f3fd.jpg

But as for the speed flow stuff, just go to any hose specialist store, they should stock or be able to order in the fittings (most likely cause it's some weird sizes). Here's what's on the docket:

1 x Male to Female ext 952-6 (blue extension thing)
1 x 9/16-18 unf (blue T shape thing)
1 x adaptor m16 x 1.5 (adator to rack big hole)
1 x adaptor m14 x 1.5 (adator to rack smaller hole)
3 x straight hose ends (shit that hose connects to)
1 x u-bend (red u-bend)

note racks have different sizes. I got the size by cutting the fittings off and brought it to them to size.


Alright, theres' nothing to it, just a bit of a bitch getting the parts together. Just follow the pics. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

http://users.tpg.com.au/duydang/spray/f1.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/duydang/spray/f2.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/duydang/spray/f3.jpg
http://users.tpg.com.au/duydang/spray/f4.jpg

nice work

how about adding some nore info like where does the hose that you added go

hehehe, yeah the hose goes to a breather/resoviour of power steering fluid. i'll go take a pic.

http://users.tpg.com.au/duydang/spray/f6.jpg

Is it absolutely necessary to have the power steering rack ventilated when converted to a manual rack? I know you need fluid in the rack, thats a given but would it be fine to just to get a small resevoir from lets say a motor bike to provide fluid and make fluid top ups easy?

I ask as i am referring to this article on Power steering removal

Pardon my ignorance, but why would you want to undertake this mod? If you have the preference dont you want power steering?

crispy you can use anything you want, i just already had the catch can lying around so i used it.

zdster, only bored people with too much time on their hands do this mod.

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Originally Posted by barefootbonzai

zdster, only bored people with too much time on their hands do this mod.

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Thanks for explaining it :D.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barefootbonzai

zdster, only bored people with too much time on their hands do this mod.

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or people with no room for power steering pumps in their engine bay:wave:

care to do a write up?
the pics don't do much for the average joe.
what kinda plumbing you use? where you get it? etc (i can see these questions coming:p )

well done barefoot. alot of ppl tend to use another clutch fluid resovior and mount it next to there current one. i think there is actually a hole for it at the back of the shock tower, looks factory!

adding a bottle to top up the fluid isnt necessary. it can be looped. as long as the rack is relieving pressure and re-circulating whatever fluid is left in there

well done, are they superflow fittings? a good idea is to mention thread sizes you needed. common problem when ppl are trying to chase all the fittings

Alright boys i'll write a little about it. As for fitting sizes, that was the most ****ed up part about it. Had to order every single bit cause they are weird sizes.

no ps, ht stye lol

there r seriously no ill side effects with running this daily?

props for effort tho :thumbsup:

I'll be do this sometime next week. I hope the ABS unit doesnt get in the way :(

Good thread :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by egSi

no ps, ht stye lol

there r seriously no ill side effects with running this daily?

props for effort tho :thumbsup:

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I'll let you know once my car is acutally running ;)

I done one before

depends on the size of the car,

you can hardly tell on ED civic and ED crx, feals better IMO

That's good to hear. I hope the EK doesn't prove to be too dam heavy.

being a power steering rack converted to non ps should it be harder to steer. something about the ratio.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iced

being a power steering rack converted to non ps should it be harder to steer. something about the ratio.

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A manual rack takes more turns lock to lock as to take away a little steering effort.

I've been running a manual-ized power-rack in my DA for about 8 months now.

Now, i'm not a very big guy and I don't have any issues with turning effort with a stock radius wheel.

For the occasional spirited drive I find that i'm wanting an even shorter (or longer.. whichever means less turns lock to lock) rack for better steering response. However, i'm sure this would become a pain for daily driving.

Just get yourself a nice soft set of tyres, and get rid of all the stuff up the front end you don't need, like aircon, battery, etc etc.

I didn't use any fancy fittings. Your wasting your time. The only part lubricated by the powersteering fluid is the p/s piston and seals, of which, since you are undertaking this mod, you do not care about.

After 8months of (albeit not that many kays) driving, I have no strange noises or anything. If I did, i'd rip out the rack and maching away the seals in it to truly convert it to a manual rack, but no need to so far.

The only thing which is important in this is driving style. When you go over bumps instead of you keeping the wheels straight with the assitance of the powersteering pump, the wheels will control the steering wheel.

No LSD? You now have to fight torque steer.

However, i've found that no matter what negatives this may have, nothing outweighs the feedback you get through the wheel, which if you have only ever driven p/s cars, you have never experienced.

You can feel exactally how much load is on the tyres at every instance. In the wet, you can feel exactally when you are about to let loose and understeer, you know exactally how much power you can put down through every corner.

This is one of the few mods that will really make you feel like you are in control of the car, and is my one gripe against the current trend of larger cars which are way too heavy for even the buffest man to remove p/s.

when you did this did you take down the rack.
is it possible to do with rack still bolted up ?? if not how do i take it down and put it back up. could the rack be different for different models i have a EG4

Cheers

You can leave the rack in, but it would be very hard to do with your engine still in. I don't think it'll be almost impossibe.

how would i go abouts taking the rack out to do it. i wont be removing engine for sure.

Jack your car up. Use engine crane to hold up your engine. Unbolt rear bracket from the mount, undo the front LCA's. Then drop the whole cross memeber. Quite a big job if you don't often do this sort of stuff.

Rack was still in, but engine was out.

Your best bet is to leave the rack in and get the engine out. It's the only way you'll get all the lines out in one piece.

Getting the rack off is a bitch. It's super gay to get it connected back to the column. It's super gay trying to get it out of the crossmember. In fact, it's so gay i'd probably opt for taking the engine out before the crossmember. But I've hardly got anything attached to it anymore so it's a breeze.

I'm gonna go the whole hog soon and plug up the holes permanently and drill out the piston to truly convert it into a manual rack.

Good luck.

question - anyone specifically know if EG racks have the same hi/low pressure line thread sizes etc ? Im looking at this mod for the egg and havent got a spare hi/low threads to take to the place and measure up...

Nope they are different sizes. Sizes are fully gay. I had to order them in, but i've thrown away my reciept so can't remeber the sizes.

I just bought a kit. Comes with all fittings and braided lines.

btw, barefootbonzai, if you don't mind, what motor are you swapping in? k or h?

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Originally Posted by lavs

I just bought a kit. Comes with all fittings and braided lines.

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interesting...from honda-tech ? more info...

Are braided lines really necessary as it will no longer be under high pressure? Im currently using brass fittings and a plastic T Piece with a bit of fuel hose.

no need at all weez. its just bling behind your motor which you cant even see. no pressure. just a little bit of air and p/s fluid floating around!!

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Originally Posted by bennjamin

interesting...from honda-tech ? more info...

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i posted that while logged in under someone else's account.
the kit i bought is the same as the one used in the honda tuning article:
Stealthmode Performance
honda tuning article

wtf, i just realised i did list the sizes on the first page. So for all you guys asking about sizes it's already there.

Just for though who didn't realize, that's a DC2/EG rack in my EK.

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Originally Posted by barefootbonzai

Just for though who didn't realize, that's a DC2/EG rack in my EK.

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No one knew that , hence asking if the sizes are different rack - to - rack :)

EG/DC racks are the same fittment correctumondo so joy for me

Duy
You mentioned uptop that having some kind of breather will make steering more bearable.
would there be a noticeable difference between "Having a Breather/Reservoir" and "Not Having One"???