I LOVE the way it drives on my buddy's NA, but I have a manual rack on mine so it wasn't a big jump.

It feels a little bit heavier but way faster.

I really think it's going to come down to your wheel/tires and your alignment.

Mine is a little too light on the highway due to the 3.8 degrees of caster, but it's perfect when the caster is above 5 degrees.

His car was sitting on -2.5 degrees of camber and 5 degrees of caster, the caster was as high as we could get it. Both of us had 195 tires with the same offset.

If you play with it for a while, I bet you can dial in "perfect" steering with the alignment and tire pressure.

 

I've decided I'm going to do it, if only for the fact that I'm like a Tyrannosaurus rex (scrawny arms) and this could potentially help. I don't go to the gym but I do a fair chunk of cycling.

 

I was always kind of big, but you'd be surprised at how much it helps out those stabilizer muscles. It's kind of cool when you notice that everything seems just a little lighter.

 

Always loved driving without power steering.

 

To do the big depower i take it you gotta do an alignment after?

 

It'll probably help if you have a bunch of caster.

 

Mine had 5.5 degrees and I took it down to 4.5 and it is good.

 

Yes you will need an alignment afterwards. you are completely removing the rack and everything attached to it. If you somehow get it all back together without any alignment changing I would be highly impressed.

 

Am I the only one that didn't do this? I just got ALL of the fluid out and looped the lines. I haven't been struck by lightning or burst into flames yet. And the steering feels great.

 

I pulled the pump and looped the lines last fall and everything seems to be fine. I'm not even sure I got all of the fluid out.

 

Thats what i'll start with but i'll probably pull the seals too eventually.

 

Its not a Miata, but I removed my rack and gutted it when I had the engine out. Greased all the gears and moving parts with bearing grease, removed the pump/lines and never looked back.

It sucks if you have to sit in one spot and turn the wheels, but when you hit 1MPH it starts getting easier from there and the road feel is great IMHO.

 

I did the full FM depower. If you just loop lines then you should not mess alignment at all.

 

Exactly plus looping the lines is fairly reversible. Once you cut the seals and weld the pinion it is what it is.

 

So much vagina in this thread.

I daily drove my NA for 4 years with looped lines. Loved it. At the time i was 5'9"/135 pounds. Scrawny little peanut and I still had no issues with it.

I do kind of wish I did the proper depower though. There was definitely some noticeable slop in the rack, but I couldn't be bothered to do anything about it.

 

I've been driving with a depowered rack for over 3 years and love it. Prior to the mod, the car seemed as if though it floated at higher speeds. I never really felt connected with the road.
So we did a proper depowering of the rack and welded the pinion. The car also had a proper alignment done immediately thereafter.
In the interest of not sounding like a broken record, the previous posts have covered all the "+'s". I will only add that the overall feel of control is more "direct". Input now equals output in steering effort. No more PS exagerration of steering input.
This mod is not for everyone but, I highly recommend it to anyone without a clitoris.

 

Since this thread has been bumped....I'm getting an alignment on this '94 R-package on Saturday.

Caster?

3.5?

4.0?

 

Whats the full alignment specs you guys run on a depowered street car?

 

I like 4.2 to 4.5 just fine.

 

I have ran up to 5.5* during my street time. I couldn't tell an effort difference between 4.5* and 5.5*. YMMV.