ever heard of it?

 

yes there were several disabled cars that had it on them but very rare to see a kit for sale. last one i seen on ebay the lad had taken it out of a limited edition cabby and wanted 500 for it

 

thats shame init really

 

have heard of it but only in cabbies.

 

bonjour!

 

For those with a LHD car, the US escort power rack is an easy fit. I have one fitted to my bulkhead, but not tested yet.

 

Could you turn it around and bugger about with the rod ends so it'll fit a RHD car?

 

why not use an electric steering rack out out a corsa?

 

my advice is dont do it.
its a hell of alot of work.
if i would have known how hard it was then i would never have done it.
for me the powersteering pump was no issue as i fitted full mk5 escort zetec setup.
the issue was the rack/ steering colum and track rods.
i have a modified nissan bluebird rack, custom hoses, modified track rods, modified brackets, modified bulkhead, modified steering colum, modified clutch pedal and more!!
hell of alot of work.
it works great but it ought to with all the time and money i spent doing it.
answer: sell your escort and buy a fiesta mk3 as they have everything available from fords.

 

It has been done on other cars but I think the hope was there'd be a simple 'bolt-on' solution.
To be honest the worst thing with my base-model rack is the huge amount of turns lock-to-lock. Its plain silly, you seem to turn it a dozen times each way.

I duno if a quick rack would make it any heavier but its got to be worth doing.
Are the 3i/RS racks any better?

 

yes rs rack is quicker than std.
but then you will struggle to turn at slow speeds.
this is the reason i fitted p/s to mine because i wanted 7j rims and they make the steerin heavy

 

Since when is the rack from a RS-turbo any faster? Any proof on this? Was there a change in ratio in the 90-spec rack?

Taking a LHD rack and turning around would result in a rack that turns the wrong way. You may learn to live with it, but the MOT guy will get surprised each year.

The corsa system would be good IF mated with a quick rack. Pointless otherwise, IMO.

 

Hi guys,

When i sold me old black rs turbo B10EEP it got broken and the boy posted on here pics of starting the power steering conversion but never updated it.

Not sure what happened to the car now.

Iain

 

I saw B10EEP, a black series 2 driving through Hunstanton in Norfolk a couple of weekends ago, reconised the plate

 

might just be 90 specs that are quicker but i believe the 3i's are quicker too.
my car when it was std 1.3 had more turns lock to lock that a 90 spec xr3i i had

 

Later Mk4's had a variable ratio rack which reduces the number of turns lock to lock. IIRC this was across all models - not just high spec ones. I believe they can be retrofitted to earlier Mk4s and Mk3s.

 

I confirm that, the variable ratio rack was on all models from ~88, but I think they quoted the same number of turns lock to lock. Could be a mistake also.

 

a mate of mine from oop north did this to his xr3i, but other than the fact he said he's just swapped teh bits over from a very early 1.6 mk5 that had power steering i'm not sure what else he did for the conversion

but this was years and years ago and i've not seen him for about 3 years so can't even ask him what was what, all i know is that he bought the power rack set up from the car and went up and botled it in

 

I dont think there was ever any bolt in conversions, the mobility cars were sent off to a company called chairman i believe and they modified them.
i tried ringing them but they couldnt help me.
also the power steering conversions that were on some mk4's were also highly modified.
my rack came from an orion with the conversion and there was another rack there off another orion but they are nissan racks and are nothing like bolt straight on.
as before, forget about it, its far too much work.
plus the less people who have it the more rare my one is lol

 

More info please. Mines an early 1990 and the lock-to-lock is borderline silly.
I've pulled away sharp only to have to stamp on the brakes to give me time to wang the wheel around.

Just something I'm having to live with at the moment. Maybe a small 12/13" wheel might help..

 

I have seen two lock-to-lock measurements for original Ford mk3/mk4 racks. Most common is around 3.6turns but then there are 4.2turns also existing. Haven't checked the part numbers on those, but I have one of each.

The Escort mk5 power steering conversion is relatively straight forward, BUT, it requires removing the original steering rack mounting panel from the bulkhead. Othervise, it measures up perfect.

 

i dissagree 100%, i looked into the mk5 rack and it was nothing like close.
for starters its too wide.
second its mounted in a totally different way.
thirdly the steering connecter is in the wrong place and is a short stubby piece that needs the large circle adapter to work.
i had about 3 of these kicking about and i tried everything to use one but it just aint gonna happen.
the fiesta rack might be closer but will still mount different.
nissan bluebird rack was the closest but stil wasnt right at the steering colum