Bye Bye Power Steering
07-09-2003, 07:32 PM
#12
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I'm telling you, the Civic manual rack is junk. You'll regret swapping it in. Too many turns lock to lock, it will be like driving a school bus.
The rear subframe is different in a car with a stock PS rack and one without. The passanger side mounting surface is curved to leave room for the larger PS rack but the manual rack's surface is flat since the rack tube is so much thinner. I've been told you can wrap the stock manual racks bushing in the PS's bushing and crank the bracket over it and it will hold. Seems ghetto to me but it should work. I seriously suggest you keep your PS rack with the end's capped off or get an Integra rack and cap those lines and use it.
The rear subframe is different in a car with a stock PS rack and one without. The passanger side mounting surface is curved to leave room for the larger PS rack but the manual rack's surface is flat since the rack tube is so much thinner. I've been told you can wrap the stock manual racks bushing in the PS's bushing and crank the bracket over it and it will hold. Seems ghetto to me but it should work. I seriously suggest you keep your PS rack with the end's capped off or get an Integra rack and cap those lines and use it.
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'06 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Stock, for now
'98 Civic EX - CTR headlights and grill, Kosei K1's, for sale
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Andy - Reinstated Hybrid Forum Moderator
'06 Subaru Legacy Spec B - Stock, for now
'98 Civic EX - CTR headlights and grill, Kosei K1's, for sale
'90 240SX - SR20DET that will never get installed, project car.
07-13-2003, 07:37 AM
#13
So OG it hurts.
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So... Did the swap yesterday.
Went very smoothly thanks to 1stgencrxer. He really helped out.
How to swap the rack:
Disconnect header (I disconnected mine where it's two pieces on the hader.
Disconnect shiftlinkage.
Unbolt the tie rod ends.
Break the bolt that adjusts the tie rod ends, and remove the tie rod ends.
Disconnect all power steering lines (3 lines, bolt sizes of 17mm, 14mm, 12mm) Those are the lines coming from the power steering pump, going out to the cooler, and back in)
Disconnect the rack from the steering shaft. It's behind the brake pedal with a plastic cover around it. Remove the two clips holding the plastic cover on and you'll see a 10 mm bolt near the bottom. Remove that bolt.
There are two bolts holding the rack near the driver side, and 2 bolts holding it's down using a d bracket and a bushing. Remove those bolts. Now you are ready to pull the rack out. Wiggle it as far left as you can, and the right side should clear and just tilt down and out.
Bring in the new replacement.
Slide it up and to the left and then up and right and it's pretty much there.
Now this is the stuff I didn't know and I believe it pertains mainly to a used rack since that's what I have and what most people will use. You gotta get the rack centered, I had no idea how many turns it was lock to lock, so Harry (1st gencrxer) knew all about that and got it centered for me.
Get the shaft to mount up to the steering column.
I took the opportunity to get the steering wheel as straight as possible. My wheel also did a lot full rotations during this process of us playing with it. Not a big deal since I don't have SRS. If you do have SRS don't let it go around in circles cause all you've done is wind up the SRS reel.
Anyways bolt the rack to the frame a little bit, and get the steering shaft and column to bolt up and you are pretty much done. Tighten everything down, try to get the hubs as straight as possible and screw in your tie rods and adjust the tie rod bolt, and then bolt the tie rods to the hubs. Reattach your shift linkage and exhuast and you should be ready to go.
Get an alignment quickly. I put crappy tires on my ride till I get the alignment. I noticed I felt more resistance turning left earlier than I felt resitance turning right. I'm told it's my toe. I'll see how it is after my alignment.
Anyways steering rack swap went well. I'm guessing the weight reduction is close to 50 lbs if you take into account the power steering pump, pump bracket, fluid resevoir the lines for the cooler and the line from the pump the rack. The damn brackets for the pump alone were like 10 lbs. The power steering rack itself is heavier than the manual rack.
And the added benefit of not having to look at the resevoir and pump, :thumbup:
Went very smoothly thanks to 1stgencrxer. He really helped out.
How to swap the rack:
Disconnect header (I disconnected mine where it's two pieces on the hader.
Disconnect shiftlinkage.
Unbolt the tie rod ends.
Break the bolt that adjusts the tie rod ends, and remove the tie rod ends.
Disconnect all power steering lines (3 lines, bolt sizes of 17mm, 14mm, 12mm) Those are the lines coming from the power steering pump, going out to the cooler, and back in)
Disconnect the rack from the steering shaft. It's behind the brake pedal with a plastic cover around it. Remove the two clips holding the plastic cover on and you'll see a 10 mm bolt near the bottom. Remove that bolt.
There are two bolts holding the rack near the driver side, and 2 bolts holding it's down using a d bracket and a bushing. Remove those bolts. Now you are ready to pull the rack out. Wiggle it as far left as you can, and the right side should clear and just tilt down and out.
Bring in the new replacement.
Slide it up and to the left and then up and right and it's pretty much there.
Now this is the stuff I didn't know and I believe it pertains mainly to a used rack since that's what I have and what most people will use. You gotta get the rack centered, I had no idea how many turns it was lock to lock, so Harry (1st gencrxer) knew all about that and got it centered for me.
Get the shaft to mount up to the steering column.
I took the opportunity to get the steering wheel as straight as possible. My wheel also did a lot full rotations during this process of us playing with it. Not a big deal since I don't have SRS. If you do have SRS don't let it go around in circles cause all you've done is wind up the SRS reel.
Anyways bolt the rack to the frame a little bit, and get the steering shaft and column to bolt up and you are pretty much done. Tighten everything down, try to get the hubs as straight as possible and screw in your tie rods and adjust the tie rod bolt, and then bolt the tie rods to the hubs. Reattach your shift linkage and exhuast and you should be ready to go.
Get an alignment quickly. I put crappy tires on my ride till I get the alignment. I noticed I felt more resistance turning left earlier than I felt resitance turning right. I'm told it's my toe. I'll see how it is after my alignment.
Anyways steering rack swap went well. I'm guessing the weight reduction is close to 50 lbs if you take into account the power steering pump, pump bracket, fluid resevoir the lines for the cooler and the line from the pump the rack. The damn brackets for the pump alone were like 10 lbs. The power steering rack itself is heavier than the manual rack.
And the added benefit of not having to look at the resevoir and pump, :thumbup:
