My car doesnt have powersteering at the moment, And its difficult to drive. I have heard about this s-10 manual rack, and i'm just wondering if anyone is using it. Where they got the parts at, How difficult the install was, And how much is it an improvement over no powersteering.

 

S10's don't have a manual rack. They have a manual steering box. Find one from a 84+ S10 and bolt it in.

Power steering boxes use power assist. They don't need a mechanical multiplier to turn the wheel. A manual steering box has a high mechanical advantage. A power box is usually about 2-1/2 turns stop to stop. A manual box is 7 turns.

Check Ebay. There's usually always one available. You want the version with a 4 bolts on the top cover not the earlier version with the 3 bolts on the top cover.

 

they also will have them or can get them at parts stores like advance, autozone, orileys (sp?), car quest, etc etc.

 

you can, but the problem is with a core charge.... units are scarce.
expect to pay double for a core for what the box costs.
keep checking ebay.
you will need to retain your steering arm and install it on the s10 box.
otherwise, its a direct bolt up.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/S10-M...spagenameZWDVW


would this work?

 

Yes. That's a 4 bolt top cover model.

 

4 minutes left!

 

How much weight would you save with this compared to a power-steering unit?

 

wow, $100 for one of those boxes! I lucked out and found one in a junkyard for $25 ...well, I'll admit it took me 2 hours to get off cause I didn't have the right tools on me so maybe $100 is worth not having to kill yourself removing one off a junked S10

 

dammit i missed it. I was outside doing some bondo on the camaro.

 

the actual box, not much. maybe 3-5 pounds.
all your weight is going to come off in fluid, pump, pulley, PS cooler, hoses, belt, bolts and such.
free up a hp or two and its cleaner.
good for a drag/weekend car.

 

probably 25-30 pounds after removing it all.

 

Like I already said, there's usually always at least one available on Ebay.

$100 for a used manual box is near the high end of what they go for but I've also seen them go for much higher. Typically they're in the $50-$80 range unless nobody is interested and not bidding. I've seen them go for $25 also. Price really depends on supply and demand. Lots listed and the price can be low. Only one or 2 listed and there's a bidding war to get it.

$100 can be a good deal for someone if they don't have an auto wrecker available (living in a big city etc) or just don't have the time to go searching for one. What's your time worth to keep going back week after week to see if one has showed up?

They're not as common as you would like. The S10 manual box is only available on the 4 cylinder S10's but not all 4 cylinder S10's have a manual steering box.

As for weight, what Stage20 said. You remove a lot of other stuff to clean up under the hood. You don't really want to convert to manual steering for a daily driver although a few have done so and are willing to live with it.

 

I may be interested in doing something like this.

How hard is it to parallel park a car with manual steering compared to powere steering?

 

 

i'd say you could parallel park with skinnies on the front, but not with factory 245s

 

Or a smaller than stock steering wheel. I struggle slightly driving in and out of my pit. A lot of hand over hand pulling on the steering wheel to make the sharp turn. The transbrake button attached to the steering wheel doesn't help. Once I'm driving I never notice it.

 

I wouldnt want a manual box unless it was a race car. I imagine it would be crap for doing donuts, burning out and drifting corners, ect. Keep having to go hand over hand LOL. I will take my WS6 tight ratio box anyday, and keep that 30 Lbs.

 

parallel parking wouldnt be the easiest, but it can be done.
i notice no difference in my car in steering from a 165r, 205/75 or a factory 245. none are worse than the other.


only hard turns at almost a stop require a lil muscle. once the car is rolling at any speed, its as easy as power steering.
a smaller steering wheel WILL get you with manual steering. be careful there.
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it is crap for donuts and drifting. thats the beauty of changing in and out parts to suit them to your needs.
there is no force(pump pressure) agasinst the box, so when you are in a donut, or say drifting, the wheel comes back violently fast since there is mechanical force against it.

apples and oranges. manual steering and power steering has its place.

 

okay i got the manual box today, i took all the bolts out for the one thats in the car now. I cant get the box off. Any suggestions?

 

you have to undo the steering shaft joint. if you have a plastic arm thats over your steering shaft, slide it towards the master cylinder, and there will be a clamp there. 7/16 socket i think. its been a while.
youll have to turn the wheel to find it.
make sure you mark center to center on the box or your car will turn really bad in one direction.
good luck.

 

Remove the pitman arm linkage nut. Hit on the pitman arm at the linkage until the linkage pops out or use a pickle fork to remove it.

As mentioned above, remove the bolt for the steering shaft and slide the shaft off the old steering box.

Disconnect both hydraulic lines

Remove the 3 bolts through the frame that go into the steering box and remove the steering box. It should fall off when the last bolt is removed.

Inspect the rail after the box is removed to see if it's cracked.