Really glad it worked out for you! There are a lot of Honda folks on here, and I'm certain someone else will eventually follow your lead with this swap.
For what it's worth, the EPS rack is also great for manual conversions, there's a lot less resistance than with a hydraulic rack, but there are some things you need to do to it to make it work. Simply unplugging or even unbolting the EPS motor is going to leave a stiffer than necessary manual rack because the motor connects to the rack via a worm gear. The gear turns very easily from the motor side but not the other way around. Turning the rack without the motor spinning results in a lot of resistance unless you remove the worm gear as well.
See here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_drive
Quote:
Unlike with ordinary gear trains, the direction of transmission (input shaft vs output shaft) is not reversible when using large reduction ratios. This is due to the greater friction involved between the worm and worm-wheel, and is especially prevalent when a single start (one spiral) worm is used. This can be an advantage when it is desired to eliminate any possibility of the output driving the input. If a multistart worm (multiple spirals) is used then the ratio reduces accordingly and the braking effect of a worm and worm-gear may need to be discounted, as the gear may be able to drive the worm.
Worm gear configurations in which the gear cannot drive the worm are called self-locking. Whether a worm and gear is self-locking depends on the lead angle, the pressure angle, and the coefficient of friction.
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Put another way, Honda's EPS racks have a large reduction ratio and unless the worm gear is removed along with the motor, a manual conversion with these racks leaves a lot of friction and drag, similar to how looping the lines in a hydraulic rack still results in high steering effort.
Q. Why would you ever want to do a manual conversion on an electric rack which is virtually free in terms of economy?
A. Due to the above property of worm gears, relatively little steering feedback is able to get back to the steering wheel.