the best power steering I have ever come across was in my S2000 had loads of feel, but if it were a track car I'd ditch it in a heart beat. but most other hondas have **** loads of torque steer to deal with especially if they have any decent amount of power.

that being said not only did I depower my rack, but I run as much caster as I possibly can in order to give the feel more "resolution" if you will.

 

It depends on the car. ALMS cars do have a lot more money in their systems though to say the least.

There are electric hydraulic setups (MR2) that can be retrofitted pretty easily if so desired.
Good to hear from someone that has driven both. I had a CRX for years but never drove it on the track. I should get a chance to drive a manual rack Miata on track this year so I'll see how that goes.

I was more challenging the status quo on that reply because I didn't understand the difference in opinion. I've seen plenty of group think in forums in the past and was wondering if it was another case.
s2000 has electric assist.

 

Take the PS out...better feel on track and lighter!

 

No power steering is like doing it without a condom.

 

Anybody got an idler pulley on the cheap so I can ditch the PS but keep the A/C?

 

I guess I am a puss. I made it a point to retain PS on the V8 car, mounting the Miata PS pump on the 5.0 AC bracket. Obviously would have been less work to depower.

Just depowered a guy's FD RX7 for him last week. Virtually the same racks.

 

I drove my car and Shaikh's back to back on the same autocross course - his had an original manual rack and mine is a de-powered one. In the slaloms, in my car, I had never had any trouble with super quick left-right-left switches, and don't need to move my hands' position on the wheel from the usual 10-o'clock and 2-o'clock positions throughout the slalom. I was surprised to find that in his car each change of direction through the slalom required an extra 10 degrees of turning the wheel or so - enough that it would make me cross up my arms and my elbows would hit each other, meaning that I had to do a lot of hand shuffling on the wheel which made it much harder to be fast and smooth through such sections.
-Ryan

 

That's not because of the suspension geometry necessarily, unless they have a lot more caster or something, but because you're having to steer the wrong wheel drive and CV shaft non-sense.

You don't want to muscle the steering, but in a moving lightweight RWD vehicle this is a non-issue unless your tires are just that extreme or you're going insanely fast.

That racing argument is bullshit too. Maybe "pro cars" have it, but I'm pretty sure none of the scca formula stuff runs power steering. There is also a big difference in hydraulic slop steer and power assisted steering or even proper electric power steering in general. My RX-8 had electric power steering and once you're at speed it's almost completely turned off anyway. Apparently the newer miata power steering isnt too too bad though, but I'd still remove it.

I'm curious as to how "bad" it gets with wide wheels though? Do you notice it at speed running 9" wheels? I'm thinking about getting some wider wheels soon and it is primarily a street driven miata, what do you guys recommend?

 

I deleted all my PS junk but left just the pulley which seems to work fine. At one point I'd managed to find a belt that's sized perfect to fit just over the AC (I'll try to dig up the size, gatorback was the only company I could find that made it). I started putting the belt on and got my GF to hit the starter, the belt jumped right on and never squeeled. Just a couple options incase you have trouble finding the idler, seems like they're tough to come by.

 

I thought about doing it with a short belt just going to the compressor like that and using washers on the compressor mounting face to tighten if necessary, but it seemed like a dirty option at the time. The idea is starting to grow on me though.

 

I say get rid of it. I got into an accident where my inner tie rod bent slightly. My rack was leaking a bit anyway and was in need of a rebuild. I bought a rebuilt PS rack that was depowered from partsgroup.com. Cost me 150 bucks and came with inner tie rods in good shape. They were great and I love the rack. Street drive it and when I first got it I had 205/50/15 RT615s. Gotta keep both hands on the wheel because michigan pot holes tend to want to make your car go wherever but otherwise its great! way more feedback and I can honestly say I feel the tires up front understeer sooner than I would have without it. It allowed me to push the car a bit harder, earlier.

 

like everyone else says, ditch it... its not that hard to turn the wheel from a dead stop in a car that weighs 2200 lbs.

link to write up i used: http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/depower.php?x=1

 

Just remember to get an alignment after!

 

You can remove the ps pump and run a short belt from the crank to the a/c compressor.

Someone had a post that a 31" or so belt fit perfectly. (can't remember the exact size)

I ordered the one he recommended and it was about an inch too short to slip over both pulleys.

I'll probably try fitting one again now that it's getting hot.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/GTR-4040310/
^ I think this is the one I tried that was to short for my NB.

Edit: Found the thread
https://www.miataturbo.net/wtb-7/wtb-ps-delete-idler-pulley-49058/
He said the 30" fit; but I think you may need the 31"

 

Thx.