Remove power steering, save weight?

[freerange7]

Has anyone removed the power steering or had a belt snap?
Is the steering to heavy after this or is it something you could live with, does it spoil the feel of the car?

[zac510]

I drove a non-PS mk1 and hated it. Amazing how quickly you get used to power steering. Used to drive old non-PS cars with fat tyres every day!
It's a small bit of weight I'll live with for a while longer

[Rackattack]

My mk1 1.8 has no ps and i thought it may be a problem at first but how wrong i was. Unless you have arms like match sticks and man flu you may find a 3 point turn slightly difficult but you soon get used to it and the direct feel to the road especially on twisty roads is brilliant. My partner can even handle it and shes a girl!

[MX-5 Lazza]

Rackattack said:

My partner can even handle it and shes a girl!

Good job you stressed that point, bearing in mind the reputation of the cars we drive

[MX-5 Lazza]

The MX5 was designed from the outset to have power steering. The weighting, centring and assistance is very well judged. All of the reviews have always commented on the superb steering feel & feedback and they always test the top models which have always had ps. The non-ps models were generally low-spec "budget" models.
It is possible to de-power a ps rack but you have to bear in mind that the ps rack has less turns lock-to-lock so will be heavier than the non-ps models.
I'm sure most people who don't like the feel of the ps on their car would change their minds if the fitted decent tyres on decent wheels and gave it a decent alignment.

[Planet Claire]

I had an accident which resulted in one of the power steering pipes leaking. On the motorway at speed it was ok, but around town it drove like a tank. I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

[anonymous-user]

Can't really see the point in removing it - the p/s pump is tiny - you'd get more benefit by removing the space-saver spare and putting in a can of tyre-foam, or by not wearing any shoes.

Remove the A/C pump and massive housing bracket to really save some weight - together those 2 are damn heavy.

[zac510]

The drag on the engine would chew a few horses but pretty neglible unless you're chasing serious track tiny percentages, I'd think.

[MX-5 Lazza]

zac510 said:

The drag on the engine would chew a few horses but pretty neglible unless you're chasing serious track tiny percentages, I'd think.

Only while you are turning the steering wheel and you'd have to be turning pretty vigorously to make any real impact on power.

[skinny]

even on track, most competition cars chose to run with PAS.

a non-PAS rack has more turns lock to lock than a de-powered PAS rack to reduce the steering effort. not tried it but i'd imagine a de-powered PAS rack to be quite unweildy at low speeds. you won't speed the rack up but you'll find quick and precise movements more difficult. and you won't save significant weight. replace seats and remove sound deadening / carpets for that.

[Slinky]

skinny said:

even on track, most competition cars chose to run with PAS.

a non-PAS rack has more turns lock to lock than a de-powered PAS rack to reduce the steering effort. not tried it but i'd imagine a de-powered PAS rack to be quite unweildy at low speeds. you won't speed the rack up but you'll find quick and precise movements more difficult. and you won't save significant weight. replace seats and remove sound deadening / carpets for that.

PAS rack with no pump is EVIL.. fine straight ahead and slight direction changes, then you forget and try to swing into a parking space and thank god that someone wasn't in the space next to the one you aimed for... and missed..

slinky

[maz8062]

This is a topic that has been covered at length. The long and short of it is that the mk1 was designed for power steering - the non ps systems was under developed and inferior.

[freerange7]

Looks like I will keeping it then, thanks

[Herman Toothrot]

maz8062 said:

This is a topic that has been covered at length. The long and short of it is that the mk1 was designed for power steering - the non ps systems was under developed and inferior.

Yep.