If it is indeed a rack and pinion problem, there are two things I can tell you about it - 1) it's worse when it's cold and 2) Putting some STP in the ps pump can help a lot. I once had a 1984 Chevy Cavalier wagon (oddly enough I liked that little car) and the rack and pinion steering was very jerky. When cold it felt like it had manual steering until it warmed up. Then it was just sorta jerky. Someone told me to drain some fluid out of the pump and put STP in there and it will help it a lot. I did this and the problem went away by about 90%. It was like a miracle cure. I drove it that way for a while and stupidly I figured "well if -some- STP is good then -all- STP would be better!" so I drained the whole thing and replaced it with STP. Not surprisingly it didn't work out that way and it got worse. I should not have messed with success. But if you think it is the rack and pinion causing the problem I'd start by draining about a quarter of your ps pump fluid and replacing it with STP. But only do it if you've narrowed the problem down to the rack and pinion steering.