So I just got my Fcs (I think thats it a 87 turbo II) and the prior owner decided he wanted to make the car have a manual Steering Rack rather than a rack with a powered rack... Advantages/Disadvantages.?!?!?!.... I am curious to know what you guys think cause I can drive the car either way.... The car has a coil over suspension and all poly bushings.... I wanna buil a real nice street RX and put it on the track every now and then... anyhow its not and everyday driver.. It sits in my garage usually till the weekend... anyhow back to the power steering another question I had about it was the ratio of turn radius.. I was told 15.1 with the powered rack I would assumes you get more witout it but is it that much?????

 

For starters, the power steering vs non power steering debate brings up a huge can of worms, however, it is ultimately your opinion about what is better that matters.

The power steering system is good, but a manual rack gives you even more precise steering and better feedback at the cost of it being harder to turn at low speeds.

You're rack ratio depends on the year and model of rack in the car, you can check this. Find the make and model of the rack and sift through the info. https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/specifications-what-did-2nd-generation-rx-7-come-w-options-standard-features-642372/

A depowered power rack can mean a couple of things, just removing the belt to the engine is not a true depower so you should figure out exactly what the PO did to depower the rack.

 

I changed my ps to manual, and found out later that the ps doesn't function above 40 mph. So now I wish I had my ps back.
Terry

 

It doesn't? From what I've experienced, I never had problems switching lanes, now I feel the bumps between the unlevel ground. To my knowledge, PS also is affected by speed, where 1:15 at 2mph changes to like 1:5 at 60mph.. I'm not sure about our cars being like that, but I'm almost positive that it functions above 40 mph.

I'm no tech, but thats my opinion.

 

For me, once I get above 40 mph it's hard to tell anyway. It's when you are going slow that the ps really helps.
I read about the 40 mph deal in one of the online mazda RX-7 manuals.
Could be I'm mistake though, but I don't think so.
Terry