Has or does anyone drive the 4th gen without Power Steering and like it compared to with P/S? I feel like our steerings aren't tight enough and in my opinion its not that accurate and feels slightly disconnected from the road. Would love a tighter steering so thinking bout no P/S. Thoughts?

 

Unless you're Popeye, don't waste your time. I found the car to be undriveable from a stop or at low speeds. Parking was a nightmare too.

 

to be blunt, its a b1tch on most cars. parking lots are gonna be a nightmare, like Wizard said youre gonna be going Popeye mode with your arms within a week of no PS.

 

ahhh ok thanks guys

 

Track car, yes.
Daily driver, no.

If you do it, do it right and convert your rack too..don't just take the belt off and call it a mod.

 

How exactly was the rack de powered in your experience?

 

like as in you just cut off the power steering belt or bypass the PS pulley? its painful, theres been cars at work that come in because the power steering belt broke off and when i drive it in the garage it takes all of my strength to turn the wheel sometimes

 

That's because power steering racks are geared for less leverage than racks not intended to be powered. If you drive a car that has non-power steering, the steering effort is about the same as for a car with power steering, you just have to turn the wheel further.

 

I thought I already stated how I feel about it. Not sure what you mean by this question Leonard. Please clarify.

 

I think he means was it a power steering rack without power, or was it a manual steering rack?

 

I drove an old Accord a year or so without power steering. Once the rack bled out, it wasn't all that bad. As long as you know it's going to be harder to turn and are prepared for it, its not all that bad. I think the accord had smaller tires, 185ish, so that might make a difference. Over 25 and you don't even feel a difference

 

Is it time for this link yet?:
http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/how...eringrack.html

 

What I meant was, which method was used to depower the steering rack? Cut the PS belt and leave as is, bypass the pump and loop the PS lines on the rack, or disassemble and modify similarly to the following links:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticl...ring-Rack.aspx

http://forums.maxima.org/8861199-post1381.html

 

Gotcha. I simply didn't install the belt when I installed my UR lightweight crank pulley.

 

Running a "loaded" steering system without the belt is vastly different than running a de-powered system.

I lost a PS pulley on my 3rd gen on track once, and nearly killed myself because I couldn't turn the car at 100mph. not cool.

The 240SX is the same way with how the hydraulics work in these cars, however, I drained the fluid from the rack in my 240 and looped the lines, and have been racing the car like that for about 6 years now. I run a slightly larger steering wheel than stock just to keep the effort low if I have to countersteer in a turn, but otherwise I have no problems driving the car with a de-powered rack. That's also on a 240 with about 8 degrees of caster, which makes it much harder to steer. (Maximas only run about 2-3 deg of caster).

 

Interesting. So what are the benefits of a de-powered system? I guess on a track only car, the PS pump can be ripped out for weight savings?

 

Yes, decreased weight is one benefit, another is more HP to the wheels by reducing parasitic drag. You already know how much "arm power" it takes to muscle the wheel without it My guesstimate is 4-6 HP gain without it.