I wanted to install a quicker ratio steering rack into my 93 CX that never had PS. Of course the easiest way to get a quicker rack would be to install a PS rack, but I didn’t want to mess with installing the whole system. There are plenty of PS removal threads so info was available, but I didn’t really like the way those threads said to eliminate the pump. So I did it my own way.

I did this in the spring and have been to about 9 autox’s. So far I really like the way it feels. There is virtually no resistance in the rack itself. The steering effort is higher as expected, but it’s not much harder than the original manual rack. So far I’ve had no problems.

So anyway, this is what I did. If you don’t know how power rack and pinion steering works, check out this article:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/steering2.htm

The basic power steering system looks like this:



The rotary valve controls which side of the piston the high pressure fluid is directed to. Since I was eliminating the power part, I didn’t see any reason to leave the lines connected to the valve. To plug the valve so nothing got into it, I cut the lines short and plugged the ends with bolts and JB Weld. Before I installed the plugs I used a syringe to inject some power steering fluid into the valve to keep it lubricated. Short bolts could be used as plugs too, but I couldn’t find any with the right thread. The plugs looked like this:








The piston moves left and right in the rack. With the fluid lines removed, the piston would suck air through one port and push air out the other as it moved. It would seem logical that the volume of air coming out of one port should be the same as the volume of air coming out of the other port. So I tied the two ports together so the air coming out would turn around and fill the other port. The air that was in the rack would just keep moving from one side to the other as the wheel was turned. One of the lines needed to be bent around some, but with a little work I was able to connect the lines with a short piece of hose so that everything cleared the motor mount. I also injected some fluid into the ports before connecting them, but not enough that the fluid would move through the lines, just enough to lube the piston.





This is an overall pic of the rack before I installed it:




Like I said, I don’t have a whole lot of miles on this setup, so I can’t claim that it is perfect. I haven’t had any trouble though, and the steering effort is only slightly greater than the manual rack I had. I like it a lot.

I’ll need to see how it works long term because there isn’t much fluid moving around in the rack to keep it lubed. The pinion portion is greased separately, so the PS fluid isn’t needed there. I do have to worry about is the valve and piston though. I don’t know if it will be a long term problem or not, but I’m going to find out. So far, so good.

Flame if you must,
-G

 

It's like an enclosed version of the system that everyone stopped using in the late eighties because it's inferior to the PS systems and rack and pinions used now.

Cool **** fabbing one up by yourself, though

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's like an enclosed version of the system that everyone stopped using in the late eighties because it's inferior to the PS systems and rack and pinions used now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I curious what you mean by the system from the late eighties. How different is it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's like an enclosed version of the system that everyone stopped using in the late eighties because it's inferior to the PS systems and rack and pinions used now.

Cool **** fabbing one up by yourself, though </TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you referring to recirculating ball systems? I know some Fords and many Mercedes cars still used these at least up until a few years ago, not sure if they still are or not. I'm not really familiar with how those systems work.

 

This is nothing like recirculating-ball systems. Even with the hydraulics sealed/bypassed, this is still fundamentally a rack & pinion system. I'm also wondering about how this is like any older system. But it's a nice job of closing things up.

Recirc-ball systems are a lot like worm & sector steering boxes. But instead of the worm & sector meshing directly, each has ball-grooves for bearings that roll between them. (Less friction.) But as you turn the steering a ball gets spit out one end and a new ball is needed at the other. So there's a little tube or track to 'recirculate' the *****...