We are in the process of refurbishing my friend's 89 GTU and we are thinking of removing the power steering pump to save weight and reduce power losses. I have an 87 TII without power steering and I love the steering feel in that car. My question is this: Are the power and non-power steering racks the same? i.e. can we just remove the power steering pump and essentially convert this in to a non-power steering car and be done with it, or would the hydraulics on the rack make it too hard to turn? If that is the case can they be removed as well and we just use the bare rack or would the entire rack have to be swapped for a non-power steering model? Thanks for the help!

 

my powersteering belt snapped the other day and it sucked to drive. previously i owned a toyota tercel with no powersteering and it was a lot easier to turn. so i think you would have to replace some stuff for it to work right

 

Steering will be harder with the belt disconnected than with the entire pump disabled. There are several posts on this; use the search option to find more info.

The power and manual racks have different turning ratios (less turns lock-to-lock for the power rack), so steering with the power rack with no pump will be a bit more stiff than the manual rack, but if you're comfortable with it you will get quicker turns (more front wheel turn for less steering wheel turn) than with the manual rack.

 

So with the pump disconected and all the fluid drained out it will operate essentialy as a manual rack? With the belt off but all the hoses connected you would still have to work against the hydraulic preccure of the fluid, correct? Has anyone actually done this to their car and can give some insight to how it feels before and after?

 

I ditched my entire power steering system.
I capped off the holes in the rack. I love it
I don't know why mazda put power steering on there in the first
place.....

 

Not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure you want to run the rack full of fluid, just cap the lines. However, I'd just go to a junkyard and get the manual rack, it's not hard to put it, and you've done it right.

PaulC

 

I thought that you had to loop the two lines in order for it to function properly. Does any one else know this to be true or now

 

Either or Scott. People cap them, or loop them. I'm thinking about capping them so I don't have to go through the trouble of looping it. Did you see the pictures I put on earlier of the work we did today? I'm about 75% sure that oil line is broke under that brace. I'm going to remove that plastic air canister under the passanger fender as well, it's for the acv.