sil80drifter

For everyone out there who has been waiting for the 3.2 LTL Quaife steering quickener equivalent for their EK… I’ve solved your problem.

You see, the Integra and Civic rack are essentially the same when it comes to the actual rack teeth.
I was initially going to swap over the P/S Integra rack’s rack and pinion gears over to the Manual EK rack. This didn’t work for a few reasons, mainly because the P/S pinion doesn’t fit the manual rack.

The lessons learned there was that the manual EK rack and the P/S Integra rack had the SAME amount of teeth on the rack itself, and the ONLY real difference internally was the amount of teeth on the pinion gear itself. That’s the gear that goes into the steering rack from the top.
THIS is also the reason why the P/S EK rack has a slightly better ratio than the Manual rack.
So we have the EK manual rack, the EK P/S rack and the Integra P/S rack, with EXACTLY the same rack gears (in terms of teeth) and different number of pinion gear teeth.

Integra PS rack on top and EK Manual rack on bottom:


Civic manual rack pinion teeth = 7, with 4 Lock to Lock turns.
Civic P/S rack pinion teeth = 8, with 3.6 Lock to Lock turns.
Integra P/S rack pinion teeth = 9, with 3.2 Lock to Lock turns.

Left to right pinion gears - EK Manual, EK PS, Integra PS (I know the Integra looks smaller than the EK one, at the bearing, but it's not, it's the same):


The hook? The pinion assemblies from the Integra P/S rack and EK P/S rack are INTERCHANGABLE!!!
Here they are (Integra on top, EK at the bottom):


So… what to do, what to do…Well, I got a used EK P/S rack from the junkyard for $65, and a used Integra P/S rack for $70 pulled for me, swapped over the pinion gear to the EK P/S rack (or the whole pinion gear assembly, they are IDENTICAL), looped the lines and… 3LTL on my EK hatch! F*** QUAIFE!
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THEM PULL THE JOINT THAT CONNECTS THE STEERING WHEEL COLUMN TO THE P/S PINION, AS ITS BOTTOM END IS BIGGER THAN THE MANUAL JOINT FORM YOUR MANUAL EK (P/S Civic users – disregard).

Whoever has P/S on their EK already, all you need is that Integra pinion gear/assembly. The manual guys will have to get what I got. But that’s$130 for a 3 LTL! AutoX is gonna be 10X more fun now, as is daily driving.

So there. I can’t believe it took so long for us to do this. Someone mentioned swapping internals over before, but I don’t think this is what they meant. This is SO straightforward and simple, I was surprised myself. I did a little alignment myself (the only thing adjustable is toe, unless you bought some camber links).
The steering wheel is now a bit harder to turn than the regular manual rack, but maybe only by 5%. I also have 205/50-15 Azenis RT-615 so that usually makes a difference. Stock tires are easy as heck to turn compared to those.

Bottom line - I’m lovin it. I am f-in MCLovin it. Turns are more fun, turn-in is more fun, everything is more fun. This is by far my proudest ricer moment.

Good luck to everyone who can now have quicker steering on their EKs!

sil80


Modified by sil80drifter at 10:59 PM 11/3/2008

95lscivic

i wish you had pics. but that is sick as hell! good job man.

pdiggitydogg

It was me who wanted to swap ek and teg internals, actually. I didnt have the parts to compare nor could I get someone to count teeth for me.
I was thinking the racks were different...never thought about the pinion itself!

Im really glad to see that someone with the time took the time and initiative that I could not.
Thank you. Thank you.

sil80drifter

And pics are posted!

kahren

i like the lighting on the second pic, looks like you had an external flash wired to the f50


Modified by kahren at 9:55 PM 11/3/2008

sk8shorty012

iTrader: (3)

props for the research. I'm just not sure if it's worth it to the p/s civic people as you went from manual (4.0 to 3.2 as opposed from 3.6 to 3.2) and only noticed a 5% increase. Im just saying that it'd be even less noticeable for someone going from civic p/s to integra p/s

The Lobster

wow fing amazin!!!!

sil80drifter

that's 5% HARDER TURNING effort, but 3.6 LTL to 3.2 LTL is a big diff.

pdiggitydogg

Yes, .4 turn is pretty damn noticeable. I really am anxious to do this, but doubt I ever will...

g3mzek

what year integra and civic did you get and do hatch and coupes make a difference?

sil80drifter

I got 96-00 EK PS rack (all the same, hatch or coupe, DX/EX or SI) and I got a 94-00 Integra LS PS Rack (all the same, as long as PS, doesn't matter what body).

g3mzek

ok thanks I am looking to get this done as soon as possible!

Bense

Thank you for finally taking on this task. I have thought many times that quaife was just buying a certain part from honda, putting it in their (quaife) box and selling it for a premium.

I do not know why it has taken this long for this kind of information to be posted. Back when I was more active with frankenstiening my car I wanted to pursue this project but turned it down because I had to focus on the F2D and D trans.

I have the full integra PS rack on my 94 hatch, I should Have just kept my non-ps rack and swapped pinion gears. Thank you for researching this and taking the initiative to figure this out, as well as posting this online for others to benefit from the lessons learned.

EFRue57

I vote for FAQ STICKY status. probably not a FAQ but awesome none the less.

Bense

It will get added to the topic index, but we can't have like 5000 stickied threads

slimjimming6688

so you just put any integra P/s pinion in to the ek p/s rack.
did you use the integra housing or did you put the integ pinion to the ek housing?"
or did you put the integ steering valve and housing to the ek rack housing?

im really interested because iv been wanting a new rack because mine is worn

slimjimming6688

http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...s=&view=normal


#16 is all i need? or 16 and 17?

slimjimming6688

bump

jdmdohcek98

iTrader: (1)

did you have any problems putting the ek p/s rack on the manual subframe? is it a direct fit? also are the energy suspension rack bushings the same for p/s and manual? im looking to this this on my hatch that has a manual rack. by the way is there anything i should change while i have it open? besides inner and outer tie rods, boots, rack bushings?

HONDA RR

nice work

teamworxek9

iTrader: (5)

Good info, should help a little in the turns come scca day.

Davus

It bolts onto the subframe just fine. I had a power rack on my ej (8) and blew it up, swapped in a manual rack in a few hours of night time.

For anyone ripping out the steering rack of a 96-00 Civic, turn the steering wheel completely to the left to let the left wheel boot slide out of some contraption, forgot what.

teamworxek9

iTrader: (5)

This is good info im looking to do this in the spring. while we are on the topics or steering racks. Anyone know what size fittings (going to use earls or somthing of the like) one would need to do the power steering delete with the resivoir.

Dead CIVIC

iTrader: (1)

I'm a little slow on this one. what does this help in?

unusual71

^^ To turn the car (the front wheels) from side to side it will take less turning of the steering wheel than before, with slightly increased effort.

This is really great information I just grabbed an integra as a parts car for a swap and i'm trying to get everything I can out of it. This is definitely one of the first things I do.