ItsNiceToBurnRice

I was having a real bad leak, and I couldnt pin point it, actually now that I think about it, I hope its actually not comin from my rack. Thats not possible is it? I think Id notice some probs if it was. Anyways, I took the pump out, and with the 2 wires from the pump I just cut them and left like a foot of each on and capped them both with a bolt. And as far as the return hose goes I capped that with a bolt also. Since I leaked it all out pretty bad, There should still be some fluid in the rack itself, that is if its not F*cked. Everything seem ok? Oh, and hows this steerin gonna handle in fishtails and burnouts?

Mazda2ndgen

everything sounds good to me! as long as you let enough fluid spiurt out you should be fine. after capping off the lines just make sure that you can turn the wheel with no apparent hard spots.

oh, and btw, you can have a leak in the rack itself. I would make sure and check that. Maybe put a peice of cardboard under your car one night and see if there are wet spots on it in the morning. my rack was leaking, and I had to buy a new one, i think like 200 bucks. everyone told be that they had never heard of such a thing, but I traced down the leak and watched it with my own eyes leak out of one of the seals on the rack...

Mykl

I've been driving around without the power steering belt over the last couple days and I've noticed a couple things.

When the car is actually rolling, I kinda like the feel, but at lower speeds it's a serious pain in the ***.

Also, I have horrid bump steer that isn't there when the power steering is working.

None of the fluid has been drained. How would this feel any differently than the method described above?

Scott 89t2

I drove around with the belt off for 1.5 months a couple months back and liked it. I'm sure with the pump out and the battery in the back it would be a bit better while not moving too. I'll probably pull it out for good next spring.

tesla042

You mean, when you turn, and go over a bump, it wants to turn the wheel for you? I get that too (p/s belt off).. Just gotta hold it a bit harder..

-Tesla

ItsNiceToBurnRice

Good, Im glad to see that I should be fine, Ill check my rack, but that means I gotta take off that stupid *** splash guard or whatever it is underneath. Yeah, the steering is nice when driving, but like backin up and parkin and **** sucks. Oh well, and it also does fell nice while driving, you can tell where your cars gonna go when you turn the wheel. But still, whatabout those brunouts followed by fishtailin? I have a feelin those are hard to control without P/S.

finky

iTrader: (2)

hey guys I have been thinking of taking p/s out but I auto X every chance I get. Does driving without p/s kill your times? I have been thinking of buying manual rack to fit in my car, which one (year-model) would be the best for tight turns and fit without to much fabrication? thanx

Mykl

I think it depends on how strong you are and how much endurance you have. I sure as Hell couldn't tackle a tight twisty course like that without my power steering. Maybe if my arms were stronger, but I'm small and weak. :p Maybe I could use this as a reason to work out more.

Tesla, the steering wheel wanted to jump away from me on a nice, smooth, sharp right handler. What I've noticed is that the tires want to always go in the same direction as the car, so when you turn instead of just turning the wheel there and holding it lightly you really have to fight with it to keep your line. However, the feel for the road and the feedback is unreal in comparison to when it's boosted, if only it wasn't so damn hard to turn the wheel quickly. Sorry if this is all normal to you guys, I'm just not used to it and I've noticed a few things.

One thing though, can a power steering rack function exactly like a non-power steering rack when it's not boosted? Also, what's this talk of draining the fluid out of the rack for? What does that do to it? Right now I'm driving around with no belt, but all my fluid.

I may play with this a while longer and see if I can get used to the super-firm feel. One of the two big things I don't like about the FC is the vague variable-assist power steering system on it, the other thing is the DTTS. ****, if I like it enough I can just leave the pump in and reinstall the belt when I want the boost back.

BogusFile

The only time I ever desire P/S is when my car gets loose on me. It gets pretty hard to fight the wheel while managing the gears, and revs. But it is super sweet when you have it all under control.

Samps

is there any way to lower the boost in the power steering pump? I was thinking about putting on a bigger pulley to reduce the rotations, but I'm not sure that will work. I think a comprimise of some sort would work best; kinda in between the power steering and power steering with no belt. Someone posted in another thread that a conversion to a stock manual rack is not to hard and it gives you that in between feel we are looking for. I just don't wanna start ripping the rack out unless I know for damn sure that the swap is simple bolt-it.

Xentrix

I had my belt off ever since I got my car. I loved how it drove, BUT in my opinion it isnt as good as the auctual Manual rack. It is harder to turn and the road feel isnt there at high (90+) speeds. Try to find a manual rack if at all possible. I've got one sitting at a friends house, but I'm still waiting for my bushings from NOPI (snooze....)

As for autocross the manual or even no belt method is WAY WAY better. In my car the powersteer feel was there below 3k rpm but on some of those courses I've driven the car drops below that rpm, and it gets wierd.

Do some curvy roads hard but change your gears so you go below 3k and above. You'll know what I mean then. You get the close almost perfect steering above 3k then you almost 'oversteer' the wheel below 3k.

