Basic tl:dr question: Does anyone have any experience driving both a manual steering EK and manual steering EG? Is the EG easier to turn than the EK?
Having trouble finding a comparison.

Background:
My EK hatch has a factory manual rack, the steering is probably the hardest manual steering I've had in a car, but I just assumed it was normal and I've lived with it. A while back I drove a friend's manual rack EG and it was significantly easier to turn. Is this normal, I would assume they'd be similar? Trying to determine if something is up with my rack. I've adjusted the rack already, thinking I might have tightened it too much...

Quarantine has me bored and looking for projects, I've been thinking about jumping back into the idea of improving my steering feel and lowering the LTL of my steering. I know there are ways to do this, but want to determine if I should replace rack first.

Thanks!

 

What size tires and wheels on each car?

And at what speeds are you comparing the “hardness” of the steering rack?





eH.

 

205/50 Dunlop Direzzas on Kosei K1s for my EK. EG had some Konig wheel and 195/50s I believe.

Mostly parking lot speeds. At speed the difference wasn't noticeable.

 

Both cars have stock steering wheels?





eH.

 

Yep, not much difference between them

 

How did you go about adjusting/tightening the rack ?

 

With the specific tool Honda has. The (I believe) 40mm wrench to loosen the locking "nut" and using another wrench to tighten the inner bolt.

 

Slightly unrelated, but my 92 civic had power steering and it was leaking, so I just took the belt off. Have been driving for a week or two with no power steering and honestly barely notice, do i have to worry about this damaging my power steering rack?

 

Won't hurt it. In it's present state it's basically a manual rack minus being fully de-powered (rack inner seal removed).

 

Four years ago I purchased a '95 EX and the prior owner removed the power steering pump and fluid. It took me a bit to get used to and was/is hard to parallel park and three point turns. However, other than that I really like it compared to two 6th gen Civics I've owned that had power steering.

About a year after purchasing the '95 EX (B20/LS engine, LS 5-speed manual) I read a few DIY write-ups and watched youtube videos on how to fully de-power the steering rack.
Long story short is a metal/silicon seal within the rack that needs to be cut off so air pressure that creates resistance inside the rack is removed and steering turning becomes much easier. I didn't change out the rubber bushings shown in video as they were in good shape. I used synthetic grease to lube all moving parts. Also, I had to replace a needle-roller bearing in the rack that had damage.

Here's a video: