quick ratio steering rack

[ruppenduro]

Are they're any options to quicken the steering on a festiva? I see quaife sells gear kits, but obviously nothing made for our cars, maybe something could be adapted. also found this rack made for a Yugo, 2.4 turns lock to lock. Yugo's have the same front track width as a festiva (55.1 inches if I remember correctly). Wonder if it could be adapted, mounting may be a challenge

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FIAT-128-127-X1-9-YUGO-QUICK-HIGH-SHORT-RATIO-STEERING-RACK-2-4-TURNS-LHD-RACING-/311516111802?

[Team Lightning]

My 90 has an Aspire manual rack under it with the Rio struts on front. It turns quicker and tighter than my 92 BP car with stock struts. I'm sure someone will say that the Aspire manual rack won't make that difference, but it does.

[Dragonhealer]

Our fix is the power rack from an '02-'05 Kia Rio, un-powered or powered.
Almost a direct fit, just add Festiva side rods, and one bracket needs the mount holes elongated a little, the other is replaced by the Festiva one.
A little heavy in the parking lot (un-powered), but great on the road!

[shadetree]

How did you work out the steering shaft being smaller on the rio rack .

[mikemounlio]

I would like to upgrade my rack as well. I need to upgrade or rebuild. I hate just rebuilding.

[Dragonhealer]

How did you work out the steering shaft being smaller on the rio rack .

The steering U-joint is plug-n-play between the Rio and the alloy Festiva racks

[F3BZ]

what specs i could find real qwik show the 1988 'stiva' lock to lock as 3.60/3.72. (PS vs manual?) what would the Rio conversion give you?

[bhazard]

When you run a power rack unpowered, what do you do with the fittings?

[mikemounlio]

I would think a simple cap. I might give a power unit a try in a non power setup.

But what would lock to lock be on the powered unit in a non powered setup?

[Dragonhealer]

what specs i could find real qwik show the 1988 'stiva' lock to lock as 3.60/3.72. (PS vs manual?) what would the Rio conversion give you?

We got approximately 3.1 turns lock to lock

[Advancedynamix]

On the power racks I've run before without power, I took all the fittings off and just left the holes. You may want to glue some foam in them or something to keep critters and junk out. If you cap them then pressure will build up in the rack and make it harder to steer. The power steering fluid doesn't lubricate the rack or anything like that. You'll want all the fluid out of the rack or it'll squirt all over when you turn.

[Dragonhealer]

When you run a power rack unpowered, what do you do with the fittings?

I did a couple of pipe nipples with a U hose on the fluid inlet/outlet as we plan to fit a power system, work in progress complicated by the need for a V belt pump so I don't have to pull down the Dealer installed AC

[Dragonhealer]

I would think a simple cap. I might give a power unit a try in a non power setup.

But what would lock to lock be on the powered unit in a non powered setup?

Lock to lock is unaffected, the manual rack will have a different ratio

[Dragonhealer]

Oh, the manual ALLOY rack is 3.9 turns lock to lock

[Advancedynamix]

I did a couple of pipe nipples with a U hose on the fluid inlet/outlet as we plan to fit a power system, work in progress complicated by the need for a V belt pump so I don't have to pull down the Dealer installed AC

This will increase steering effort if there is fluid in the rack. Hydraulic pressure builds in the rack because of the flow restriction of the nipples and hose. If the rack has no fluid then it shouldn't be noticeable and this is a great way to keep critters and junk out. You don't want critters messing with the nipples on your rack.