Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

when I tried it the car had the full conversion with the summit racing line, no pump, etc... nice neat clean job. At 30mph it sucked. In fact it sucked so bad I decided to take everything else off and part it To each is own but definitely not for me.

jspecracer7

my FD is my daily driver....I drive it to get GROCERIES! Of course, if your physically fit or have naturally large arms then converting to non-ps isn't going to be a problem.

clayne

No P/S here. No pump either.

240 mm wheel, it's not a problem.

black99

And I thought my 320mm was small...

the_glass_man

iTrader: (2)

It's not the size its how you use it!
No power steering and 275/40 17's all around and loving it.

P'cola FD

Paul, there really is a big difference when you do it "right." I took the pump off, and looped the lines that went into the pump, and it was tolerable, but still not that nice. When I pulled my engine, I went ahead and looped the lines at the rack, making sure to leave as much fluid in there as possibe. The car feels awesome! I seriously, only realize that it doesn't have P/S when I'm on the cell phone, pullign out of a parking space, steering with one hand, and let's face it, that doesn't happen all that often.
You can keep the P/S if you like, I won't think any less of you, but it really isn't bad. My girlfriend has never even said anything about the steering being hard in my car. And the steerig feel is greatly improved. My main reason for doing it, though, was to clean everything up. You can get rid of the pump, the lines, and that damned cooler up front.

rx7tt95

Ditto P'cola. I did it right with a looped line as well. The only time it's heavy is when turning the wheel at 5mph and under. At 10, 15, 20mph, it's just as easy as the PS. I run 265's on 9.5" rims up front. I actually did mine for three reasons...first, pump had a slight leak that was going to be a PITA to fix. Second, I had a loop line sitting around. Third, had shoulder surgery and I figured it would be decent physical therapy to get the muscles back up to speed. It worked!

BLKTOPTRVL

Question...

Were any FDs ever produced without PS?

The reason I ask is because I imagine the pump assist provides power at the base of the steering column and not at the top. With this in mind, is it possible that the steering column shaft could be too weak to be 'muscled' continuously without the power assistance?

If there are non-PS FD's, are the steering shafts the same? Just a thought before someone sheers off their steering while driving down the road.

I'm not saying this is a possibility; just a question that I think should be answered before surgery.

P'cola FD

There were not FDs without P/S. The quill shaft of which you speak is about the size of a #2 pencil, and some people weld it up to be more solid. I, however, have never heard of one breaking. So I'm happy with just a looped line.

Also, anyone interested in keeping the A/C without the P/S, let me know, as I've figured out a way to make it work.

Phantom Driver

Ok I'm missing something. Did you just "turn off" ure power steering? Or did you put a manual steering rack in. That's a BIG difference. When you don't have any rack at all, it's 10x harder. Soryr if someone posted this.

Phantom

P'cola FD

The pump is removed, and a rubber line is put in place, looping the two lines coming out of the power steering rack.

BoOsTin FD

got any pictures of the looped lines. I too wanted to this for some time, but I want to make sure I know what i'm doing.

Amel

skunks

it really depends on what kind of driving you are doing, if you trying to drift, id leave the PS in. if for road race or for drag, its probally ok to take it out. personnaly id leave it in

skunks

it really depends on what kind of driving you are doing, if you trying to drift, id leave the PS in. if for road race or for drag, its probally ok to take it out. personnaly I'd leave it in, if it aint broke, dont fix it!

P'cola FD

I don't have any pictures. You can go to crooked willow racing's webpage, and buy a spiffy little loop for like $70, but it is easy as **** to make. You just cut the hardlines coming out of the rack, and put a piece of fuel/heater hose in between them with hose clamps on the end. It's kinda hard to imagine, but once you see it, it's pretty self explanatory.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

Thanks man I needed that.

Shad Laws

Hello-

It depends what you want...

I agree that if you want more feedback at high speeds (always over >30-40mph or so), then PS doesn't help much. However, I disagree that it's only good for parking lots.

