Question on steering racks, ...are there different ones? Options

[naro914]

Hi all,
My questions centers around the turning ratio's of the racks. Are there different ones or are all 914 racks the same? I remember a while ago - maybe years - someone posting a 914/6 GT rack saying the turning ratio was different than stock. Then I think I saw someone say they had a different ratio rack, but I can't find those posts, or confirm any information on them.

So...are there any steering racks with better ratio's than stock? i.e. turn the steering wheel less to get more turn of the wheels?

thanks all

[McMark]

HA! I was just researching this last night. What I ended up finding in my 911/912 Clymer manual was:

The 65-66 SWB 911, and all 912 steering racks are 16.5:1.
All others, including 914, are 17.78:1.

This is a reduction of 3.1 turns to lock, down to 2.9 turns. Not a huge amount, if you want more Quaife sells a 2.5 turn kit, but that takes more work to install.

I haven't done the swap (yet), but as far as I can tell, you'll only need to swap the input shaft from the 914 unit, and then install turbo tie rods.

There was a bit of chatter on the 912 BBS about turbo tie rods being too short for the early rack, and Elephant sells a longer one. But again, I haven't seen this issue for myself.

I have a 66 912 here in the shop that I plan on pulling the steering rack to take some measurements and comparisons.

Sure would have liked the tighter ratio at last weekends autocross. Lots of steering wheel twirling on that course.