What kind of steering did the GSL's have? Did any of them have power steering? I thought for a while that only the GSL-SE's had power steering, but i thought i heard someone say they had a GSL with power steering...Anyway, was it an upgrade option? Or is it just something someone could have done themselves (I imagine it wouldnt be too hard, the GSL & the -SE are practically identical)? Just wondering, if you dont feel like answering such a stupid question, no harm here . Thanks.

~T.J.

PS - anyone know of a website or something that has a list of all the options you could get for any of the cars or something similar to that?

 

my 85 came with power steering.

 

My 84 GSL had a leaking power steering box. I disconnected the belt. As far as I know, it was optional on the GSL and standard on the SE.

Oh, here you go: http://mrmazda.members.atlantic.net/g1models.htm

 

You can get the '84 and '85 sales brochures here:
http://www.monmouth.com/~rothe/brochures.html

and in particular the options page:
http://www.monmouth.com/~rothe/84-20.jpg

-John.

 

Most comprehensive site I have seen.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/S.../firstgen.html

hope that helps

 

In other words, it was an option on all models except the -SE which had it standard.

 

only 1 of my 4 GSL-SE's had power steering.

 

I was not sure about the GSL but contrary to the site yayarx7 posted, for the -SE it was an option in the U.S., and it was not available in Canada for any model.

-John.

 

My 85' SE doesn't have it. I have two friends with 84 SE's , one has it one doesn't.

 

Sickeningly enough, I'm getting used to power steering again

If only Mazda made a nice manual 'box with say 12:1 ratio, that'd be PERFECT.

Say, does anyone know offhand what the distance between the two tie-rod holes on the stock center link is? I have an idea for a nice rack conversion for cars that had P/S (M/S cars would be too difficult to modify unless you can get the steering column from a P/S car) but the inner tie rod distance is 29". If you change that distance you screw up bumpsteer all to hell and back, making a car no fun to drive. The best part is, it's a P/S rack but you can run it manual.

 

Thanks alot guys...i appreciate the info

 

Bear in mind that the power steering is "variable assist" - it varies with speed. You get most assist at slow speeds (like parallel parking), and you get no assist at higher speeds (like highway speeds).

People often disconnect it, but I kinda like it.

 

I think mine's stuck on high assist... you'd think the steering would be heavier at high speed than my manual box was, because of the ratio, but it's lighter. Much lighter.

Still lots better than my first car was, it was like a video game there was so much assist! That's what you get with a 16" steering wheel and 4 turns lock to lock and SuperNumb(TM) mega-assistance.