I finally had to bite the bullet and ditch the power steering. After last race the car leaked all the fluid on the trailer. I spent this weekend fixing what I could and got the leaks from a gusher to a dribbler but that was still too much. I took the rack all the way out and tried the conversion that Karl Zimmerman posted on the NASA site. His instructions were very straight forward and thorough and even I could figure it out. I've got it back together minus the seals and just have to weld up the old holes. I'll let you all know how it works out when it's back in.

On another note, a few weeks ago Kim and I were at Pick n Pull and saw a 924S with brand spanking new slotted rotors, no rust and absolutely no wear at all. I only had a couple of screwdrivers on me so left them. Kim offered to borrow tools from someone so we could take them then but I said we'd be back and the car would still be there. Went back today and walked up to the same spot and there was a white 924S, only not the same one(what are the odds of 2 identical 924S's ending up in the same junkyard?). This one had nothing useful, so I guess I snoozed and lossed.

Hi Ron,

Technically, that's not a true manual rack conversion but reusing the p/s rack after the p/s pump and belt, reservoir, hoses, p/s cooler has been removed.

This is a good mod. to lose weight if your p/s system leaks or is broken and you don't want to spend the money to repair it.
I don't have my weight loss chart handy but looking at my notes the p/s pump is 4.5 lbs by itself.

It'll be interesting to try a greased fill P/S rack via Karl's method.

Art's method is much simpler without taking the old p/s rack out (assuming the leak is not at the rack itself).
1. Remove all the old p/s attachments (pump, reservoir, hoses, etc.) to lose weight.
2. fill top rack hole where hoses used to go in with p/s fluid.
3. turn the wheel all the way to the left/right and let the excess fluid drip out.
4. plug holes. The BMW oil drain plug part# 11-13-742-994 fits this hole perfectly and is about $4-$5 each.

Or better yet, I have a real manual rack that I can sell you if you'd like. Let me know before I list it for sale.

rd7839 wrote:


Don't you hate it when the wife is right?
You have to act fast at Pick-n-Pull, there are guys that make the rounds somtimes daily snagging good parts for resale. I've seen them rip, tear, and completely destroy anything attached to the item they want.
But at the 3 locations I've scouted, there are always more 944's in with the RX-7's than the German cars, sometimes they get missed by the scavengers.