Folks,
I really appreciate the advice and the valuable information, but I'll stick with my idea (already have the all the parts) with an electric power assisted rack. The electric motor is in PID controller that will do most of the work when the car is below 5MPH, after that the motor basically shut down and wheel be all elbow grease. The only thing missing is a manual rack that fit the corvette but there none available. So I'll go with Neils advice fill it with oil and then cap off the lines