I decided to depower my rack while im swaping the motor. Well the motor is ready to go in so I have started work on depowering and want to do that before I put the motor in because it is easier to install from above.

Ok so I have read the FM guide a billion times and know it word for word. My problem is that they assume that to rack has already had the tie rods removed. I am lookin at the tie rods right now and just cant see how they are supposed to be removed. Could someone please help me out? Some pictures would be great

Brian

 

Loop your lines and put the rack back in the car.

 

+1 they happen to use standard brake line fittings. Take the one of the stock lines into the parts store and buy a brake line flare tool, some hard line, and the connectors for the ends. Make a loop line for the rack, then plug the ones on the column.

 

I'm doing it 100%, not looping the lines. Anyways, I figured it out.

 

how did it work for you? can you comapre it to a factory manual rak, if you have ever driven one?

 

I haven't finished it yet. My dremel is dead so I had to go borrow one from a buddy. It's too late to use it now (don't wanna **** off the neighbor). I will cut off the seal tomorrow morning and reassemble it. Then finish swapping the clutch, flywheel, accessory pulley, and alternator. Then the motor will go in nice and easy. It will be easy going but it might take me until sundown to get it all done, I still have to degrease the engine bay.

I don't have experience with the miata manual rack but I have driven a manual everything 86 nissan pickup for a couple years. I can compare it to that and the miata power steering. The increased effort won't bother me much because I'm a pretty big guy, short but big, and I'm doing it for the increased "feel" of the road.

Brian

 

Its not bad at all...PITA at dead stop sometimes with one hand, but simple after you start rolling, I LOVE it.

 

LOVE IT ITS GReAT

 

I personally like power steering becuase on a miata there is very little advantage to not having it. It realy isnt sucking any power unless you are turning.

 

I'm not a fan of the PS on the Miata. A little over assisted in my opinion. I went with a really small wheel to make it heavier and less floaty feeling.

Removing the PS will remove weight and make I/C piping on the hot side easier.

I'm on the fence, I'm just scared that the steering effort will be too high and I'll no longer be able talk on the cell phone and eat my bigmac while driving.

 

So by doing this it makes it 100% reversable?

I don't suppose you have pictures of this do you?

 

I had factory manual on my 91...it was awesome. forget "not giving you anything", it gives you tremendous road feel, and therefore more precise control.
I drove a friends car depowered at PBC, dunno how they did it. I didn't like it.

 

I did the FM depower method over the winter. I love the way the car feels. Sure, there is more effort, but it doesn't feel any worse than my dad's car which was manual steering from the factory.

 

Has anyone driven looped lines/FM depowered back-to-back?

 

cutting that seal is an absolute bitch, even with a dremel. I had a hell of a time, remember, you don't want to scratch the chrome surface on the rack, you still need it to seal dust out.

 

I boiled mine over at an AutoX...

I'll be depowering mine soon enough. Manual is the only way to go for a car seeing track time.

 

^ did the same. Aggressive lock-to-lock maneuvers tend to overwhelm the system in my experience too.

The Miata feels overboosted with PS to me, with my looped lines there's no tradeoff really, just a little more effort at low speed, but the gain in feel and feedback is incredible.

 

The rack is done, and the motor is in. Just waiting on new bellows for the rack to arrive at autozone to pick up tomorrow and I still need to put on the 1.8 brakes. Then the car will need a state inspection and it will be good to go. Then I just have to wait till probably christmas break to put in the fe.

 

Give me a week or so...

 

You can depower the rack and loop the lines without having to buy any additional parts. I chopped off the metal fitting going into the pump with a hacksaw and slid it into the cut rubber hose on the rack. Clamp it down and screw it back into the rack. Looped, for her pleasure, and easy as pie. While you have the fitting for the rack off, remember to turn the wheel back and forth to squish out some fluid (about 1/4 a cip or so), your forarms will thank you later. I have pics of the project I can dig up if anyone wants to see.