Ok I found a manual steering rack for my car near by. I have a 92 SE-R and Im gonna convert it to manual steering but the question is they made the manual rack for cars with 2 different vin numbers. The first is vin model "JN1" and the other is vin model "1N4" will either of these racks fit my SE-R?

as far as your question.. the E is the only sentra that I know of that came with a maual rack.. adn as far as I know either one should work...

but you do know that the lock to lock ratio on teh manual rack is 4. something.. and on the power rack it is only 2. something..

before you put in the manual rack you should maybe check up on just capping off the power rack.. people have done it before...

what do you plan on doin with teh car? racing wise?

just my 2 pennies...

I can't totally answer your question but as for the VINs, any starting with a "1" means the vehicle was assembled in the USA while a "J" means it was assembled in Japan.

Assuming that your SE-R was built in Smyrna, TN like the rest of the SE-Rs, the USA built should fit.

Well, I don't know if the rack will fit or not, but my .02 is that capping the power rack makes the car a bitch when trying to parallel in tight spaces. Fun as hell in high speed pursuits.

When I had a crx, there wasn't any ps and it turned like my nx does now. I don't know the tooth count on the hondas non pwr rack, but I know it hell of lot better than the nissan pw rack. Meaning I could park anywhere with 2 inches of bumper to bumper clearance in a jif. (note: exageration, don't wanna get flamed).

On Topic, Thanks for the info, I will have to try it, I hate power parasites.:(

:D

Fred

Another note from above post, high speed pursuit, meaning being pursued, Thank you.

*** I know what you all are thinking.

Well the power steering rack that is on the car now it is trash. It has a ton of play in the steering and I have replaced the tie rod ends and the ball joints and that didnt help at all. Basically the car is a pain in the ass to drive because you are constantly fighting it to keep it in a straight line and God help you if the street is bumpy that car is all over the place. So keeping the rack that is in the car now is out of the question.

As far as what I do with the car is drag race. I dont drive it every day either so that makes it better also.

So will one of those racks work? I would really like to get one if they will work? I think they should but Im not exactly sure.

anyone else know anything that I dont?

The Non assist rack will fit just fine. The only problem you will have is, you will have to get the U joint from Non assist rack because the U joint from the power assit rack will not bolt onto the Non assist rack. Both U joints are the same on the steering colum side but diffrent on the rack side. I have put this conversion on my car so that how I know.

Andreas Miko

So Andreas,

How do you like it? Is it close to having PS, I want to do it, but occasionally my wife likes to drive my car and don't want it to be a pain in the ass for her to drive.

Thank,

Fred

I have an E and an SE-R. Driving the E is not that hard and I feel as though I can feel the car better then the SE-R. When it comes to parking and shit just use a little muscle. I started driving the car when I was 15 and took my drivers test with it no problems doing anything. I got a 100. I would recommend the conversion. I have noticed that the manual rack has to be turn more then the power rack. Also my E was made in JPN if that helps anyone.

So is the u joint expensive if I were to get it brand new? Anybody got an idea of how much this part costs? I might be going tomorrow to get the rack just wanted to know about the u joint that Andreas was talking about.

That sux that your alignment is fudged up! THERES NOTHING LIKE NO POWER STEERING ON A 2,000 LBS SE-R!!! I LOVE IT!!! Im using the stock rack and it turns great to me. I have heard that the E rack is like 5-10 lbs lighter though. But its a BIG PAIN to install it.

Well Im cutting the weight on my B13 so I can try to get it into the 12's with a T-25. And the steering is already screwed so might as well cut that weight put in the manual. I cant wait to get the steering fixed so it will not be such a pain in the butt to drive.

Will the tie rods fit the manual rack or should the rack come with the tie rods? I have never changed this part out on a car. You can still do it with the engine and stuff cant you? I also heard that it was a pain to change out especially with the engine still in.

I am seriously thinking about getting a manual rack and taking all the power steering/resivoir out of the car. What do you do if you removethe pump as far as belts are concerned?

I think it is a complete waist of time to do this coversion. I did it and regret it. But if you want to do it you need the rack, knuckle, dust cover and the column. It will work with the power steering comumn...but the knuckle barely reaches. this was a concern to me under hard driving conditions so i opted to get the colums as well which is physicaly longer.
Ok why this is not woth it...you will need a complete donor junk E sentra. Cause individual pieces are expesive from nissan. Now the racks in these car will all have tons of miles and probably have tons of play. Now you just put in a a rack with a terrible steering ratio and most likely with play. (Check the tie rods that might help the play thing ) It takes time, then you need an alignment after. Too much costs not enough benifit.
For the belt thing i lost the ac system and then put an electric water pump and use one belt for just the alternator.

Some of those steering racks cant possibly have as much play as mine. How much did it cost total there B13DET? And you need a complete donor car?

We (Pete's Classic and I) are running the power steering eliminator kit from random thoughs and we just capped the stock rack. It seems to work great. I can't wait to get it out on the road with the new AGX and Gen2 Hyperco setup.

Brent

Well I would probably run that eliminator if my steering rack wasnt already screwed. So Im opting to go with the manual rack.

Hey Andreas what all do I need exactly to make this happen? Steering rack, universal joint, what else?

Are you sure your rack is shot? did you check your tie rods and ball joints?
I did mine when the motor was out.. does not look fun to do when it is together.
Maybe some of the racks might be better than yours but how do you know until you try?
I paid 150 for everything for my car (fairly cheap all used) new parts that i would needed were expensive and had long delays to get. Also you have to do something about your belt situation. I peiced everything together just wish i had a complete E sentra to get it all at once. The reason i pieced it together is cause i thought i just needed a rack at first it was a learn as you go thing.
Then after driving my car again hitting the first few corners i hated it with a passion. If i keep my car i will be putting the old stuff back in. If i could do it again i would have just plugged the rack feels almost the same but a better steering ratio and a lot less work.

Well I just installed Moog Ball Joints and Tie Rod Ends about 4 Months ago. Did not help at all. If I jack the front wheels off the ground and then put the wheels back on the ground the play isnt so bad until I get about a mile up the street then it is there again. I know my bro ran some heavy 17" rims on the car for a long time and he also ran it out of the road once bad enough to bend the oil pan. Im almost sure that it is the steering rack something in there is screwed up. I tried to find a power steering rack and they are or can be expensive and they are just as old as the manual racks that I was looking at. Im in the process of cutting some weight off the car and drag off the engine. I also know one time that some shop back home my brother got to do some work to the car forgot to tighten the bolt that holds the control arm on. I think that is what it was for the fact that the 2 bolts that hold the control arms on are not the same I found that when I installed my ES bushing kit. I know he came home and said that the car was almost uncontrollable sometimes. I took it up the road and damn dear wrecked it he ended up taking it to a shop while I was at work and they found the problem. Could that have had any effect on the streering rack or anything. Because other than the control arms and tie rods the rack is the only thing that I can think of that I can change and it might solve the problem of a ton of play in my steering.