Aloha from Hawaii!

Got myself a 91 wagon 2wd with power steering. Dont like power steering and I want MANUAL steering instead.

Guess my question is which year and model Honda/Acuras MANUAL steering (BESIDES ANOTHER WAGON) is a DIRECT bolt in for my 91 wagon 2wd?

Anyone ever do that swap before?

Thanks in advance.

Take off the belt, remove the power steering pump, lines, reservoir. Make a hose to run between the high pressure side and the low pressure side of the fittings on your steering rack. Dump most of the fluid out of the rack, but leave a little in there for additional lubrication. Voila!: Manual steering.

Doing that sucks for steering!!! Makes it steer like shit. There are some people that have done regular rack swaps, I just don't know off hand what converts over.

There has to be some release for the pressure, you can't just loop it back into itself.

I kept the reservoir with mine. The three lines coming from the PS all run straight to my reservoir so the PS rack pulls and pushes whatever amount of fluid it wants.

edit: Oh and all 88-91 Civic/CRx racks will work. HF's and Si's have the quicker steering box's.

My 91 FWD wagon had manual steering. My 89 RT4WD wagon has power steering. So you could swap in a manual rack from a wagon, but it'll be much easier to find one from a low grade model Civic. I would imagine any of them should work. For an easier time steering the car at low speeds, snag one of the slower racks. More turns of the steering wheel lock to lock, but it'll be easier to turn. The quicker ratio of an Si rack is more fun and more responsive, but requires more steering effort. This is only at low speeds - once the wheels are rolling, all the manual racks are easy to turn.

Depowering the power steering will work, but results in a lot *more* resistance in the steering than a manual rack. Personally, I don't like it. Some prefer it, though.

You can remove all of the lines and pump and just loop one side of the rack back into the other. I did this on my 91 sedan and the rack felt amazing.

Another more involved method would be to remove the rack and pack it full of grease and then seal it all back up.

I was under the assumption that the rack had to be free flowing but I guess this make sense due to the fact that it is a power steering pump. Maybe I will just ditch the reservoir too. What did you do with the third smaller line?

Uh... Yah! I just made this s-h-i-t up. I pulled it out my a-s-s. I've never done it before. I don't know anyone that's done it before. I've never driven a car that was set up this way. WTF?

The key is to drain most of the fluid out of the rack. Otherwise you're pushing the fluid through all the small orifices in the rack. DUH! With next to no fluid in the rack, there's no more resistance than a regular manual rack, other than the possible increased effort from a faster rack ratio.

Now try a manual rack with the Quaife rack and pinion guts in it. That's a measured 2.4 turns lock to lock (advertised 2.82). Now throw some 285/30-18s on the front of the car with about 200 ft/lbs of torque and an LSD. You wanna talk about steering effort? Try aching biceps after a 45 second autocross run.

How is anybody supposed to know what you run or how you run it?

Please just post up your information and explain how and why you know it works. This will keep others from getting upset and we can continue this discussion and keep yet another thread from getting locked and forgotten.

I would think a small reservoir of PS fluid would help to relieve some pressure form the rack.

I am guessing in Jaker's setup, removal of some of the fluid provides space inside of the rack for the fluid to move.

Kind of like a two liter bottle that is full and one that is only say half full. The fluid can't move in the full one, but the fluid can move in the half full one.

Sound about right?

Yeah it sounds right, just couldn't wrap my mind around it at first.

So this is a good option to do?

I'll let you know after I put some miles on mine.

Ok thanks mang!!!

Update?

Oh yeah haha...

Everything is fine! No problems, no leaks! Just looks like I have a PS reservoir thats half full with lines running back behind the motor. Steering rack doesn't seem to be taking any negative effects from doing this. Only downside is the little extra force needed to steer when I'm pulling out of a parking space or something.

Ran into this thread while looking for a little more info regarding this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8991

Now i start thinking.... People want to change out to the manual rack because it's easier to turn because of a different ratio. I'm thinking that I like the quicker steering of my P/s (i've been driving it around with the belt off the last couple of days).

So I start pulling everything apart. I jump under the car only to find three fittngs on the power steering rack??? So i wanna drain most of the fluid out and loop the lines and then loop the fittings together.
How does one go about this? is there one line I leave opened or cap off? Do I need a T fitting?

Anybody???
I have the pump taken off and hanging. Tomorrow is the day I have to get back to my wagon and get it fixed.
My friend just flew in from Afghanistan Yesterday morning so I no longer have his GTI as my backup vehicle while I'm working on my wagon.

Biggest line is the high pressure feed. The 2 smaller ones are returns/breathers. Join all 3 together.

Thank you man!!! Tomorrow is another day where I've got way too much on my plate. Knowing exactly what I need to do helps!

I don't have ps and its nothing.

I am in the process of removing my power steering and have a few questions. I got the pump out and currently have the hoses looped back into the reservoir but I would like to change it to being looped down on the rack for the cleanest and most efficient setup as well as having a better chance at passing nys inspection. Right now I'll admit it looks rather hacked together (because it is).

I have three steel lines running into my rack. Did you guys find the correct fittings to replace these lines so you have three hose barbs coming out of the rack to connect together? Or did you just cut the steel lines and slip a hose over them and clamp them down? Does anyone know what the thread diameter and pitch is on the fittings if I were to look for the correct ones? Ideally I'd like to get the correct fittings and "do it right" but cutting the hose is an option too if need be.

For those that have kept the power rack in, but removed the power, how do you like the difference? Is it more responsive, is it a better feel while driving? I've had a ton of EF Si's so I know that feel, but I'm wondering how the power rack minus the power feels.

Not hard at all to turn even when at a full stop. I like the feeling of it a lot better! I thought I may miss it but haven't looked back since i took it out.

I tried it out first by just taking the belt off. easy enough huh!