Zerk Fittings on Steering Rack

[brndck]

Originally Posted by racepar1

-Less weight yes
-Cleaner engine bay yes
-Better steering feel NO

2 out of 3. just my .02
I've driven a depowered s13 before and imo there is no advantage.
ae86 feels great with manual steering, but its also a fairly light car

[racepar1]

Originally Posted by brndck

2 out of 3. just my .02
I've driven a depowered s13 before and imo there is no advantage.
ae86 feels great with manual steering, but its also a fairly light car

I would be willing to bet the S13 wasn't de-powered correctly. Removing the lines and draining the fluid isn't enough. You need to cut the piston off the rack gear like I said. S-chasis steering is really pretty numb and doesn't re-center well. It's not terrible, but go drive some M3s and Porsches, it's not that great. Correctly executed a manual steering conversion vastly improves both. S-chasis guys don't do it because they're all drifters. When you're going from lock to lock repeatedly the increased effort is going to be tiring, especially with funny knuckles that screw with the leverage that the steering has on the wheels.

[brndck]

Originally Posted by racepar1

. Correctly executed a manual steering conversion vastly improves both. S-chasis guys don't do it because they're all drifters. When you're going from lock to lock repeatedly the increased effort is going to be tiring, especially with funny knuckles that screw with the leverage that the steering has on the wheels.

Yeah I'd have to try it again on a grip setup instead of a car setup for drifting. Prob night and day.

[Hoffman5982]

Originally Posted by racepar1

I would be willing to bet the S13 wasn't de-powered correctly. Removing the lines and draining the fluid isn't enough. You need to cut the piston off the rack gear like I said. S-chasis steering is really pretty numb and doesn't re-center well. It's not terrible, but go drive some M3s and Porsches, it's not that great. Correctly executed a manual steering conversion vastly improves both. S-chasis guys don't do it because they're all drifters. When you're going from lock to lock repeatedly the increased effort is going to be tiring, especially with funny knuckles that screw with the leverage that the steering has on the wheels.

This. Steering feel is 100% better on a depowered rack. I miss it so much. You feel literally everything. While drifting you feel exactly where the wheel needs to be. It's unreal. Going from a depowered rack back to a powered one, I was relying solely on muscle memory. Before I could give very little input and feel what the car was doing. With PS I felt like I was giving very little input but because it felt so numb I got nothing back. The only downside I can see with the depowered rack, besides increased effort on higher speed entries and super technical tracks, is it can literally injure you. The first time I slid with my manual rack I dipped off the road. When the inner wheel caught the lip of the concrete it snapped the wheel back and I tried to catch it. I'm not kidding when I say it sprained my wrist. Had a friend who broke his thumb in a similar situation. You learn to just let go if the wheel goes sporadic like that. The only other times I noticed that happening was if I tried to pull a quick 180 to turn around

[PoorMans180SX]

Originally Posted by Hoffman5982

This. Steering feel is 100% better on a depowered rack. I miss it so much. You feel literally everything. While drifting you feel exactly where the wheel needs to be. It's unreal. Going from a depowered rack back to a powered one, I was relying solely on muscle memory. Before I could give very little input and feel what the car was doing. With PS I felt like I was giving very little input but because it felt so numb I got nothing back. The only downside I can see with the depowered rack, besides increased effort on higher speed entries and super technical tracks, is it can literally injure you. The first time I slid with my manual rack I dipped off the road. When the inner wheel caught the lip of the concrete it snapped the wheel back and I tried to catch it. I'm not kidding when I say it sprained my wrist. Had a friend who broke his thumb in a similar situation. You learn to just let go if the wheel goes sporadic like that. The only other times I noticed that happening was if I tried to pull a quick 180 to turn around

I use a restrictor in my high pressure line to increase steering feel.