Idle musings whilst ill off work, what would a mk2 with mk3 gutted rack be like to drive? Will have 15x195 tyres on. If it's not a stupid idea then any sites detailing the process? I presume you remove the internal seals and grease it generously?
in a nutshell, heavy. its been done to death same deal as mk2 you loop the hydro lines and fill it with fluid to keep it lubed, it works but a lot more steering effort than manual. tbh I dont see any real benefit doing this as its not like the system is really that heavy or hard to find parts for, if you're really desperate for lightness look at the manual quick racks
I'm looking for simplicity! That said, with the mk2 manual rack on 17x215's it used to seem heavy but I was hoping smaller wheels would make all the difference
personally I would convert it with a manual rack, but it costs nothing to delete the pas and loop the pipes. then if you hate it, you can go the extra step
My mk2 was heavy with 1.8t and non pas rack. I did widetrack it with mk3 track rods, wishbones etc, but went back to standard mk2 width and was slightly better, all non pas stuff. Ran 195 50 15s on 7j wheels
I don’t find the MK2 with a manual rack heavy at all, granted it’s only a 1.6 driver engine, but I’m sat stupidly low in Corrado seats. Compared to the Mk3’s it’s an only just heavier, when the MK2 has 195/45/15’s on compared to 195/50/15 the 45 profile tyre was a lot heavier.
the original non-ps steering wheels were actually slightly bigger to give you more leverage, so if you have a more sporty wheel plus wider tyres it makes life more difficult. but yeah, once you get used to the extra weight its fine and only really an issue while parking driving you wont notice
I've already got an OMP wheel from their Ships and Sailing© range, just need some non-damaged shoulders now.
