I need help. I noticed a few people have done this swap but when I pulled my power steering rack, I noticed that the shaft on the passenger side is a lot bigger than the manual rack I ordered. I have talked to Mazda and they discontinued carrying the bushing for the manual rack. As of right now, I have the p/s rack bushing wrapped and squished under the bracket holding it down but I know this can't be good for my alignment. I'm wondering what others have done... Or maybe on the off chance that someone has one that they would sell, I'd buy it!

 

Energy suspension makes the bushing you need.

 

Really?

I didn't know that.

But Yeah, I bought my manual rack from slammedblk7 and he was nice enough to send the passengerside bracket to me. Thanks man!

For the bushing...I took the stock PS rubber bushing and cut about 3/4 of inch out of it...glued it back together and it fit just fine.

I do not know WHY Mazda stopped selling the bracket/rubber bushing.

The other problem I ran into is .... when I put my steering shaft into the rack the wheels were straight. When I put the car on the ground of course the steering wheel was all out of wack.

I hope there is enough slack in the tie rod ends for teh alignment shop to take care of that.

James

 

I'm gonna go check on that bushing now. I don't have the manual steering bracket but I'm sure I can custom that peice myself. Thanks guys!