What steer racks will work on a DA. My power steering rack died on me today and need to replace with something ASAP.
Ok here is what I’m going to go with, or at least try. Civic manual rack, with DA tie rods and tie rod ends. Will let you know how it works, should be in by wednesday. Anyone else try this setup?
88-91 civic
I might swap over to this as well. Along with the quaife quick steer kit.
you got money to waste. if you can find a 91 si or crx hf steering rack those a perfect dont need a quaife gear box…
I’ve see a few posts were they say the crx ones are shorter.
Yeah I’ve got money to waste.
Not doing it cause my friend that did do it says the stering is longer. Just going to replace all my steering components.
Yes the turning radious is bigger with the manual ef rack that is why you would need to put in the quaife quick steer kit.
Do not buy a Civic Si rack if you plan on using the Quaife rack and pinion. I know because I bought an '89 Civic Si hatch manual rack (just over four turns stock lock to lock) and disassembled it completely. The housing of the Si rack is aparently different from the DX housing and so are the internal parts. The Si housing prevents the pinion gear from aligning properly with the rack. I wasted $50 because I didn’t know this and I’m trying to save the rest of you money if you do decide to do the Quaife swap.
Interestingly, the Si rack came apart really easy after I cut off the lock washers and removed the pinion dust seal. Unfortunately, I still can’t get the DX rack apart. I removed the dust seal and 35mm snap ring underneath. I think I’ll have to heat the housing up with a torch and maybe then the pinion gear will come out. Any advice would be appreciated.
Lastly, the Quaife rack is close to the advertised 2.83 turns, eventhough I have heard about some controversy on the internet about it being more. I can tell because there are eight teeth on the pinion and 23 on the rack. 23/8 = 2.875 turns.
Well, the semester is over and I’ve had a chance to go home. So, I used a torch to heat the pinion bearing and rack housing for about two minutes. The pinion gear came out like butter. Now, I just have to order the rebuild parts.
The specs on the rebuild are the Quaife rack & pinion for 88-91 Civic. All new Honda OEM DX inner tie rods, dust boots, dust seal, lock washers. I reused the 88-91 Civic rack housing, inner rack bushing, all the parts used for adjusting tension on the rack, clamps, and slip rings. The outer tie rods are MOOG for the 90-93 Integra and have grease fittings. I greased the rack with Mobil1 synthetic grease. Truthfully, the only thing I didn’t like about the rebuild was bending the lock washers for the inner tie rods. I used a screwdriver and hammer to make them bend and then finished the bending with pliers. In retrospect I would not have used pliers because they scratched the inner tie rods up a little creating burrs. Instead I would have used a large diameter (1/2" maybe) punch with a hammer to close the lock washer.
I’ve now got the Civic DX rack with Quaife conversion in the car and have driven it for a week or two. The craziest part was getting the old power steering rack out was way harder than installing the DX rack. For some reason the universal joint that connects the steering column to the rack did not want to disconnect itself from the rack even after I removed both bolts on it. I had to use a long piece of wood and wedge it between the floor and the joint (basically using leverage) to break it loose.
To deal with the alignment problem of the pinion shaft through the floorboard I shimmed the rack with two washers for the bolt on the driver’s side that is closest to the rear of the car. There are four bolts that hold the rack to the chassis, you will know what I mean. This allowed the pinion to align correctly with the universal joint. I did not need to do any hammering or bending to make the clearance (by the way I got the shim idea from an old post I read). As stated in other posts you also need to put the bushing from the Civic rack into the bushing for the Integra rack in order to bolt up the passenger side.
I am overall very pleased with the rack especially on the highway. The looseness felt in the steering wheel using the power steering rack with valves removed is gone. I definitely feel more in control of my car now and it is very responsive. The effort to turn the wheel is somewhat slightly increased though.
so what your sayin is that i should get a civic dx rack if i wanted to use a Quaife quick steer kit and convert to manual steering? and that this will not work with an si rack?
isnt it possible to jus put spacers in the rack b4 the inner tie rod, and with that give you quicker steering and more angle?
you can use any 88-91 civic/crx steering rack. however the quiafe kit only works with the DX and HF steering racks.
yeah…thats wat i meant. thanks.
but could you space the inner tie rod to get quicker steering instead of gettin a quiafe kit? of course steering wont be as quick, but wouldnt the be a cheap way of getting a little more angle with a manual rack?
I dont think that would be safe, so I wouldnt venture to do it. Then again, I dont know shit about steering systems.
well, jus a thought. i started out with rear wheel drive cars which got me into drifting. and a lot of the drifters do it for more angle and quicker steerings. tein makes a inner tie rod kit that includes spacers that are about 5mm thick for the 240. i’ve helped several friends install them and it requires you to use thread lock. So i guess that would make it safer. They make quite a difference. i just dont know if the same can be done to the civic rack because i havent looked at them. but if the inner tierods are anything like wat im thinking. this should work.
but of course. it wont compare to a quiafe kit.
I don’t know for sure, but putting spacers would probably induce a toe-out effect which would help the car turn in quicker. This would wear out the tires quicker though. You wouldn’t need spacers to induce a toe-out on the front. It could be dialed in at the alignment shop. Here’s a pic of the inner tie rod.
no it wouldnt. thats why there are tie rod ends. After you space it. you would need to get your toe realigned. that would fix the toe out problem.
And from the picture your showing me. this would work great. A lot of FC (rx-7) guys jus put washers in there. Just be sure to put thread lock on the threads. You’ll also get more steering angle. which can allow for tighter turns. good for parking and u turns. but at full lock you may notice rubbing of the inner wheel well depending on the rim and tire size.
thanks for the pic. my question is now answered.
I just got done doing the swap. Cant wait to get my ek9 pulley!!!
hey guys not to jack a thread or anything but i just recently did the manual steering rack conversion from a 88-91 civic/crx si and i was wondering if anyone has had any problems with the knuckle from the rack to the steering wheel? it seems to be that the stock knuckle is too short. anyways i just wanted to know if anyone that did the swap had this problem. if so then what knuckle did you guys use?? thanks