I recently de-powered the steering rack and followed the directions. My question for the guys that have done this, is when you are turning, does the steering correct itself after a turn and go back to center, or do you have to turn the wheel back to center? On mine, once you turn left or right, I have to center the steering myself to go straight again. If I let go of the wheel, then the car continues to go in the direction the steering wheel was turned. If mine isnt working correctly then I think used too much grease.

thanks guys..

 

I had a problem like that,earlier.I Noticed that the if I tightened the steering Column Wheel Nut up TIGHT,It would not allow the Steering to return..Maybe when you put the Rack back in,you may have shoved the Column into the Rack's Connection a little further.I would Suggest to Maybe Loosen the Nut there.Pull the column a Bit to give it a little slack,and Tighten again..

 

Are you talking about the the nut that tightens the pinion in the rack, or the spline on the pinion that connects to the intermediate shaft? Thanks for the help.

 

I loosened the nut that tightens the pinion in the rack and that helps a little bit. The torque specs on Alldata say its should be between 14-22 ft lbs. I have it at 14 ft lbs. Does anybody know what would happen if i have it torqued down any less? I will also use thread lock if it is under the torque spec.

 

If you tighten this part up too much it makes for heavy steering apparently. That could also cause a loss of centering. Mine self centers no problem.

http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php?x=2

 

black91n/a
mine isnt too tight, but did you happen to keep the rack bushing in or did you scrap that as well. it is the part that is right after the rack stopper, and right before the seal that was to be dremeled off on the rack. i kept mine in and i think that may affect it if it was supposed to be out. i would think that it supports the rack in the housing. thanks again

 

did you take off ur steering wheel? if you put that nut on too tight it will do the same thing.

 

The ONLY thing that I took out was the seal. Maybe if you take it apart again something obvious will show up that could be the problem. When in doubt dissassemble.

 

Just wondering to all the guys that did this, i heard that with doing this the steering is still alittle harder then a nonpower rack, is this true?

 

Yes

 

Yes, but it's SOOOOOO worth it.

 

i keep thinkin about it but think i will just get a new nonpower rack if thats the case

 

Well there's advantages and disadvantages to each. The factory manual rack will be a little easier to steer, but you'll have to move the wheel more. The depowered racks have a faster ratio, but will have a little more effort. It's not that bad at all. You relly don't notice after a while, and I've done 8+ hour roadtrips, autocross and track driving with mine and the increased feel more than makes up for a slight increase in effort when parking.

 

I have a depowered rack and the effort isn't really all that significant.

it's nothing like the over-boosted feel that it has out of the box- but it isn't difficult either. It's pretty light.

all I did was take the lines/pump off of my rack, turn the wheel a few times till allthe fluid squirted out, and then plugged the holes.

my steering self-centers.

 

While rolling, I never notice my rack is depowered. Only when im sitting still do I work out

 

I honestly find it irritating the FIRST time I turn the wheel after I pull it out in the spring or if it's sat for a while. And then I forget all about it.

 

no i did not remove the steering wheel.
the only thing i took out was the seal also.
i even torqued everything to the lowest spec, so nothing can be too tight.
im going to pull the rack apart again. only thing i can think of that i may have done wrong is put more grease than it needed.

 

do i remove this ring or no?

 

First question is whoes directions did you follow?

 

i was reading the flyin miata writeup, and also bacon's thread for 3rd gen conversion. bacon's writeup is missing the pictures now but i think he mentioned there were 2 rings that could be removed? which is confusing since there is only 1. also, flying miata writeup appears to retain the ring, since removal isn't mentioned and it shows the ring intact during reassembly. reason i ask if the ring is necessary, is that i nicked it while cutting the steel collar.. and if it is a necessary part i will have to replace it. i can't seem to find information about which way is really the right way to go about this

 

Read mine - It's more gooder

 

thanks for the link. didn't find the info though, but looking at your pictures it looks like you removed the ring? i can't tell for sure, theres no closeup picture. tried im'ing u, get back to me when u can

 

my IM is on @ my work comp and I never turn it off - won't be there until Wed.... hit me up PM style

 

i know SOMEWHERE if the search button was used, there is a complete write up on this subject. very detailed and lots of pictures and walk throughs.
search from now on.

peace

 

TitaniumTT's writeup is very good and I used it when I did my 15.2:1 rack this past summer. I really like the welded pinion shaft, it adds that extra little bit of precision and quickness to the responses.