yee SERIOUS

iTrader: (1)

very good info.

Natural Aspirations

Anyone have the DC parts for sale?

sil80drifter

I'm glad this is helping out so many ppl. But it's not part of the FAQ still, which would allow for even more to see it...


sil80

4Door Life

bump this up...

i just did this mod a couple of days ago...
98 4Door Ex... i used a 96 Teggy steering thing <-- forget the tech term for it

i also made it a power rack again... this mod made a big BIG difference... it is 3 turns even LTL...

thanks for posting this thread, it was very helpful...


.::FYI::.
i have a extra PS sub-frame if you need it for your manual steering swap... PM me for details...

oresama

Did this today!!! Nice difference. Noticeably quicker response, especially at speed. Does require more effort from the arms to steer ( WHO CARES!!). A PAIN IN THE F@CKIN A$$!!! TO INSTALL (Not the pinion gear, that's caaaake, I'm talking about your rack+pinion, and front cross-member). Get lots of friends, I did mine solo, but with a full garage of tools, lifts, etc. If you want specifics answered.....ASK ME!!! Everything I did is fresh in my head. Thanks.

dumpsterbaby

so if im reading this right if i have a ek with power steering all i need to do is install a dc2 pinion gear?

4Door Life

pretty much...
i used one from a 96..

oresama

Yes, that's correct!

dumpsterbaby

wow thats good news, is it a pain to get the pinion out?

4Door Life

no, the real pain is removing the rack, then the re-install... just remember when removing the rack, turn the wheel all the way to the left and make sure to remove your inner tie rods...

oresama

No it's not. Just disconnect the two bolts that hold the pinion gears upper housing, pull up on the housing (the pinion gear will be stuck to it), and if necessary, slightly bend some of the lines going to the upper housing, so that the pinion gear clears the lower housing. After that, just take a hammer and a block of wood, and hammer the smaller exposed end of the pinion gear ( the end that connects to the steering yoke inside the car). Eventually it will pop out.

I wiped off the old grease from the Integra pinion gear and lubed it with new Valvoline Dura-blend grease. I also reused my O-ring that was originally on the factory civic pinion gear.

If i could do it over again, I would have purchased a new pinion gear O-ring from Honda, and inner + outer ball joints and tie rod ends for the rack.

Good luck!

dumpsterbaby

lots of good info thanx, so keep the rack locked to one side to avoid any misalignment? how do you make sure your steering column stays center with the rack to avoid a crooked steering wheel?

oresama

I think he recommends turning the rack to one side, so that it is easier to remove from the sub-frame. I may be wrong. To avoid misalignment, count how many threads are exposed on your original rack's tie-rods, and match that thread count on the new rack's tire rods, before you install it.

The steering wheel issue, I recommend having two people. What you need to do is have your buddy hold the steering wheel as str8 as possible, while you slip the steering yoke over your steering column & pinion gear end (All this is obviously done from inside the vehicle). Make sure your buddy holds that steering wheel FIRM and STR8!, then just turn the wheel so you have easy access to tighten the bolts. As a precaution, the end of the steering column has a notch.

WARNING: YOU MUST SLIP THE STEERING COLUMN SIDE OF THE STEERING YOKE, WHERE THE BOLT IS LOCATED, SO THAT IT SITS OVER THAT NOTCH!!! IF NOT YOU WILL KILL THE THREADS ON THE BOLT AND POSSIBLY THE YOKE!!

Good luck, and if you have any more questions, just keep asking. This stuff is FRESH in my head people lol.

4Door Life

this

wheel to the left, when you get it all ready to come out, slid the rack to the right (pass side) and the left side will fall right out... reinstall in reverse, if done right your wheel should be somewhat centered... just do what "oresama" mentioned, count the threads for tie rod re-install... also, this would be a great time to get new boots if needed...

BE2

Question.

For an EK, when you push the Integra pinion into civic civic (p/s) collar with the 4 hardline ports, how hard do you have to knock it in? I pushed mine in pretty far, but I figure if it wasn't quite enough (cause I went easy on it), that tightening the two bolts to bolt this 'hardline port collar body' into the rack would sort of pull it to about where it needed to go. the civic and integra shim were almost exactly the same size, so i used the civic one. my steering rack is VERY firm to push by hand at the moment (there are no outer tie rods and steering column on at the moment - and there is no p/s fluid in it either, so maybe that means something too.)
Does it take a good bit more effort to push the rack side to side by its tie rods by hand...if there is no fluid in it? I didn't really try pushing it with the civic pinion in there while having no fluid at all, there was some residual.

RareSpirits

subscribed.

Sprockets

iTrader: (6)

You're right. My steering rack needed to be replaced in my EM1, so I found a guy to build a quicker custom rack for me with the intention of just swapping the pinion gear. He said the thread pitch was different between Integras and the EK/EM1, so instead he used the Integra rack and pinion in the Civic shell. The Integra rack is about 1/2" shorter overall, but it didn't make any difference. So far, so good. It's not like I just threw a 12.6" Momo Montecarlo steering wheel on, but it's a nice upgrade. I like the tighter feel, and especially noticed a difference on familiar turns. After they took my car off of the alignment rack, the mechanic mentioned that the steering radius isn't as tight, but I don't care. I'm not planning to do any parallel parking.

unusual71

When I did this, the integra rack I stripped had a thin shim and the rack in my civic had no shim. To get it to work perfectly I actually had to make a thicker shim. I think originally it was .01" and the rack seemed to move smoothest at about .03" You can check by constantly turning the pinion back and forth as you slowly tighten the bolts and pull the pinion in towards the rack. If it starts getting tight to turn before the pinion housing is fully seated against the rack housing you need a thicker shim.

aavery

just did this, so freaking easy, cost me $12.95 pick n pull, L2L is more like 3, acura advertisd is 2.9 L2L , had 96 ek rack and 94 teg pinion shaft. Straight drop in of pinion keep shims from original ek rack feels great.

hard part was geting off the solid lines.

kensei

noone metioned if they kept the civic power steering. did most you guys just looped the civic ps lines and converted it manual? or is there someone who kept their ps system or know that it would work if I kept my rack powered?

hueman

anyone in the DC metro area that's done this that's willing to help a brother out? i'm about to purchase the parts on ebay and would like this done before i get my car lowered so i can get everything aligned at once

sk8shorty012

iTrader: (3)

bump for more info. Is this still a straight bolt in for ek civics with power steering?

There's alot of info about gears not matching up, shims, etc... that it might not work>?

Natural Aspirations

Did you catch the post 3 above yours? All you need to change out is the gear, that way it doesn't effect the ability to have power steering. Take out the ej pinion and replace it with the dc.

I haven't seen all the info about it not matching up and if there was a concern it would have arisen by now.

STN_Pat

Can you back that up with observations, or is this just speculation ?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

You're quoting a post that was made 2 years ago by a member that does not frequent these forums. I doubt you'll get a response from him.

I highly doubt that the rack will wear after "a little time" considering most of these cars are approaching the 2 decade mark and still going. Also in teh time that this thread saw light no one has posted to verify this claim.