Manual steering rack?

[Leo(209)(707)]

Has anyone fitted a manual steering rack on their SHO? I am thinking about looking for one that i can make fit. I want a little more feel for the road and i am tired of hearing the power steering wine. Also, its one less accessory driven and one less thing that will break, eventually. What do you all think?

 

[SHO1]

Do you have a gen 2? Try a gen 1 rack w/no vaps or disable the vaps(not sure if it would have same feel as the non vaps though. A bit stiffer and imo a much better feel for the road over the vaps system. I very much prefer the steering in my '89 over the '93. May be what you're looking for.

 

[LOUDSHO92]

No manual rack has been fitted.

 

[matasho]

89' non-vaps rack gets rid of the grandma car feel in the steering that the second gens have.

 

[SHOtime2511]

You still need power steering with the non-vaps rack though.
This is something I looked into years ago but never got off the ground with it.
You would need to find some manual rack from another car,Civic maybe?

 

[firebat45]

Pop the belt off and try driving around the block, see if you like it. Seriously, unless you've lightened the car a ton and/or only plan on steering it above 40mph, keep the power steering.

What you could do is retrofit the electro-hydraulic power steering from an MR2/similar, or the full on electric power steering from an S2000/Civic/G6/etc.

MR2 setup is a simple job and lets you drop the belt driven pump for some more horsepower, electric assist is a lot more in depth.

 

[Phoenix]

Its been discussed before , it would be damn dangerous to do that on a street/DD car. It would be useless in parkings plus it would put a serious amount of stress on the shaft and its joints.

Remember that car is relatively heavy , specially up front.

I think you would regret it.

 

[ycode90]

The steering is not that heavy w/o PS , but it will stress all the steering components .

 

[SuperHO]

i doubt the power steering is eating enough power to make it worthwhile. if you want good steering feel, throw a gen III subframe/rack on it and disconnect the variable control thingy.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Remember though,a non-power rack that is geared to work without PS will work a whole **** of alot better than power rack with no pump.

 

[firebat45]

Remember though,a non-power rack that is geared to work without PS will work a whole **** of alot better than power rack with no pump.

Well, yes. Even a depowered power rack (disconnect all the lines, and remove the seals from inside the rack so you aren't pushing air through the rack) works a lot better than a power rack. Still, unless you get something that's 6 turns lock to lock, it's going to be too hard for a 3500lb FWD car.

 

[Leo(209)(707)]

Im a big guy so having the muscle to parallel park it wont be a problem. And at speed the steering will be relatively light. I used to drive a jeep with a busted power steering unit is how i know.

There are manual racks out there for mustangs of similar years, so weight isn't a reason for not installing one. I think it would be a lot more fun to drive. It would be pretty sweet if the Bolts and everything lined up on that rack to fit a SHO.

So...If any one is bored and has a 94 SHO and Stang... theres a little project for ya, haha.

 

[SHOtime2511]

keep us updated if you deceide to experiment.

 

[Leo(209)(707)]

Something like this
http://performanceparts.com/part.php?partID=460914
or
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLA-FR1508