I have a 1991 Subaru Legacy with a dying power steering rack. For various reasons, I'd like to convert it to manual steering. Has anyone swapped a first-gen Legacy power steering rack into something that could come with manual steering? I'd like to figure out how to reverse engineer it. I have a 1990 Loyale manual steering rack for comparison, but the mounts look like they'll give me some difficulty. Any ideas?

in the bottom left hand corner of the current screen you'll see a similar threads area - in one of those Josh (Legacy777) mentions that this is often asked on nasioc and suggests that's a good place to look for this info.

 

seems to me there was a discussion last year about this and it was on here.

here's an EJ rack into an EA vehicle thread. it actually looks totally do-able. the one main issue they have is cutting holes for the lines, but you're going the opposite way so that's not even an issue for you as the holes are already there and you won't need them any more.

 

the only other issue they had was the angle of the EJ rack input is steeper, doesn't seem like they had any issues working around that though and again you'd be going the opposite way - which means it might make it simpler or harder but either way should be easy to work around.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=118167&highlight=steering+rack

 

you're serious, you asked this question over a year ago!

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=106833&highlight=steering+rack

I thought I had! I searched for a couple hours and couldn't find the thread. Oops.

 

Thanks for the link! I'll keep updated with pictures as I progress.

Looks like I'll be returning my 1991 Loyale rack and ordering one for a 1985 GL today. Sweet!

nice hit. i've seen old gen new rebuilt racks on ebay really cheap before like $30, but not sure i've ever seen a manual rack as i've never looked for one. might be worth a shot though to check current and past auctions to see if they ever show up.

After further research, Rock Auto, where I purchased the rack from, is listing the same PN for a 1991 Loyale as they are for a 1985 GL. Here's what I have:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs041.snc6/167136_490133145807_505680807_6395468_552212_n.jpg

be really careful, rockauto often lists parts that aren't compatible with what you've selected as you "drill down". not saying that's the case here, but nearly ever other online parts place does a much better job than rockauto of listing parts.

 

i'd cross reference with thepartsbin.com or ebay, etc.