Power Steering delete for fuel economy gain - anyone done it?

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by krrcan

However... I'm scared that the rack will not take the pressure and increased wear that manually steering with a power steering rack would require.
Since the PAS-rack is designed to have assist, perhaps it can't handle manual handeling?

The power assist is often built in quite "early" - i.e. close to the steering wheel.
Anything beyond the PA motor to the wheels can take higher loads than what you can apply manually.

If there's anything that abuses the steering rack, it's the power assist.
And the driver of course, who'll now happily steer with the car standing still - something you wouldn't do without power assist, as it was rather straining

[IsaacCarlson]

Don't worry about it. The steering components can take much more than you can do by hand. Power steering applies tons of pressure, not pounds. I have been without power steering in the car and the truck for a few years and I don't miss it one bit. I can feel the road better with manual steering and I have not spun out once with it because I know where the limit of traction is by the way the wheel feels. My wife loves it too.

[Christ]

I'm seeing a misconception here that power steering racks are somehow seeing /less/ load anywhere in the system... the fact is that the assist only lessens the load on the steering column, not the rack itself. The friction of the tires against the road surface and any pivot points in the system will determine rack load, and you simply arent going to break/twist/otherwise damage the steering column by hand.

Except maybe the ignition interlock. I break those with Armstrong levers all the time.

[krrcan]

I did the fluid line loop yesterday.
I'll clean out the other components tonight, and tomorrow I will buy whatever plugs I need, to plug the 4 openings from the rotary valve.

Since the AUX belt is off, and the water pump and alternator doesn't get any turning, I can't drive far.
I did however took a quick test-ride, and I was very positively suprised!
There was not the slightest increase in effort at speeds above 10-15km/h.
The missy had some remarks on the car being abit more difficult to park, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.
The mod got her approval.

It is load on the gears between the steering column and the rack, that I am worried about.
These gears must see less pressure with assist than they do now in manual?

[serialk11r]

Wait a minute, what about the torsion spring in the rack? With power assist it's almost completely unloaded, but without power assist the full forces of the steering rack are transmitted to it. I feel like that could be a problem. Either way I don't turn power steering off anymore (I have EHPS) since it only saves a few amps and there is way too much play in the wheel without assist and the mushy feel is weird. I would gladly ditch my EHPS for a solid steering column though, the wheels are not that hard to turn.

[whatmaycome14]

I've removed the power steering in my Civic. No problem turning even in parking spaces. It's such a light weight car and the tires are small enough. I had also performed this mod in my Toyota Paseo back in the day. Drove it like that for years, never had any problem.

[krrcan]

Do I need to loop the openings in the rotary valve, or can I simply plug them all?

[krrcan]

I sawed of some piping from the banjo-bolts, and slammed them flat.
The nipple bolts, I welded some nail-heads on them.
This to get to get a decent plugs on the rotary valve.


This is how it looked once fitted into my skoda felicia:


And here we have a image on the fluid-line bypass:

[JMunn55]

The delete works fairly well even on a largish car like my Camry, if the lines are looped. I'd look into local laws though because after 6 months of manual steering (I gained 3 mpg highway), I got dinged at safety inspection for it since it's not set up as OEM. Spent $300 on all new lines and the high pressure one I got from Rockauto doesn't fit, threads are a little different. Toyota wants $700 for the one high pressure line. Not sure what I'll do at this point but if you are thinking of this, CHECK YOUR LOCAL INSPECTION REGULATIONS. I preferred no power steering myself though, kinda disappointed.

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by JMunn55

The delete works fairly well even on a largish car like my Camry, if the lines are looped. I'd look into local laws though because after 6 months of manual steering (I gained 3 mpg highway), I got dinged at safety inspection for it since it's not set up as OEM. Spent $300 on all new lines and the high pressure one I got from Rockauto doesn't fit, threads are a little different. Toyota wants $700 for the one high pressure line. Not sure what I'll do at this point but if you are thinking of this, CHECK YOUR LOCAL INSPECTION REGULATIONS. I preferred no power steering myself though, kinda disappointed.

Find a manual rack for it instead?