Removing the power-steering and ac pumps.
I depowered mine a while ago and its just fine. I actually like the steering way better. Basically what I did was this:
1. take off the drain plug and put a catch underneath.
2. remove the pump and tubing and put it somewhere where you dont mind a mess because it will leak fluid for awhile.
3. I looped the line after most of the fluid leaked out.
The little bit of fluid left helps lubricate and keeps the seals intact for if you ever want to repower the rack. Low speed is not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, but driving aggressively takes a bit more work now.
edit ... i dont see where all this concern for the rack breaking is coming from ??? I researched it a bit before i did the job and found no instance of anybodys rack breaking due to this.
1. take off the drain plug and put a catch underneath.
2. remove the pump and tubing and put it somewhere where you dont mind a mess because it will leak fluid for awhile.
3. I looped the line after most of the fluid leaked out.
The little bit of fluid left helps lubricate and keeps the seals intact for if you ever want to repower the rack. Low speed is not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, but driving aggressively takes a bit more work now.
edit ... i dont see where all this concern for the rack breaking is coming from ??? I researched it a bit before i did the job and found no instance of anybodys rack breaking due to this.
Just one note, after you remove the drain and wait for the fluid to drain out, I would turn the steering wheel lock-to-lock several times to squeeze out even more fluid.
Also, for comparison, I have driven a manual rack, and it felt like it took about the same effort as a depowered rack, probably b/c the higher steering ratio of the PS rack.
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Joined: Mar 2005
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yeah I pulled my powersteering last weekend, havent driven it yet but it took about 15min with the exhaust off. drain, pull the res, pull the pump, unhook the lines, drain the rack until there is only a little fluid left, loop lines, done.
the AC was about 2 hours because I was working around so much stuff, and I still havent removed the under dash stuff. but, take it to a shop and have the ac stuff drained, drop the condensor, unhook the lines, pull the pump, and thats about it. took a while because I put the new belt on the ps (I kept the ps for another year) and I was swapping a bunch of other stuff while I was in there, new rad, oil change, gutting the front bumper, a few other things I cant remember.
my friend is having problems with his "Depowered" rack in his ae86 now after about 7 years, but he also didnt do it right, he crimped the lines shut instead of looping, and he drained it completely rather than leaving a little for lube. Im confident that looped with a little fluid in there is the way to go short of FM's total seal removal, which is obviously the proper way.
the AC was about 2 hours because I was working around so much stuff, and I still havent removed the under dash stuff. but, take it to a shop and have the ac stuff drained, drop the condensor, unhook the lines, pull the pump, and thats about it. took a while because I put the new belt on the ps (I kept the ps for another year) and I was swapping a bunch of other stuff while I was in there, new rad, oil change, gutting the front bumper, a few other things I cant remember.
my friend is having problems with his "Depowered" rack in his ae86 now after about 7 years, but he also didnt do it right, he crimped the lines shut instead of looping, and he drained it completely rather than leaving a little for lube. Im confident that looped with a little fluid in there is the way to go short of FM's total seal removal, which is obviously the proper way.
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Joined: Sep 2005
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From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Cars with power steering but no A/C (such as mine) use a smaller belt which drives only the P/S pump.
Cars with A/C but without power steering use the same belt as the P/S and A/C cars- there is an idler pulley which goes where the power steering pump would normally be, and that pulley takes up about the same amount of space as the P/S pump would.
The reason for this is that the tension adjustment for that belt is done at the power steering pump. The A/C compressor is rigidly mounted to the block and there is no provision for adjusting the belt tension otherwise.
To run the A/C compressor alone (without a P/S pump or idler) you'd have to rig up some kind of external tensioner similar to the one on the timing belt or most superchargers.
Having done a DIY intercooler, I doubt you'd benefit from removing only the power steering. In my case, I did just the opposite. Removing the A/C bought me enough space to run a 2" pipe down behind the radiator without removing the P/S pump. Pictures:
https://www.miataturbo.net/forums/sh...ht=intercooler
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More info
Any more detailed info on looping the lines. Were the fittings changed out? Did you use rubber hose? Was the old tubes used?
Can anyone take a pic? A cell phone pic would work.
Thanks for any info.
Can anyone take a pic? A cell phone pic would work.
Thanks for any info.
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basicly like that, things that were going places are looped from source to destination.
I made "lines" from the water line left over for my turbo install and I think my rack looked a little different than that, I'll try to take a pic when I head back in.
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Thanks that is just what I needed.
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