WCF Hydraulic PS Question (Page 4/5)
hnthomps DEC 15, 04:10 PM
This is a photo of the actual 88 Fiero EHPS rack. Maybe that will be a start to help someone modify an existing rack.



Nelson
Spoon DEC 15, 10:32 PM

quote
Originally posted by Slabsurfer:

Interesting.

It looks like you shifted the rack over towards the passenger side by about a quarter inch?

That, and rotated the assembly forward a bit?

I'll have to see what that looks like in my hands.



I didn't shift it. There's a shadow across that rack and my camera was at a bad angle. Plus the u-strap on the mounting plate (passenger side) sits in a groove cast into the rack and prevents any left to right movement in addition to the alignment peg. Those 2 double threaded extenders are important and should be used to bring the steering geometry back to factory specs like the original rack.

It's been a while since I did my conversion but I recall 2.5 turns lock to lock. Only took a few miles of winding road to get use to it. Lane changing on the freeway is new experience and it doesn't feel squirrely or dangerous to me. Externally the standard ratio rack appears to look the same as the quick.
Hope it aligns up for you.

Spoon


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"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut

Rickady88GT DEC 16, 05:52 PM

quote
Originally posted by hnthomps:

This is a photo of the actual 88 Fiero EHPS rack. Maybe that will be a start to help someone modify an existing rack.



Nelson



LOL, I knew it looked familiar.
The original Fiero rack can be modified for Hydro assistance but that would not fix the poor gear ratio.
OldGuyinaGT DEC 17, 11:28 PM
Description of cancelled Fiero power steering, from www.fierofocus.com:

Subject: (Fiero) Power Steering

Steering Type: Electro-Hydraulic, power rack-and-pinion

(speed-sensitive, variable-effort)

Steering Ratio: 16.5:1

Turning Diameter: 32.5 feet (9.9 m)

Steering Wheel Turns: 3.0 (lock-to-lock)
Slabsurfer DEC 27, 10:31 PM

quote
Originally posted by Spoon:


I didn't shift it. There's a shadow across that rack and my camera was at a bad angle. Plus the u-strap on the mounting plate (passenger side) sits in a groove cast into the rack and prevents any left to right movement in addition to the alignment peg. Those 2 double threaded extenders are important and should be used to bring the steering geometry back to factory specs like the original rack.

It's been a while since I did my conversion but I recall 2.5 turns lock to lock. Only took a few miles of winding road to get use to it. Lane changing on the freeway is new experience and it doesn't feel squirrely or dangerous to me. Externally the standard ratio rack appears to look the same as the quick.
Hope it aligns up for you.

Spoon




Got under the car tonight to wrestle with rack. I noticed that as I rotated the rack forward, the bottom of the output comes into conflict with the custom bracket.

https://i.imgur.com/NwpliIl.jpg




Closer look:

https://i.imgur.com/UVzBKsW.jpg



It looks as if the mounting bracket would need to have some material removed, too

I think that rather than notch the rack and mounting bracket both, I plan on getting a rack from '96.

Thanks again for your help, in all this.

Spoon JAN 07, 08:10 PM
Good move. Bite the bullet and get the older rack. Come back and let us know how you made out.

Spoon

------------------
"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut

Slabsurfer JAN 08, 07:18 PM

The '00 model is in front. The '96 behind it should line up much better!

https://i.imgur.com/phKEH1W.jpg



As I get the "bad" rack torn down, I'm stuck at a small spot.

The adapters were installed with Loctite, per the instructions from WCF.

https://i.imgur.com/wwun0H9.jpg


Has anyone removed theirs before?

I could jam that punch into that hole. But, I think it'd snap before the adapter yields?

If I knew the thread size, I wonder if I could get a couple of nuts on it and go at it with my impact driver or a long wrench?

Your thoughts??
olejoedad JAN 09, 09:43 AM
Heat the adapter to break the Loc-Tite bond.
marc-alan JAN 23, 01:21 PM
I ran into the exact same problem. I bought the power steering rack, year 2000 built up from West Coast along with their mounting rack. I spend the better part of the afternoon trying to get this to line up by rotating and even cut a small amount from the mounting bracket supplied. It would not work well.

Went out and bought a '95 steering rack, moved everything over, yes use heat to remove adapter threads. You may need to double up on some nuts on the 14 mm x 1.5 mm thread to break the 18 mm x 1.5 mm thread portion out of the rack, especially if you used red loctite. I had to recut the threads on both sides to clean up the loctite on the threads.

Then, the new rack bolted up easily, no angle issues, no rubbing on the cooling pipe.

I highly recommend not using the 2000 steering rack and use the 1995 rack, angle of double D shaft is much better for fitment.
Spoon JAN 23, 09:17 PM
Glad to see things are coming around.

Spoon

------------------
"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut