Well first off let me introduce my self im new but ive hd the car for about a month now and just replaced the clutch and about evrything else. but heres my Question. Power steering i want to it off. Im wondering what should i do with the lines afterwards? Should i plug them off to keep the rack lubed or should i jus take it off?

 

Search for depowering the power steering rack, or something like that. Or maybe removing the power steering rack. Anyway, I know there is a writeup on it, I just dont remember how to do it. I think you basically loop the lines around to keep the fluid in it but I dont remember specifics.

 

Just loop the lines and put a bolt in the cooler line, or you can get most of the fluid out of the rack and put a bolt in all three like I did, and mine is very easy to turn and feels good going down the road only a little harder to turn when stopped.

 

check out maval gear. all the fd guys use them to convert their stock ps racks to real manual style.
weld the quill tabs which give 3 degrees of slop to activate the power steering, then they plug the rack shut, no looped lines. then they pack the rack and pinion w/ grease.
this is the proper way to do it. looping the lines works, but this is what im doing to my power rack.
search the forum for maval gear, or try mavalgear.com or something, call them up.
its around $230-260 i believe. nice rebuilt manual conversion.
-Ben Martin

 

From the archive:
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-gen-archive-72/how-de-power-your-steering-rack-right-way-440198/

 

nice, i might be doing that soon. Im already with no p/s in my T2, so why not

 

wow, thats a great thread that ive never seen before!

 

mine didnt come with power steering...I like it that way

 

If you are going to do it, do it right. Swap on the manual rack. You will also need the mounting brackets and inner tie rods. The manual rack is about 200 times better then the de-powered power rack.

 

What makes you say that? I'd think they'd feel about the same, but the depowered rack will have a faster ratio, which is better for everything but steering effort.

 

The de-powered rack is SO HEAVY compared to the light and nimble manual rack...Yeah, some people like the quicker ratio from the de-powered rack but I feel the advantage is negated by how much effort you must use to turn the wheel.

 

Guess I'll thow my .02 in on the De-powered V.S. manual rack.

Yes, the de-powered rack will have a quicker steering ratio, either 15:1 or 17:1 if I remember right, whereas the manual rack is like 20:1 or something. It's gonna take more effort with a de-powered rack, but it's going to steer quicker, and the steering effort is only really felt below 5 MPH, other than that it steers quite easily, and that's even with the 15:1 rack. The manual rack is going to be easier to steer, but won't steer as fast. Unless you're pretty weak, you should have no problems with the de-powered rack. I'll admit, I'm not a big guy by any means, but I find the 15:1 de-powered rack to be easily managable. I'll never go back to PS after having a de-powered rack. To me, PS is WAY too touchy, especially at higher speeds. After driving my car then driving my friend's Integra GSR, I understand why I don't like PS anymore. It's just too touchy it seems when you go into hard corners, and the slightest turn throws off the balance of the car. Just my .02 on that mod.

 

I don't mind the effort. I hardly ever notice it. I autocross in a VERY small lot, where quick steering is beneficial. It's not tiring on 8 hour drives, at the track, in town or anything. Sure it's a little tougher, but I like it.

 

For AutoX, I think a case could be made for the power rack. The manual rack has great feel and accuracy, but it's fairly slow. With wider than stock tires the effort increases a fair bit and makes it difficult to be as accurate (you require larger muscles to move larger forces and they're not as precise). The manual rack requires a lot of turning in fast, tight turns and thus it's difficult to do a hand over hand manouver in the time required. If the ratio was quicker you could do what you needed without rotating the wheel too much. The power rack with its quicker ratio would be benificial, but depowering it would require more effort and make decrease your accuracy.

 

Very true, but the power steering is flawed. Several times during autocrosses I'd "get ahead" of the steering boost during fast transitions at slow speed, so the steering would very suddenly go from power assisted to worse than manual for effort. Needless to say, this was very bad for accuracy and times. That's one of the main reasons why I did the conversion myself, to get rid of this problem.