yea, another power steering thread. when i bought my FC the previous owner had the pump still on, just no belt connected. i put the belt back on and been driving it with P/S for a few months or so. last night i let my mom drive my car and she said "i thought you said this thing has P/S" which made me wonder if mine malfunctioning, but the fluild level has been at the same spot for months, so i doubt it. so instead, now i just want to completely remove the pump, pulley, belts, etc, and get the lines routed/capped correctly. i am not putting a manual rack on it fyi. here is what i think are the most important posts i saw from what i scrounged up from the search button, and btw there are a LOT of threads about this! marcus' was very informative, however it seemed like some people did things diferently, line wise.

"Make sure to plug the cooling line with a bolt or something. Just connect the 2 lines that go to the PS pump with somethin, not too bad."

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"I have the needed bolts to do the complete Power Steering removal.

You will need:

-2 M12 Bolts with a Pitch Thread of 1.25 (Pressure/Return)

-1 M16 Bolt with a Pitch Thread of 1.5 (Cooler)

Make sure the bolts are no longer than 15mm."

ok, so im using the haynes manual, it looks pretty easy, you take off the pump, the belt, remove the 3 lines connected to the pump, and finally turn the wheel left and right a tad, so like 75% of the fluid drains out. so, my questions: i just want to make sure that the two above quotes are indeed correct. so, do i connect the feed and return lines together with some kind of clamp, thus making the leftover fluid able to pass freely within the two connected lines? or should i split them, and cap them with a bolt for each? and i do cap off the cooler line with maybe some rtv and a bolt, or is there another method? probably half the forum has done this mod, feel free to chime in with your opinions, please.

last but not least, i should be able to find those 3 (or 1, if i decide to connect two of the fluild lines together) bolts at home depot, right? thanks

 

Dude... If you are going to do it, do the manual rack swap, you will thank youself later.. the manual racks are much easier to steer than a PS rack with the PS pump removed..

I will be doing this mod over the winter myself, why, cause its one more thing in my way in the engine bay!!!!!

As for the PS... At slow speeds, the PS in my TII feels kinda stiff as well, but take it off and then let your mom drive your car, she will definately see the difference. The PS in our cars is definately NOT the PS system in, say a 1973 plymouth FuryIII where you can steer in aparking lot with your pinky finger. The idea is to make slow speed sterring manageable, but still give a sporty feel to the steering.

 

the only reason I would take the ps out is because its in the damn way! I really want to do this but I would also get a manual rack because I've felt what this car is like without ps and I don't like it! Mostly I guess in parking lots when you are trying to manuver the thing into and out of a parking spot.

 

i removed my p/s on my 91 coupe, i liked the feeling i got w/o power steering at speed and through curves but it was a pain in the *** in parking lots, not too bad but bad enough to notice. i would much rather have the manual rack in place of the p/s rack b/c it is not as hard to turn in no speed or low speed turns/manuvers. in retrospec i would keep the p/s on if it is a daily driven car, the hp gains are next to nothing and for getting around town its alot easier with it on.

 

well engine space is why im removing mine also, the hp thing isnt a biggie, i probably wont notice... and because i really dont need power steering, im used to the labor required to turn the wheel. i've driven many old cars w/o PS in the past and it isnt hard at all... i did drive my 7 for a week without the belt, i didnt mind at all, it felt pretty good. it really isnt THAT hard even at 5mph... dunno what you guys are talking about.

so, anyone going to answer my questions? =)

 

I took mine off, kept the same rack and just plugged the lines. If you are completely standing still its hard to turn but not THAT bad. If I am moving basically at all I can still turn with one hand. At speed there is better feel and not much difference in effort. Now maybe with wider tires it would be a problem, I only have 205 and the widest I ever had was 225, and this is a vert I'm driving, but for me there was really not much down side.