Thread: B13 SE-R Non-Power Steering Racks?

I am in the process of converting my B13 SE-R into a more dedicated race car (Hill Climb / Stage Rally), and I'm trying to get some information about the steering racks. I plan to install a "steering quickener", between that causing too much stress on the rack / PS pump and the fact that I want to remove the power steering regardless. Quaife makes some quick-ratio / non-power steering racks that would be awesome (got to try one on an EF Civic yesterday), but they don't make any compatible with our B13s.

Are there any Nissan non-power racks that would work with the SE-R with minimal modification? Even if the rack itself is slower than the SE-R power-steering one, I intend to install a quickener. Or, perhaps I can just cap off the power steering fluid ports and just run it that way with no issues, but I have no idea.

I've got a manual rack in mine, Not sure what model came with them though, Maybe the E model's.

To clarify, you have a non-power rack in a factory B13 SE-R? If that's the case, did it require any modification in mounting points or otherwise? If not, that may be my best option. Even if it's a slower rack on it's own, a 1.5:1 or 2:1 quickener will fix that anyway.

No, I installed a factory manual rack in a b13 (originally 1.6L with powersteering) No modifications, i believe the mounting tabs and bushings are different between the two, The u joint that connects the rack to the steering column is different and so is the boot that connects to the firewall from the rack. U should be able to just loop the lines on your rack if you wanted to though.

That's probably what I'll do. Remove the power-steering pump entirely - and by looping the lines would that literally just be looping the two lines off the rack itself "into eachother"? I've never considered disabling a power rack before.

Yup you've pretty much got it, As far as removing the power steering pump you will either need to find a belt that will fit snuggly around your crank/water pump, wp pulley will need to be taken off and swivel up with the belt on to get it on there tight enough or you can take the guts out of the pump as the pulley is a sealed unit and you will retain your ability to apply tension to your correct belt.

Typically manual racks for a given car have a slower ratio than power racks, so you'd kinda be going the wrong direction.

Looping the lines in the power rack should work fine, my buddy who has a rally 240sx did just that with no issues.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want to remove the P/S in a FWD rally car. RWD, sure, but not FWD. Plus, that quickener is going to increase steering effort in direct relation to the quickener ratio. So If you do a 1.5x, it'll be 1.5 times as hard to turn the wheel, then remove power assist, and you'd better have forearms like Popeye.

Replace the P/S reservoir with a B14 unit, add a transmission cooler to the P/S low pressure line mounted up front, and keep the P/S.

The quickener will stress the power-steering pump on these cars and make them excessively prone to failure, I've already been warned about that by a few different people. I've also driven a non-PS car with a 2:1 steering quickener (basically go-kart steering) and there were no effort-related issues. While the 2:1 would also counter any slower racks I were to install, at this point it looks like the better option will be to simply disable the power steering.

I had a manual rack on my nx. converted it back to power after about a year though. it's hell driving with that every day. I've been thinking about selling it if you're interested. i gutted my ps pump abd used it for the tensioner. worked fine. if you want a ps pump eliminator kit gspec sells one.

PS pump eliminator kit are awesome. I forced a belt on without this kit and damaged my Water pump shaft because of the tension on the below