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finally completed my conversion to manual steering with a manual gear out of an SL. belt had already been off the pump for some time now. primarily swapping for the steering ratio of the manual gear. the hydrolic gear was about 3 turns lock to lock, while a manual gear is 4 turns. while i didnt really miss the power steering much, parallel parking required alot of effort, and sometimes during low speed maneuvers the steering felt pretty heavy, which becomes more of an issue if the wife ever drives it. now with about 1/3 more leverage, effort is very similar to having p/s at and above 5mph, i used to want 2 hands on the wheel turning up to about 15, now i only really need to up to 5. when stopped... well i guess its about 1/3 easier, but thats going to make parallel parking on a busy street alot nicer to manage.
also checked weight differences.
drained p/s gear w/o outer tie rod ends 14.7lbs
manual gear w/o tie rod ends 12.5lbs
drained pump, reservoir, bracket, mounting bolts, lines 9.4lbs
fuild capacity is supposed to be 28oz
so figuring a little residual fluid in the parts still, i'm guessing the conversion was good for about a 13lb loss, or .00003mpg
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