Manual Steering Conversion - Slew o' questions

[Darkwriter77]

Okay, so I'm going to have to do away with the slobbery ol' power steering setup on the Notch pretty soon, as I'm leaking out more P/S fluid while it sits during the week than I actually use up while driving it, and it's making my driveway look like a dinosaur took a leak on it. Soooooo, the plan is to replace the power rack with a manual rack/pinion and somehow route the belt to only run the alt, water pump, and smog pump. Thus, my bunch o' questions are as follows:

1. Other than a manual rack and manual steering shaft, what other added goodies do I need to do the swap? (I'm assuming the tie rod ends are the same between the P/S and manual racks, right?)
2. As long as it isn't mangled during the removal, will the rag joint from my P/S steering shaft work with the manual rack/shaft?
3. HOW the HECK do I route the belt to include the water pump, alternator, and smog pump (no A/C) without having to also install a standard-rotation water pump and a ribbed water pump pulley? I mean, do I need to buy one of those funky tension rod things, or just flip the stock tensioner, or ... or ... something?
4. Anyone know exactly what belt size to use for a water pump/alt/smog setup?
5. I know the steering effort will be a lot tougher in parking lots and low speeds, but will it be ungodly hard to turn if I were to be running, say, 245/50/R16 tires front/back? (Or will I pretty much have to switch to running skinnies or nothing wider than 225's up front?)

I know a lot of folk have done the swap, but I dunno if anyone out there has also kept their smog pump in place - everyone usually seems to delete the P/S at the same time as the smog pump and the A/C. I still have my UPR A/C delete pulley, which I suppose I could use as an idler pulley if I absolutely had to, but the bearing in that thing is wobbly and I can't seem to find an exact-sized replacement to fit inside of it that doesn't just wiggle and slop all over the darned place (which I fear will result in the thing throwing/eating a belt at high RPM's).

Mucho thanks in advance!

 

[Rick 91GT]

The tie rods are different.

You'll need a new steering shaft or atleast the adapter to make your PS shaft work on the manual rack.

You can re drill the pin placement on the tensioner and run the belt over the pulley, the March rod makes things nice as well.

My recommendation is to buy the Flaming River Maual Rack kit, comes with everything you need and it really is worth every penny. You can even get the close ration model if you plan to continue to run large tires and are worried about low speed turning.

 

[Darkwriter77]

The thing about the Flaming River rack that I don't get is why it's so friggin' expensive. I mean, the thing runs, what $400+? Other than maybe being lighter, why's it so pricey compared to a rebuilt OEM manual rack from any parts store? (Last one I priced was about $175 for a reman. IIRC, they usually list two steering ratios available on those.) Just always wondered that. The Flaming River rack's way outta my budget, anyway.

Didn't know they had an adapter for the P/S shaft - where can I score one of those? (Might be easier/cheaper than grabbing a manual shaft...?) A brand new manual shaft runs about $75 from Summit, last I looked, but I can find one local at the boneyard or Craigslist ads for half that, or less. Hopefully an adapter's cheaper. (Sure wish I had a lathe and/or some metalworking skills, I'd just fab one up, myself.)

 

[Darkwriter77]

TTT


Anyone?

 

[Darkwriter77]

One more bump.

Someone? Anyone? Purty-please?

 

[r.barn5.0]

I just installed a flaming river rack on mine.

Cost was right at $500 for all the parts you need like
tie rod ends and bushings and steering shaft.

You can look in junk yards for a manual rack on a fox body Ford.
There was some early 80's mid size sedan that you can get them off.

You will need new tie rod ends and steering shaft.

It is a LOT harder to turn the wheel now for sure.
It's not unmanageable but you definitely need two hands to drive
and your girlfriend probably couldnt turn it in parking lot.

Dont forget the post install professional alignment job its going to need too.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Thanks for the input.

I'm thinking, as far as the belt routing goes, I'm probably going to wind up having to use that UPR A/C delete pulley as an idler pulley so that I have something to run the belt around in order to avoid the necessity for a funky tensioner arrangement, new water pump (standard rotation instead of stock reverse rotation), and W/P pulley. Sucks, because then I need to figure out where I can either get a bearing to fit in that stupid thing better (the bearing snap-ringed into the A/C delete pulley from UPR is all sloppy and allows the pulley to wobble and rattle obnoxiously) or just replace it with some kinda large universal 6-ribbed idler pulley. Oh well ... I spent the money on the thing, might as well use it.

As far as the rack, I'm still curious, what's the advantage of the Flaming River rack over an OEM manual rack? Is it just weight savings, or what?

And does anyone have a link to where I can score one of those steering shaft adapters, so that I might not need to fiddle with replacing the P/S shaft with a manual shaft?

 

[Rick 91GT]

I think the adapter is PT# FR1604...

Check your PM's I have some info for you. Just Call Jeremy at UPR and get a new bearing for your pulley.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Cool beans.

As far as the pulley, I think the problem is more with the pulley, itself, than the bearing. The bearing is actually still good, but it sits inside the pulley too loosely - the bore through the center of the pulley is too big for the bearing, so even with the snap ring in place, it just kind of wallows around inside of the pulley. I'm pretty sure I can just replace the whole pulley assembly with a universal 6-ribbed idler pulley from Autozone or Checker and run a slightly shorter belt (unless I can find a big honkin' idler pulley of equal 4" size, which ain't too likely) - it just sucks that it's gonna look even more ugly in there, and it's one more thing I'd rather delete than have basically just taking up space in the engine bay. Bah ... c'est la vie, non?

 

[lang williams]

i've seen manual racks on ebay for under $200, any one have any experience with them? the previous owner of my car just looped the lines an made the power rack manual so i was looking at those.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Depends on what kinda manual racks they're selling. If they're just OEM manual racks, you may as well just go to an Autozone or whatever and buy it there, maybe for less ... and you get a lifetime warranty there, too. (Whereas eBay stuff is pretty much buy-at-your-own-risk crap.)

I suppose if worse came to worse, I could do the ghetto delete and loop the lines on mine like that, but at that point I may as well just keep the P/S pump, too, because both my rack AND my pump are leaky. In fact, the way my funds are, I dunno if I can even afford a friggin' idler pulley in the near future to make the thing right...

 

[smr]

the flaming river R&P is worth every penny. it was the nicest fitting part I have installed on my car. I have the quick ratio one and it doesnt seem to be a pain to turn at all. I think i am a bit stronger then average but I am used to driving my loaded f150 with power steering and it doesnt feel too much tighter then that. Plus the lock to lock is like less then 3 full turns or something. its nice.

 

[Darkwriter77]

I might upgrade to one of those later on down the road when I've got the bank, but for right now, I'm having to do this as ghetto-cheap as possible. As always, being poor is teh suck.