Make a power rack into a manual one

[shackwrrr]

Picked this up from the miata forums. This will give you a manual rack without sacrificing the ratio.

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/knowledge.php?title=Make-a-power-rack-into-a-manual-one

[Pat]

I did this a couple years back and took it back out. It functioned fine but was pretty harder to turn than I hoped. Fine for drag racing but I wasn't comfy autocrossing it, which was why I wanted the ratio.

[Turbo SOB]

I also did this, but I filled in the "spline gaps" with pipe solder. I chose solder over welding because our racks have a great spline system that provides ample surface area for the solder to stick to. The torsion bar keeps everything lined up nice when you heat it up and fill it in. On reassembly I left the valve body out and set up a "jumper tube" to connect both sides of the "plunger chamber". I figured if torque steer was going to be an issue I could put in some kind of valving to prevent rapid kick back, or even put oil in there.

It's OK for highway use, but you'll get a workout in parking lots. Daily drove it like this for a few years.

I'm still trying to couple it to a column mounted EPS system.