My favorite pasttime is to hit the Santa Cruz Mountains twisties. I do it several times a week... I put around 100 miles a week purely in pleasure driving up there. I used to do it in manual steering cars... and it was HARD! There were some turns (i.e. the ever-common steep uphill hairpin switchback) where you had to go slowly because you couldn't physically turn the wheel fast enough - the effort it required slowed you down. This wasn't enjoyable.

PS makes the drive much more enjoyable... and I can attack the turns much harder because I know that I still have control over which way the wheels are turned.

Take care,
Shad

rotorbrain

my pump is ALWAYS wet and this is why i decided to try it out. my a/c was just in the way. it didnt work and i didnt wanna pay to fix it or pay to tune for it being in use. too much money to mess with when its barely even used.

is there anyone close to me that has done this? id really like to try this out before i make a decision. if it feels that great then i might take it out.

i WILL be hitting the track with this car, but not all the time. so, maybe i can take it off and not really miss it. i dont get all that crazy while driving around either. . . . caca. . . decisions, decisions. hahaha

paul

oh, and about that kiddie car out in front of target. . . i already test drove it. i had to make a decision about which car to get. . . an FD or the tiny red fire engine. i was forced to get the FD cause some short fat 10 yr. old with chocolate ice cream lining his mouth kicked me while i was test driving it. . . he was tough. there was no winning him over. he WANTED that little red fire engine. . . and in his mind it was HIS. i even bribed him with a pack of cordial cherries. the punk wouldnt budge. that was that. . . i had to face it. . . the little red fire engine just wasnt destined to be mine. that little brat was to happily stuff his face with chocolate ice cream cones in that beautiful little red fire engine forever. . . all the while knowing in his fat little head that he beat me. . . he won me over. . . im sure he feels good. . . and he always will. . . until i blow that damn fire truck up one night!!!!!

wow, thats ridiculously long. . . sorry about that guys. hahahahahaha

clayne

Oops.

340!

Not 240.

Fitness Stain

lol

P'cola FD

Paul, are you going to go to Drift Atlanta? If you are I'll be up there, and you can drive my car. If you decide to keep the P/S and need a new pump PM me. I've got three or four pumps lying around.

clayne

You need to change your seating position to be proper and remove the p/s pump.

http://e30m3performance.com/myths/Dr...g_position.htm

P'cola FD

Amen to that. As uncomfortable as it is having the seat all forward and vertical, it really does improve your abilities. I learned that at a driving school, and significantly improved my lap times.

clayne

Yep.

Although you do want some recline, not completely vertical. However you also want the area where your gluts/hamstrings are to be reclined as well, keeping that overall 95 (or 85 depending on how you look at it) degree angle of the seat - which is why one-piece race seats are beneficial.

DamonB

rotorbrain, my pump used to weep too. It weeped out of the short rubber hose underneath the p/s reservoir that goes to the pump and always left the pump grimy. The factory hose clamps are wire clamps and as the hose gets old it just doesn't seal anymore. I removed the originals and put plain worm clamps on it; stays dry all the time now. There's not much room but if you completely unwind the worm clamp so it's just a straight strap you can fish it around the hose and then bend it back before tightening it.

As for removal of the p/s I don't see a need to remove it. If someone feels the need to have less stuff on the engine, fine. But you don't need to remove the p/s to "feel" the car. I race my car more than most and when I screw up I can assure you it isn't because I can't feel what the front tires are doing.

Most people make the car "harsh" so they can remind themselves each time they drive that this is a performance car: remove the a/c, shorter and harder springs, stiff shocks, remove the p/s etc. I don't need to cause myself discomfort in order to convince myself that this is a performance car.

If people often drove the car hard they would find it's much easier to "drive" the car around the track as opposed to "wrestle" the car around the track. Once your arms get tired from wrestling through the corners I can assure you that you'll make many more mistakes due to fatique than whatever you thought was gained by removing the p/s. You get more numb to feedback the more tired you get.

...and yeah, the far majority of people sit too far from the steering wheel. My gf is shorter than I and I found she raced with the seat back further than I do! After some convincing (arguing ) I got her to move the seat up and her steering inputs improved.