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My steering rack is busted, I replaced tie rods etc but it's wobbly so it seems it's time for a full rack replacement. The car's original rack is manual but due to rarity of that part, I could only find the power rack.. I know it should fit without problems but just wanted to make sure that all mounting holes- 2 of them are identical between the manual and the power one, I'm buying it online so I can't physically check it. The car is a C51A(originally).

This what I might be opting for:
http://www.discountsteering.com/addtoca ... 00575.html#



The Manual OEM looks like this:


Will the brackets be identical? with the steering pinion part fit..things like that

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the car behind is a honduh..

Another enquiry is the Dodge colt's manual steering rack, I seem to be able to find that one refurbished but they always say fits mmodels 1985-1990.. isn't the the 88-92 Dodge colt identical to the C5 mirage? how come only till 1990 and is the mk2 mirage mechanics similar to the mk3? that'd make sense if the steering rack'd fit 85 models

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the car behind is a honduh..

Putting a power steering rack with no power steering equipment to run it, will leave you with less leverage to turn the wheels. This means the effort to drive around at lower speeds will be greater than with your manual rack. The reason behind this is the ratio that is built into the rack. Other than that, the rack sits in the same place and does the same job, with the same steering angles/suspension.

Go to www.partsbase.org and look up any 1989-1992 manual rack C51A, and then look up a 1989 C53A turbo. This should get you proper pictures of a manual rack and turbo rack respectively.
Then you can compare designs for brackets and bracket part numbers. That is the only way to tell, other than finding actual pictures, that can be varified.

I would like to know how you checked the rack for "wobbly" parts interaction. Can you elaborate more on that? There are definitive ways of determining steering and suspension parts that are loose. If your steering feel going down the road has changed, attitude control etc, and all other suspension parts are tight .... then you have to have performed an alignment. Absolutely mandatory when replacing steering components. Heck, even removing a tie rod and re-installing it can leave things slightly off from where they were. You would never know this until you use an alignment machine and see this happen and verify it.

Need more info.

Also, it is rumored that the 1993 or 4G Colt/Mirage steering racks are the same as the C53A model with the quicker response ratio .... this with matching power steering equipment is what you need to make the car so much easier to drive and be responsive. My two cents.

google ACDELCO 36R0079 it shows a few places like summit racing and jegs.. and its manual.


Steve

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Steve 89 colt 2.3 stroker stock top end. evo3@20 psi 13.489@99.30mph 3/10 2012
On drag radials.auto trans.launching @ 5 psi and no traction thru 2nd.

rockauto look here for non assisted rack.
Part : CARDONE 242638

5% Discount Code: F1C1525BA44909
Expires: November 10th 2015

Haha, the link you provided is the company I work for.

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91 GSX - 511fwhp and 352 lb/ft 25psi 110 octane, 7.68 @ 95.9mph 1/8th 21psi 91 octane, 11.93 @ 112.9mph, 117.7mph best trap speed, 20psi 91 octane
98 Volvo S70 T5 - DD

http://www.facebook.com/captaintonus

Thanks everyone.

The inner shaft has worn out quite significantly causing the wobbliness .. almost no wheel return on slow speeds. This started happening years ago, maybe 7 or 8, during which I've eliminated all possible causes besides the steering gear, checked suspension, links etc. one shock absorber was bad so got it replaced, replaced tie ends and then found out the wearing in the inner rod and casing, a mechanic said he can fix it but made it worse.. instead of proper refurbishing, he placed a plastic casing inside the shaft..this worked fine for about a week then the casing broke inside making the steering very heavy. I'm not really into mechanics more into the electrics but my father who is a mechanical engineer said this was a fruit and banana up solution and he was right. It seems that an entire replacement is in due because I don't trust my rack could actually be refurbished after the mess it's been through.

The Delco part will fit, it's not easily available.. manual is quite rare but couple sites said they will specially order it.
But I understand why it wasn't available for Mitsus and just the Dodges.

The OEM manual rack for the Mitsubishis requires just one bracket and rubber cushion at the end because the central mount is built in the gear's body- as in the diagram above. The Dodge one needs an additional mounting bracket although mounting points are identical- which is the same for the power-assisted for both Mitsubishis and Dodges is they need 2 brackets.. the regular one at the end and another one -seems to be slightly bigger- at the centre. So whether I go for the power-assisted rack or the manual I'll still need the central bracket and cushion, I prefer the manual rack but so far I couldn't find the bracket and cushion which my car lacks and until I can locate this bracket I will not be buying the rack.. my father sez to go ahead and get the rack, that the bracket won't be a problem and worse case he can manufacture it but I don't know if I should trust him.

for reference: mine is similar to this but it's manual..you see the central mount is part of the shaft and requires no bracket:


The dodge manual rack looks like this, requires an extra bracket and cushion, parts 21 and 22

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the car behind is a honduh..

Now we know exactly why a replacement would work better.

If you have not already had alignments done with every single part replacement, you will be doing one now anyways.

Steering return to center cannot work properly if the gear is being held up with internal tensions on the scale of which you are mentioning.

There is very little "drag" on the front end of these cars with properly serviceable parts being in place. Even the pump offers little resistance compared to other

car models when moving the wheels side to side when in the air and off the ground entirely.

Are your tires stock sized in terms of width? 155-195mm?

yep, original wheels/tires 175/70 13''

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the car behind is a honduh..