Anyone running manual steering?
 

In the continual quest for weight reduction I'm thinking of pulling the power steering from my track car (I know there's an electric conversion). I've read a few threads but haven't found someone that has actually done it. I've owned non powering steering e30s and know manual steering is a rough life. Is anyone running manual steering? Bonus question, how much weight are we talking about?

More so than the weight savings, the rack is ratio-ed to be power assisted, take away that assist and the effort required is going to jump up to arm wrestling levels. I'd suggest first try driving the car with the pump disabled before pulling it out.

driving with the pump disabled is not a real simulation of manual steering. with a disabled pump you have to push the fluid through the pump - not so with a manual rack. i have a professionally depowered rack but haven't had the chance to install it yet. i have spoken w folks with 996's who are running manual steering (LS conversions) and say it is not an issue (slightly different weight distribution, however). probably not a lot of weight loss (10 lbs?) but also note less parasitic drag on the engine. with a track car however, note that you'll most likely have wider front tires that will increase steering effort, as well as the possibility of your steering biting back in an off.

In terms of electric conversions I suggest the MR2 unit or the VAUXHALL ASTRA unit. They should be very easy to implement since Frunk space isn't as limited as front engine cars. Self sensing contained unit. Perfect for racing use.

I preferred the manual rack in my 944 race cars, even with 275 slicks up front. I would consider the swap in my boxster if it was legal for SPB.

the other concern is serpentine belt. with both ac and ps gone, you need a dummy pulley up in that corner to keep things turning. gsr made one but are out of business. porsche made one for thte cayman r but that was a dfi engine. i found a cheap one and am about to check to see if it fits.

Please give us an update on the pulley solution and/ or share the product and source. I am looking for a solution to this problem now.

ok. i will confirm and provide pics tonight or tomorrow.

Idler pulley solution is to gut the insides of the pump....remove impeller etc. So basically left with a bearing and a pulley...mounted in the original pump casing.
A guy in Germany had built a lw 996 c2 and took his rack to bits for manual steering. Says it is not much heavier at all but tonnes more feel.

ok. fml for taking a risk. i lost. here is the gsr item:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1486532765.jpg

1/2" plate w 3" pulley, designed to mount to the same flange that the ps pump mounts to. gsr gone, but perhaps contact hergesheimer motorsports as i *think* they had some affiliation with gsr?

here is the 987.2 item:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1486532893.jpg

the dfi engines have a different belt routing and need an idler pulley if you delete the ac. this is the oem porsche part for the cayman r. i cross-referenced part numbers and the ac compressor is the same part number for the m96/m97 and dfi engines so i thought it would work on my car. wrong. must've been screwed by the part # cross-references. so, anybody want a 987.2 ac delete pulley?

I guess I will try this solution. There is a ps pump kicking around somewhere in my shop.

GSr part looks easy enough to replicate. There are a ton of pulleys with bearings in them in various cars. A trip to a wreckers may prove fruitful.

UK eBay but I just searched for idler pulley.

Look at this on eBay Auxiliary Belt Idler Pulley T38099 Deflection Gates 059903341A 059903341E New | eBay

that looks to be it. lemme know and i can provide additional dimensions for the gsr mounting plate and fasteners.

The above one is 70mm.

Here is an 80mm

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331971191062

Lists some Cadillac applications so should be available Stateside

Can you provide an alignment dimension...to get this idler offset correctly to line up with the belt?

Wow nearly job done with this one
..pity not a 6pk.
Look at this on eBay RENAULT CLIO MEGANE KANGOO Fan Belt Tensioner Pulley - V - Ribbed Belt Idler | eBay

Just curious if a real manual rack from a 993 or 964 might fit as opposed to de-powering a boxster/(I assume 996) rack. Does the Gt2/gt3 still have a power rack?

i'll get better dimensions in a bit. really, the gap between the pulley and 1/2" plate is quite small (a few mm). this is why the fastener length is important, otherwise you'll run into interference between the fasteners and the pulley. i think that the final alignment is just attained by how far in you thread in the pulley.

Fair comment on final thread alignment...you'd have to rely on thread lock if the stud isn't bottomed out.

Will....Yes still powered. Unsure of the air cooled rack

Is the bearing in the PS pump sealed? If so, the gutted pump will work. I stripped one out yesterday and the pulley spins freely without the internals.

Not sure. You could maybe rebuild with a sealed one if not.
You mean does it normally rely on the ps fluid for lubrication..?

Yes, that was my question. My guess would be a sealed bearing as hydraulic fluid is not a good lubricant.

The bearings are most likely not in fluid. I would still try to remove the impaler/rotor from the assembly.

Pump is gutted. Easy once the tank is removed.

I've done a few manual steering rack conversions in my days, and am currently running a de-powered-but-otherwise-stock rack in my 2000 Boxster S.

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but daily driving a de-powered rack is fine while tracking / racing a de-powered rack sucks.

Parking lot maneuvers is where a steering rack experiences the highest loads. The 986 has actually been the EASIEST of all the manual converted cars to maneuver in parking lots. At highways speeds, there is no difference in steering efforts...

...assuming you want to go straight!

Once you start trying to hold a corner at speed, this is where a manual steering rack really starts to suck.

A power steering system not only helps move the rack, it helps HOLD the rack when things like cornering loads are trying to push the wheels back straight again. That effort which was required to turn the steering wheel in the parking lot, will be similar to the effort required to hold a long sweeper at 80 - 90 mph. It's very easy to lose grip of the steering wheel and have the car pull itself centered into a code-brown moment. Ask me how I know this...

One other item to consider when de-powering the rack is that the pinion gear is intentionally built with a ~10° slop or hysteresis angle. This slop is actually what controls the assist. In a traditional hydraulic system, this slop controls a hydraulic valving to the rack. In electric systems, this slop tells the ECU how much current the assist motor needs to apply.

I strongly recommend that anyone doing a full manual swap should remove the pinion shaft from the rack and weld the two inter-locking pinion shafts (this is what give you the ~10° slop used for valving) together. Be careful though, once you go this route, there's no going back to a stock setup.

If you still want to run power steering, but hate the idea of running any hydraulics, there is also the possibility of swapping in an electric column assist. This is surprisingly the cheapest and lightest method for adding alternative power steering, but it is also SUPER labor intensive and it WILL require fabrication. This was my first application of such a system that I installed in a budget endurance race car.

Electric Powered Steering - Column Assist / NO HYDRAULICS! - Turbo Dodge Forums : Turbo Dodge Forum for Turbo Mopars, Shelbys, Dodge Daytona, Dodge SRT-4, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Omni and more!

In summary, manual steering in a Boxster would be fine for a majority of car enthusiasts. Heck, I ran all last summer with my unmodified stock rack and no steering pump. However, I'm getting old and plan on some track events this summer so I'm installing an electric hydraulic pump from a 2012 Durango with the 3.6L V6.