Hello,

i figured it's been a few years and was hoping if anyone has a review on Chip Motorsports manual rack or even the Grannas manual rack .

Thanks

 

 

 

What was the major differences between the two?
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Thanks!

 

Bumping this up to see if anyone has had experience with any of these non powered racks.

 

Re-bumping to see if anyone has had any experience with any of these steering racks.

 

I have a Chips rack. See post #2

 

For a street car, no way I'd do a manual rack on a car of this weight.
The manual rack on the Miata is sometimes annoying on the street.

 

I'm even rethinking it for track use. After a couple sessions, my arms start getting tired

Or, it could be that i'm weak

 

2 years later do you still feel the same?

Thanks for the info.

I only really drive my car on nice weekends and few car shows a year and considered going manual rack to clean up the engine bay but I know as soon as I think route I would probably regret it. Hence why I wanted to hear other people thoughts.

 

Yep. I get it. Been watching people say the same thing on this forum for the last 20 years
Then watch some people re-install it and other sell off the car b/c it's become too annoying to drive as they got older.

 

Thank for the info. PS, will be staying.

 

Seems like you made your decision, but for the benefit of others, i have 255s in front and find the manual rack very hard to steer less then 5 mph. Over 10, you really don't notice it and it does give more feedback, however i have noticed fatigue after several sessions on a road course. I don't think you would see similar fatigue on the street, but i can't stress enough how much a pig it is at very slow speeds and for that reason, i would not recommend it, especially for the street and doubly especially if you have wider front tires.

Others may disagree (because my upper body strength probably pales in comparison ), but that's my feeling. Would i do it again for it's primary purpose (road course)? Not sure.

All that said, i believe BR mentioned Maval might be better than Chips. I have not used Maval so can't comment on that rack, but i believe they are both properly depowered, so they should be similar.

 

Most real race cars run PS. Rx-7 has plenty of feel in the steering. The benefits aren't worth the trouble.

 

This. Imo, a manual rack is too hard to turn at low speed and too twitchy at high speed. No one need that amount of "feedback" imo.

 

I'm using a grannas rack and really like it. It is a little harder to steer at low speeds but nothing major, you have to expect that. It doesn't bother me at all, but then again I'm 6'2 240 and do plenty of manual labor. I also chose the "street" ratio, which would be easier to turn than the "track" ratio I believe. Only problem I'm having is, I need an inner tie rod replacement and can't get ahold of Grannas for the specs on that...something to think about.
edit: I'm also running 255 tires in the front.

 

My '87 Turbo was factory with manual steering. It sucked. Felt like I had to really muscle it into corners and parking sucked. Got a 10th Anniversary after that with power steering and never looked back.

There is a company recently that was developing an electronic power steering solution for the FD. Supposed to be all contained under the dash. But, hard to say if it will be worthwhile.

IMHO a lot of the manual rack conversions out there is from the "I'm a man and this is a race car" mindset - rip out that "crap" you don't need. Sound deadening, AC, stiff suspension, loud exhaust with open dump, etc. etc. Then you realize that it SUCKS to drive anywhere, it's hot and uncomfortable, you smell like gas all the time, etc. People have been swinging back to creature comforts and a more balanced car which makes sense to me.

Dale

 

Agreed 100%. I love how the steering feel after I got the suspension bushings and powersteernig system refreshed. Same goes for the shifter. FD got a lot of things right out of the factory. A little refreshing in bushings and wear and tear parts in the FD does wonder for the driving experience. I am enjoying my FD a lot more after putting a high flow cat in to decrease the smell and fixed my AC. Or may be I am just getting old to #becauseracecar everything.

 

cant find a maval unisteer, where did you get one?

 

where can i find a maval unisteer?

 

Any search engine

https://www.unisteer.com

https://www.mavalgear.com

 

I had the Maval, which was fine, and then I scored a Atomic Rex/Minotaur Gen 2 aluminum rack, which is great. I never minded the resistance, even w/ 285 track tires. And now I've got multiple overflow/catch cans mounted in the PS pump space, so it can't go back :-)

 

I guess it's all fun and games 'til you have to park somewhere. I will say this, though: if you're reading this, and thinking of switching to a manual rack because #racecar, save you PS system!! OE rebuild kits are becoming increasingly rare, and some parts are NLA, even from aftermarket (i.e.: Auto Zone) places. I needed a rack rebuild very recently, and I wound up having to rob a wire retaining clip off a RHD rack I had to buy from Ebay. That was $150! Essentially for a clip!