PS delete/Steering rack advice

[603Racing]

Could just be a coincidence, but I ran mine for about 4 months without PS and no PS fluid in the rack. My wife complained, so I reconnected the PS. Now I have a hitch when turning the steering wheel, same spot every time, about 45* of movement in either direction of the steering wheel. The hitch is definitely in the rack, absolutely everything else is less than a year old (rack and inner tire rods are original).

If you have the Condor plate, I would use it. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that moving parts that constantly have forces exerted on them would need lubrication. There was the comment made about "internal lubrication", but what does that mean? If all the fluid is drained, logic would dictate there would be less lubrication.

[amcp]

I've deleted 2 e36 racks and swapped them into the e30. You do not need a block off plate or to loop the lines. Completely drain the PS fluid from the rack and just cap the rack with the stock bolts and some rubber tubing. The racks are internally greased and dont need PS fluid for lube.
If you dont drain all the PS fluid, the rack will have resistance.

[mohamed...]

If you have an airbag car and want to swap an e36 rack buy just the spacers from e30tech. On my car you have to notch the firewall with the stock steering coupler. I'm getting an IE one monday so i will let you know how it goes. Mine is binding but it isn't too bad. Oh and if you do the spacers they go on top of the rack. Oh and also don't drain the fluid. It will destroy the seals inside the rack and make it harder to turn.

[jrockbk]

So much conflicting info...i have a 91 318is airbag car and a e36 m3 rack on floor of my garage, only reason I haven't done the swap yet is b/c of whole firewall notching seems intimidating. DO I NEED TO NOTCH FIREWALL?

[gman325is]

I can tell you that I put a Z3 Steering Rack in my 1990 325is, three years ago and I did not have to notch my firewall. All I did was make a couple of spacers for the mounting bolts to the sub-frame, every thing else was good to go, no problem.
When I deleted the power steering on my Spec e30 Race Car all I did was remove the pump and hoses, put bolts from the hardware store(cut down) in the holes where the lines used to go. Before I plugged the holes I turned the wheel back and forth, to remove some of the fluid(but not all). I raced this whole past season with out any issues, seems to work just fine.

[AndrewBird]

nope.



exactly. In fact, the factory rack is internally lubricated and there is no need to add anything. You don't even need to loop the rack as condor's delete plate suggests. Cap it off the banjo bolts with some tubing after you've dumped as much fluid out of the rack by steering lock to lock. I probably have over 10k miles on mine without issues.

Condor's block off plate is drilled so fluid can move from one side to the other. It doesn't just block off the ports. If you capped both ports without connecting them, when you turn the rack one way or the other, pressure would build up because the fluid has no where to go.

[Jaxx_]

Condor's block off plate is drilled so fluid can move from one side to the other. It doesn't just block off the ports. If you capped both ports without connecting them, when you turn the rack one way or the other, pressure would build up because the fluid has no where to go.

Yes, this is the reason you remove the fluid. There should be no fluid in the rack. There is no reason to have fluid in the rack if you don't have a pump behind the fluid. The only thing you are compressing is air, and not much air at that.

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[Jaxx_]

If you have the Condor plate, I would use it. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that moving parts that constantly have forces exerted on them would need lubrication. There was the comment made about "internal lubrication", but what does that mean? If all the fluid is drained, logic would dictate there would be less lubrication.

The hydraulic fluid is only for assisting force.

Edit: This was just touched on in this thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=294944

[seatown88]

Yes, this is the reason you remove the fluid. There should be no fluid in the rack. There is no reason to have fluid in the rack if you don't have a pump behind the fluid. The only thing you are compressing is air, and not much air at that.

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Exactly, haven't had a single issue running PS delete plugs on my PRO3 car with two race seasons on it. The small amount of air within the rack is easily compressed, but the fluid does need to be adequately removed... typically 2 full lock-to-lock turns of the steering wheel will suffice.

[henryki]

Belt on my Power steering was looking pretty bad so i just cut it off, and still have the pump, and everything hooked up but no belt, so ghetto PS delete with a massive weight reduction of .25 lbs for the belt. but I love how the car feels without it, my forearms have gotten a considerable amount of tone from maneuvering the car in parking lots and traffic, but other than that going over 2 mph I don't even notice the lack of it.