NoFlex

Looking to do a manual steering rack conversion on my s13, has anyone ever threaded in Zirk fittings in place of the ps lines? Figured it will make it convenient to re pack with grease. Was hoping someone knows what size Zirks to use.

Thanks

racepar1

You shouldn't need to re-grease the rack and if you did the steering line ports is NOT where you would want to put the fittings. The entire steering rack is not supposed to be FULL of grease...

NoFlex

so there would be no benefit in using zircs and I should just weld those lines shut?

jumpman2334

ive seen people just weld the fittings shut on FC lines back when I had one (its a popular mod on that chassis), I don't see why this wouldn't work for the S chassis.

brndck

my question is, why would you want a manual rack on a 240?

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racepar1

Plug or weld up the line ports. MAKE SURE the piston has been removed from the rack gear too!!! It has to be split off the rack gear, like cut in half... If you leave that piston on the rack gear it will result in high steering effort.

Hoffman5982

Running a manual rack was the best thing I ever did for my driving. Made me a much smoother driver. I originally installed it because I had 3 racks die within a matter of a few months and got tired of replacing them. Had a friend that converted them and did one for free for me. Ended up running it for a year and a half

OP-When mine was converted fittings were welded into those spots. Im sure if you could find fittings that were the right thread pitch, theyd be pricey. That said, I never added grease to mine.

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jumpman2334

not sure if this applies to the 240, but in FC and ae86 land some power racks came with quicker ratios. so people would 'depower' them (just like what reacepar said in post 6) to get the quicker steering ratio for drifting or track usage. you do have to gut it as previously mentioned though, otherwise you just shot yourself in the foot with all the drag in the seals.


I think some people also depower their racks for doing 'nonconventional' swaps. since they make everything under the sun for 240s you could probably figure out how to adapt the PS if you were doing, say, a 5.0 swap.

Hoffman5982

Depowering it doesn't make the ratio any quicker, and in fact if you depower a quicker ratio rack vs a slower one, the quicker one will take more effort to turn. You want a HICAS rack off an s13 for quicker ratio

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jumpman2334

I never said it did:


(compared to the factory manual racks)

racepar1

-Less weight
-Cleaner engine bay
-Better steering feel

TheRealSy90

Is there a documented DIY on de-powering the S13 steering rack?

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Bnr32gtr

Never herd of this with drift car setup. How many ya Fellas doing mad skids with these depowered racks?

Hoffman5982

It's great for low powered cars. The faster you go, the harder it is while drifting. I did a kart track with a manual rack and after each lap I would literally be out of breath. After the 2 hour session was over I could barely lift my arms lol. That was the point I decided to go back to power steering, that and because I was planning to boost the ka in the near future.

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brndck

2 out of 3. just my .02
I've driven a depowered s13 before and imo there is no advantage.
ae86 feels great with manual steering, but its also a fairly light car

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NoFlex

I have not seen any for an schassis, would like to see it though

jedi03

I did depowered s13 and fc...felt great..more control and positive feedback...I would imiagine they are all very similar...find a youtube video and see whats the same and whats not!

jumpman2334

based off the comments in this thread it seems like its all personal preference as well as chassis selection and overall setup. i cant imagine having a 18x9-10 wide front wheel without power steering.

NoFlex

lol, I am running an 18x10 up front and I want to de power it. Ive been driving it for 2 years with the power steering pump disconnected so it can only get easier from here. I had manual racks on the civics ive owned and personally loved it

racepar1

I would be willing to bet the S13 wasn't de-powered correctly. Removing the lines and draining the fluid isn't enough. You need to cut the piston off the rack gear like I said. S-chasis steering is really pretty numb and doesn't re-center well. It's not terrible, but go drive some M3s and Porsches, it's not that great. Correctly executed a manual steering conversion vastly improves both. S-chasis guys don't do it because they're all drifters. When you're going from lock to lock repeatedly the increased effort is going to be tiring, especially with funny knuckles that screw with the leverage that the steering has on the wheels.

brndck

Yeah I'd have to try it again on a grip setup instead of a car setup for drifting. Prob night and day.

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Hoffman5982

This. Steering feel is 100% better on a depowered rack. I miss it so much. You feel literally everything. While drifting you feel exactly where the wheel needs to be. It's unreal. Going from a depowered rack back to a powered one, I was relying solely on muscle memory. Before I could give very little input and feel what the car was doing. With PS I felt like I was giving very little input but because it felt so numb I got nothing back. The only downside I can see with the depowered rack, besides increased effort on higher speed entries and super technical tracks, is it can literally injure you. The first time I slid with my manual rack I dipped off the road. When the inner wheel caught the lip of the concrete it snapped the wheel back and I tried to catch it. I'm not kidding when I say it sprained my wrist. Had a friend who broke his thumb in a similar situation. You learn to just let go if the wheel goes sporadic like that. The only other times I noticed that happening was if I tried to pull a quick 180 to turn around

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NoFlex

took it all apart yesterday and what a pain it was! Nissan did not intend on having anyone take this thing apart. The collar on the rack has a factory punch which makes it extremely hard to spin off. Not to mention the size of the pre tensioner nut and the collar nut are so big that you have to use a pipe wrench to get both off. (36mm socket was still too small). Luckily I was able to take off the nut just enough to wedge a screw driver in there and bend the piece that was punched enough to let it spin

PoorMans180SX

I use a restrictor in my high pressure line to increase steering feel.

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