Help w P.S. to manual rack conversion
 

Water coolers,

I am in middle of swapping a manual for for my leaking power rack on 88 NA (late offset). Bought used manual rack w intermediate shaft. Have new outer tie rods for 88(female ends, bought for ps b 4 swap), and the inner tie rods ends from manual rack (female as well), and was planning on connecting them w threaded rod to make up gap in length to get to late offset spec. So was cleaning all the used stuff up and noticed the inner tie rods have slop in the inside connecting ball and socket joint. This seems like something very bad to me. So Question: Is movement in ball and socket joint normal?

If these are bad i would like to find correct length manual rack inner tie rods to fit in the 88 late offset. Does anyone know part #'s and where to find them?

Thanks for all replies
Josh

Movement in inner ball and socket on tie rods is not normal... The tie rods are worn out.

For that matter, there should be no play in the outer tie rod ends either, but they can be replaced separately.

The correct part number for 87 and newer tie rods for manual rack are:

944 347 033 03 tie rod (of course, you need two).

Thank you sir! Anybody know where to get one?

Pelican Parts? Lol http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/ksearch/pel_search.cgi?SUPERCAT_FLAG=&make=&please_wait=N& forumid=&threadid=&command=DWsearch&description=94 4+347+033+03&x=0&y=0&FILTER_944M=ON

Or did you mean used?

No, i'm done w used. thanks man

Gl

I'm also trying to figure which boots are correct. Anyone know part numbers?

Moog EV-378 inner tie rod is a direct bolt on with late power steering tie rod ends to make the early manual rack fit the late offset. That is what I use and it fits perfect.

While the Moog will fit as far as having the correct threads and length, there are a few issues. When going to full lock the pinion gear needs to be prevented from reaching the end of the rack and running out of teeth resulting in contact. This contact will slowly wear the pinion. You will most likely be able to run it like this for thousands of miles with no noticeable ill effects, but the damage being caused is real. A stop ring has been engineered in order to prevent this. If you don't use the very expensive OEM style tie rods, you can no longer install this stop ring.

Thanks, I will keep an eye out for that. That is the first time anyone has had any negative feedback on that option that I have read.

Volhv is right, there is a stop ring on the manual rack. The factory manual goes into great detail the measurement required to set it up correctly.

Saying that lots of people have used the manual rack on late offset cars without issue.

Some have omitted that stop ring due to the massive price difference between the Porsche and VW parts.

So to recap:
Early offset car you "could" use a manual inner tie rod from a MK2 VW.
Late offset car ------------------------------------------- MK3 VW.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y...20139%2529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-F...20140%2529.jpg

Thanks for all the info. I went ahead & got a set oem coming.

Josh