Non powersteering conversion

[gf350]

I'm going to convert my 350i to non powersteering, does anyone know the location of a non PS spares car where I can buy the bottom steering staft thingy from as it needs to be longer for the non PS rack.
Also does anyone know of any reasons yhy this might not be as simple as I think it will be? I have bought a new cortina rack mk5 rack.
Gareth.

>>> Edited by gf350 on Friday 14th May 18:15

[hal 1]

is the shaft round? and does it share the same spline at the rack end? if so all you should need to do is simply cut through it and sleeve it with steel tube get it to the length you want and weld the lot together, i did it with a car i owned but cut the shaft so that i had just a small piece at each end and when i sleeved it the shaft was the same diameter along its whole length needless to say if you're not sure of your welding get it done professionally

[19560]

Is it just the rack that you need to change? The steering mechanism for non PAS cars consists of some Capri bits and another make that I can't remember as well as the cortina rack. The bottom link that you're looking for is from a TR7. Good luck.

[sevans]

I have seen some postings in the past indicating that converting a non PAS to PAS is not easy as the chassis are different, and it's not possible to fit the PAS rack. If this is true then I would assume you may have to do some mods to the mounting of the non PAS rack.

[gf350]

Thanks for the replies.
I've ordered the manual rack already so when it comes I'll try and compare it to the PAS one for size and mounting points to see if its viable, if its going to be too much trouble I think I'll stick with the PAS.
Thanks again,
GF.