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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ 911 steering rack question

Posted by: Nickm1 May 6 2005, 10:04 AM

When I bought this car I got a 911 rack with it but its not put on the car. what are the advantages of switching and is it very hard/worth the effort.

Posted by: davep May 6 2005, 10:07 AM

No advantage to a 911 rack. A bit tricky to replace anyway.

Posted by: SirAndy May 6 2005, 10:39 AM

QUOTE (davep @ May 6 2005, 08:07 AM)
No advantage to a 911 rack. A bit tricky to replace anyway.

no need for the 911 rack ...

Andy

Posted by: sechszylinder May 7 2005, 01:37 AM

Hi Nick,

the steering racks are not interchangable, but the they can be modified to fit into a 914.
I've modfied a 911 steering rack from a 1987 911 carrera. They provide stronger ball bearings
and of course the 911 ignition switch (nice for conversion cars) .

let me know if you like to see a pic of the modified rack ...

luftgekühlte Grüße from Berlin

benno

Posted by: SirAndy May 7 2005, 10:57 AM

QUOTE (sechszylinder @ May 6 2005, 11:37 PM)
let me know if you like to see a pic of the modified rack ...

what a question!

Posted by: John Jentz May 7 2005, 04:21 PM

QUOTE (Nickm1 @ May 6 2005, 12:04 PM)
When I bought this car I got a 911 rack with it but its not put on the car. what are the advantages of switching and is it very hard/worth the effort.

They are the same rack. The input shafts are of different lengths and the couplings have a different hardness. Since they both bolt on you can swap them. But as others have said, why bother? The net result is no change.

Posted by: bondo May 7 2005, 04:28 PM

Related hijack:

I have two racks, 1 914 and one 911. How do I tell which is in better condition? The 911 one has turbo tie rods, but those can be moved over.

Posted by: RAR May 7 2005, 07:39 PM

Check for smoothness, dried grease, and I believe the bushings the rack slides on wear, so take a look at that too.

Posted by: bondo May 7 2005, 07:42 PM

I just noticed that on one of them the shaft the steering wheel connects to can wiggle. The other doesn't wiggle at all. They both seem to have the same abount of play and are equally smooth. The shaft wiggle has to be a bad thing, right?

Posted by: RAR May 7 2005, 08:41 PM

I suppose it depends on what's wiggling and why. AA in their 700 fact book used to suggest using the 914 rubber pie assembly over the 911 one. Don't know what others have done along these lines. I'd use the 911 rack since it's out of the car, all other things being equal. Is the pie where the wiggle is?

Posted by: bondo May 7 2005, 08:49 PM

QUOTE (RAR @ May 7 2005, 07:41 PM)
I suppose it depends on what's wiggling and why. AA in their 700 fact book used to suggest using the 914 rubber pie assembly over the 911 one. Don't know what others have done along these lines. I'd use the 911 rack since it's out of the car, all other things being equal. Is the pie where the wiggle is?

Pie? Never heard it called that before. They're both out of the car. The 911 one has a noticable wiggle, and it's not in the rubber. It must be in the part the rubber attaches to. It has a noticable clicky sound to it when you wiggle it, like something has too much clearance. If it matters, the 914 one is from 73, the 911 one is something aroind 75-76.

Posted by: sechszylinder May 8 2005, 02:09 AM

QUOTE (SirAndy @ May 7 2005, 08:57 AM)

QUOTE (sechszylinder @ May 6 2005, 11:37 PM)
let me know if you like to see a pic of the modified rack ...

what a question!

oops , my mistake ...

I've mixed up steering rack and steering shaft ,

but anyway, concerning the steering shaft, you can modify a 911 steering
shaft to fit into a 914 by welding the mounting plate of 914 steering shaft to
the 911 steering shaft ...

luftgekühlte Grüße from Berlin

Benno

Attached image(s)

Posted by: RAR May 8 2005, 06:39 PM

I checked all my racks SC, '74S, and 914, and none had any clicking. The two bolt tab can be loose, but it didn't click. There are rebuild instructions in the 914 factory manual, but they are a little vague on some details. In some photos the rubber connector looks like a small pie cut in quarters. I'm probably a cult of one in the use of this term. I rebuilt the '74 rack (bearings) but have never fine tuned it and didn't do the bushings the rack rides on. I may go back in eventually. I'd like to hear from some others who have rebuilt their racks.

Posted by: RAR May 8 2005, 06:52 PM

This may help:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85404

Or this:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=188574&highlight=steering+rack