SpeedRacer

I'm a sorta tall, ultra skinny guy without much muscle, and I auto-x with my P/S removed. It is MUCH better. Seriously, even at auto-x speeds, as long as your above 5 mph its not that hard to steer. You just have to grip the wheel a little firmer and pay attention to what your doing. Even fishtailing and powersliding is not a problem, in fact its easier to powerslide, and fishtail without P/S, or at least its easier to come out of them more smoothly, you just gotta release pressure on the wheel and let it turn in your hands until the car corrects itself after a slide, and then grip it tight again when its corrected. And for those of you complaining about the wheels wanting to point straight when going around tight corners, try adjusting your caster, or take you car to an alignment place and have them adjust your caster. Caster is what makes your wheel want to re-center when turning a corner(or make it want to turn in more while cornering) This can be adjusted to your liking. If any of you have access to a manual steering rack, then I definently recommend that, I am hoping to stumble upon one myself in the near future.

Scott 89t2

the biggest problem I had when I removed my power steering belt for 1.5 months is I wore a bunch of stuff off the steering wheel itself I guess from having to grip it and pulling harder.

Mazda2ndgen

ok, lets answer a few questions:

1. I autox, should i take out my ps, or put in a manual rack?

ok, I have never personaly autoxed, but I can tell you that you get MUCH more feed back with out the ps! you can really tell what the car is going to do. as for burnouts and such, i think no ps is better to. You can feel much better wheather the front wheels are gripping, or if they are just sliding. You can tell when the car is about to break loose with no ps to better than with the ps.

personaly, I would think that a manual rack would be worse for autoxing. yes, the manual rack is easier to turn. but, thats b/c its *geared* differently. I think it takes about 1.5 turns to lock from the nutral position on a power steering rack. where as on a manual rack it will take about 3 turns to lock. so it would seem to me that you will have to turn the wheel almost twice as far as you used to turn it for the same corner. that would seem to me to make autoxing more difficult. but, as i stated before, i have never autoxed. but i have set up a little fiugre eight in a parking lot late at night and had some fun, hehe

2. will the rack feel the same with the belt off and with the whole ps stuff gone?

yes it should feel almost exatly the same. I didnt notice a diffence anyway. as for why you need to let the fluid spirt out and such:

curently there are like 3 lines coming off the ps unit. 1 line is a coolant lope that runs in front of your raditator to help cool off some of the fluid. as for the other 2 lines, they are return lines. when you turn the wheel one line sucks fliud (or in a ps case, it forces it in to the rack so that its eaiser to turn) and the other line has the fliud go back into the resivor. ok, so if you did not let all of that fluid spirt out when you caped the lines you would get hydrolock. b/c when you turned the wheel there would be no room for the fluid to go anywhere. so you need to get some of that fluid out so that you wont get hydro lock.

now, if you just have the belt off everything is working properly except for the fact that fluid is not getting forced in to the rack, its just coming in and out like normal. the return lines are not pressurized or anything, fluid is just running through them normaly.

make sense? if not say so and i'll try agian. its kinda hard to explain if you havent realy learned exactly how the rack and the whole ps stuff works

JT

supergoat

So I just went and removed my P/S belt to see how I like it. I used to work at a car rental place and we had Geo Metros without P/S and turning them was no problem at all.

Is there any HP gain associated with removing the belt? maybe 1?

Also, is there a good writeup on removing the whole system? If I like it I'm going to totally remove the p/s system. Thanks guys!

ItsNiceToBurnRice

I dont know about a good write up but heres what i did chief. Some of you will say Im not mechanically inclined, but Ill tell you this, if Im gonna end up takin something out and leaving it out Im gonna do it the fastest way. My fluid was almost all gone first off because it all leaked out.

1. I cut off my belt
2. I removed the pulley nut and pulled it off the shaft.
3. Then I took off the 3 bolts holdin the pump on the bracket.
4. Pushed the pump out of the bracket, and here's where it gets ugly.
5. Removed the hoses
6. Bottom hose, which is the return hose, I just loosened it and pulled it off and capped it with one of the pumps mounting bolts.
7. The main 2 hoses I just cut off with a hacksaw, the thick one has a steel braided line inside it, you can either cut through it, or once the hose is cut through the line will just pull out.
8. I cut both lines down so they are about a foot long and also capped them with bolts, this way I wont get the so called "hydrolock", because the fluid will still have somewhere to go. I also removed the belt tension adjuster for the hell of it.

And walla, no more P/S, and I love it. haha, crazy but hey, it seriously only took me 10 minutes to do.

See you guys at the Redline!

supergoat

Hey thanks! I will want to put mine back in one day I'm sure, so I'm not gonna cut the hoses.

ItsNiceToBurnRice

No problem man, if you want to put it back on one day, just unscrew the nuts to the lines at the pump, this could kinda be a bitch though, mine looked brand new but wouldnt budge.