I would like to hear from current forum members who have decided to ditch there P/S and if they are happy with it, or if they wished they had kept it. I am also a little curious as to if you need a manual Rack and Pinion in order to do so? If so, where did you get the rack/

 

Here's a similar thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/race-car-tech-103/poll-fd-power-steering-100%25-track-car-653944/

 

I got rid of all my power steering and when you get a manual rack its because of air bubbles that in the lines or if you wanted to keep yours just crimp the line shut that go to your rack so there are no air bubbles. Take your pick.

1. Weight savings.
2. More Feel for the Road. (my opinion)
3. Cleans Up the engine bay.

 

Theres never been p/s on mine and the only time I dont really care for it is at less then 10mph, but once your moving its wonderful.

 

I'd never give up my P/S...

 

i was wondering the same Backyardsog. anybody else

 

I gave up my a/c before my power steering...I don't think it improves your feel for the road that much (my opinion).

 

assuming that your fd is even the slightest bit modified, the weight is balanced near 50/50 or around there (45/55, 40/60, whatever) i would say ditch it, i've been happy without it for a while, the car is rear drive and slighly weighted toward the rear, you really dont need it.

 

I don't have a/c or p/s. I miss the a/c much more than the ps.

 

I deleted my p/s about 5 years ago and don't regret it at all, for the reasons listed by rx73rotorj.

No manual rack, I used this kit that I had made up:

http://www.gothamracing.com/catalog/...roducts_id=982

 

Same here

 

I ditched it along with a/c last year. I know I'm going to miss the a/c, but I doubt I'll be saying the same for p/s. It cleaned up the engine bay tremendously and gives you a nice free workout as a result of driving .

I'd suggest getting a Manual steering rack conversion done. It makes being without p/s much much more tolerable and just generally feels better while driving.

 

Do you mean getting an acutal manual rack or the conversion the goodfella suggested?

 

I didn't look at the link Goodfella posted. I was referring to the conversion "Mavel Manufacturing" does where it's an actual manual steering rack. Sorry I didn't make that clear initially.

 

str8ryd, is this the place you are talking about?

http://www.mavalgear.com/

 

I took my off some for reason I can't remember and decided to try driving without it. When I drive now I barley remember what it was like with PS.

 

Hmmm. I wonder how big of a difference it is between the two

 

Yup, that's their website. They offer a manual steering conversion for FD's. I believe I paid somewhere between $225-275 with core return.

 

I had done what Goodfella did initially (looped the lines), but still didn't like the feel too much. When you actually start moving it's no big deal, but driving under 10 mph was a HUGE pain.


After the conversion I would say my initial thoughts are that it made a BIG difference. I haven't driven my car around much (Less than 5 miles) after having it converted so it remains to be seen if that was truly the case. I made the decision to have it properly converted after talking to a few fellow members and reading some of the information on this forum. The general consensus was that anyone who had it done absolutely LOVED it! I hope to have the same experience .

 

Huge!

I went from PS (natch) to the Gotham kit to doing my own full manual conversion...night and..well...dawn. I say that as it's not as easy as having PS, but way better than looping it.

With the line loop, you still have a seal that you're fighting against. There's still some fluid that you leave in to keep things lubed, and because of that, you still have a seal that's...well, sealing.

The full conversion offers two main benefits, or three if you're superficial like I am.

Of course, this SAME information exists elsewhere in a plethora of similar posts, not unlike the one that Mahjik posted though all of you still continued to post here.

[/soap box]

The first being the welding of the quill shaft. This has the effect of getting rid of the small amount of play that exists in the steering column. This really gives the feel of crisping up the steering. It could be felt as making the steering too touchy, but that is also dependant on the condition of your front end components. Having the right alignment I've found (for my preference and what I like to do) works.

It also removes that seal in the rack mentioned above. When this happens, you're also removing all the old fluid and greasing up everything. No more seal, mo more sealing and no fluids to push around so less resistance and turning is much easier.

The cosmetic thing you can do it cut, fill and sand all the lines and really clean up the rack.

You can get a new boot kit from Malloy and there's a link elsewhere that links you to the flyin miata page that gives the play by play. Our racks are very similar so...

I wish I took pics when I did mine, but really, it's simple.

 

Ripped out of all three of my FDs

later

 

Don't do it half assed.

Remove the pump, loop the lines up, and weld the quill shaft. The quill shaft weld is key and makes a big difference.

 

I'd have to disagree on that one and say that the welding and removal of the seal are equally as important. Reason I say that is without the removal of the seal, the effort to steer will not change and still be relatively difficult.