Steering Racks - AE92

**banana_socks** · 22-08-2010, 04:02 PM

Recently picked up a 1990 Corolla SX with the idea of turning it into a cheap track/rally car. Planning to keep it registered to keep my options open, but it's not my daily so will be fairly stripped out.

Currently has a bit of free play in the steering making it a bit vague, and the car kinda wallows around bumps. Haven't identified the cause yet, but leaning towards the rack. Have found a good price on a remanufactured rack, but it's a manual one opposed to power steering which I currently have. Are they interchangeable?

Planning on removing the aircon soon anyway, and eliminating the power steering pump would save me hassle sorting out the drive belt. Not worried about the extra steering effort either. Just want to confirm it's a straight swap before I spend my money.

PS: Totally in love with the 4AGE. It's not ridiculously fast, but it's so damn fun.

**MRMOPARMAN** · 22-08-2010, 07:59 PM

id be looking for the cause before spending money..

in my limited experience with fwd toyotas, a chopped out rack seems to be a fairly rare occurance. much more common are inner or outer tie rod ends, a loose rack mount or worn rack mounts.

**Casey-G** · 23-08-2010, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by banana_socks

Recently picked up a 1990 Corolla SX with the idea of turning it into a cheap track/rally car. Planning to keep it registered to keep my options open, but it's not my daily so will be fairly stripped out.

Currently has a bit of free play in the steering making it a bit vague, and the car kinda wallows around bumps. Haven't identified the cause yet, but leaning towards the rack. Have found a good price on a remanufactured rack, but it's a manual one opposed to power steering which I currently have. Are they interchangeable?

Planning on removing the aircon soon anyway, and eliminating the power steering pump would save me hassle sorting out the drive belt. Not worried about the extra steering effort either. Just want to confirm it's a straight swap before I spend my money.

PS: Totally in love with the 4AGE. It's not ridiculously fast, but it's so damn fun.

I have just been through what your thinking of doing. I downgraded my Psteering rack to a manual rack in order to shed some kilo's and free up some space in the bay.

The manual rack will not work with the P.Steer column without modification, but the manual column will bolt straight in its place with no modification at all. Only differences being the actual dimensions and the fact the manual rack has no adjustable column.

Main reason is the manual and Psteer columns are different length and so require to be mated to their designed rack.

The bushes ARE different, and you will probably need genuine ones as i looked through every catalog and couldn't find a thing.

You also need the upper and lower covers that bolt to the lower firewall from the manual rack.

Thats about all there is to know if you have any more questions dont hesitate to ask.

**banana_socks** · 23-08-2010, 10:21 PM

Normally it would be a good idea to isolate the cause, but I'd probably end up ditching the power steering regardless, so whatever is buggered won't change anything.

Pity it's not just a complete swap, will have to visit the wreckers for a few pieces before I attempt it. Thanks for the info though, exactly what I was looking for!

**Casey-G** · 23-08-2010, 10:37 PM

No probs sir

**trdee** · 23-08-2010, 11:27 PM

when you get the manual rack from wherever, be sure to install all new tie rods/balljoints/bushings. you should be doing this as a matter of course if you're building it as a track car anyway. they are consumable parts and should be replaced at regular intervals just like oil or sparkplugs etc etc

**Casey-G** · 23-08-2010, 11:40 PM

Obvious, vilo states the obvious

**trdee** · 24-08-2010, 11:52 AM

it's quite common for people not to do this, shits me to tears. thus obvious statements must be made.

where's captain obvious from the old toymods

**Casey-G** · 24-08-2010, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by trdee

it's quite common for people not to do this, shits me to tears. thus obvious statements must be made.

where's captain obvious from the old toymods

hahaha was playing but are you for real? :O Rods and rod ends should be done at a minimum..

**trdee** · 24-08-2010, 12:46 PM

deadly serious. used to happen all the time on twincam

**cjeff** · 06-10-2010, 02:06 PM

Hey Casey, are you definitely sure the Non-Power steer rack has no adjustable column? The reason I ask is that my Nova is manual steering, but definitely has an adjustable column. I'm wondering if it's possible that when they did the 4AGZE conversion on my car that is has a power steering rack but is not hooked up?

Also can anyone of you confirm how many turns lock-to-lock the power steering is? Cause my car is 5 turns lock-to-lock which makes for a lot of steering input for not much change of direction. Basically i'm seeing all the threads where people are taking out power-steering whereas I want to put it in

Craig

**Casey-G** · 06-10-2010, 04:31 PM

It may have been optional to have an adjustable collumn on the nova but im pretty sure all corolla's had non adj.

You would know if it has a power steering rack if there are hydraulic fittings on the rack itself.

Last time i counted lock to lock was about 4 3/4-5 turns, try driving round a carpark at slow speeds and turning, if you up the ratio so its less lock-to-lock it will make it even harder at slow speeds..

or just get on the roids n upgrade the rack ratio

**banana_socks** · 07-10-2010, 05:27 PM

Just thought I'd update this with a few things I've found out for future reference.

-Manual column is definitely needed, but it bolts up fine. The wiring mounts for the combination switch, etc are all the same.

-The key barrel will slide right out if in the ACC position. If you don't have the key (like the column I bought) you'll need to drill out the little gold cylinder in the side. This is difficult, as the bit you're drilling is high tensile steel, but it's surrounded by softer metal, and wiggles around a bit. A locksmith would probably get it out without damage, but not for free

-The plastic surrounds for the column (behind the wheel) are different for adjustable and non-adjustable. As far as I can tell they don't change with power steering. So the covers I bought from a non adjustable power steering column should fit my manual column.

Can't comment on the swap as the car is in a million pieces, but have done this part.