Manual Steering

[PManess57]

Hey all, I have a 97 with power steering and am considering trading for a manual rack set up. I've driven my friends stock NA6 with manual steering, but I want to get a feel for a a lowered car with grippy tires and a manual rack before I commit. If anyone is willing to let a 17 year old test drive their car for a minute, please let me know
Thanks,
Parker

[OZMDD]

Make sure you can get the PS delete pulley and tensioner before you make a deal on the manual rack. They are no longer made, hard to find, and more expensive than the rack. You must have it to retain AC, or do some creative engineering.

[modernbeat]

Yep, make sure you've got one of these if you want to keep AC. Some guys are gutting the PS pump and making that work, but it's still got more drag than the non-PS belt tensioner.

[PManess57]

Thanks guys, is there much difference between stock with manual steering vs lowered/tires with manual steering?

[OZMDD]

Depending on the size of the tires and the compound, yes.

[PManess57]

Would anyone be willing to let me drive their car around a lot for a minute just to get a feel for it?

[OZMDD]

[AnthonyS]

Yes you can drive my car around a bit if you want. We might even be able to work out some kind of deal on a parts swap since eventually I'm going to do a 5.0 engine swap (starting this winter).

[modernbeat]

When you talk about manual steering, you need to specify if you are talking about the standard manual rack that came stock on some cars, or a converted power to manual rack, which has a faster ratio than the manual rack, but has had the seals pulled out and the valve welded up.

[Ziggo]

My car is a depowered rack with the seals intact and lines looped AND a smaller OD wheel, sitting on 15x9s with 225 rivals at a 4.2" pinch weld height. Supposedly the worst case of all and it's a pain to turn in parking lots for sure, but once it's moving I don't need mind at all. Knocking the caster down to 6.5° helped a lot.

I didn't intend not to have power steering, but there was a leak and I didn't want to invest the time to figure it out. Once I get more serious with it as a CSP car and put serious rubber on it, I'll probably be putting power steering back on.

You are in Plano, pretty close to me in Melissa. I'll let you take it around the block.

[Jiggerachi]

Make sure you can get the PS delete pulley and tensioner before you make a deal on the manual rack. They are no longer made, hard to find, and more expensive than the rack. You must have it to retain AC, or do some creative engineering.

You can also just gut the stock PS pump and put it back on sans hoses. It's worked perfectly on mine for a couple years though admittedly I haven't put a lot of miles on it.


If you can't find a car to drive feel free to come by and check out my set up some weekend although i'm not exactly in your neighborhood. I've got a properly depowered / welded PS rack. It's awesome on the roads but it does suck in a parkinglot if you're not used to it.

[jrj512]

Once I get more serious with it as a CSP car and put serious rubber on it, I'll probably be putting power steering back on.

As Mark52 found out with his CSP (now DP) Miata with 285 Hoosiers, sticky, wide tires will be too much for the PS pump designed for 185mm street tires, so you will begin to blow it out.

[PManess57]

Thanks guys, I sent a PM to Anthony. I was asking about a normal manual rack, not a depowered one. I'm fairly scrawny and I back into every spot, every day, including my garage, so I don't think the depowered rack is a good route for me. Also, do the cars with manual steering use a different AC/Idler belt than the PS cars?

[Ziggo]

As Mark52 found out with his CSP (now DP) Miata with 285 Hoosiers, sticky, wide tires will be too much for the PS pump designed for 185mm street tires, so you will begin to blow it out.

Well that is disappointing. I did a bit of reading and from what I can find it seems the unbraced, non-oem hoses are most vulnerable and they are failing in the hard portion of the line, so it certainly seems like a vibration\fatigue failure rather than a pure pressure failure, unless the burst strength of the hardline is less than the flexibile portion, which would be a surprise. Or I just muscle up.