power steering

[fxgt race]

At the moment my car runs power steering,Just after thoughts on people who run race cars without power steering and how heavy it is on the track,the car is going through a weight reduction process and the gains from losing weight of the ps unit and that it drives off the engine seams feasible to ditch it. Will be testing the new trd gearbox on the 1st june at puke which should keep those hondas in ss2000 behind me but will do some testing at taupo without ps if you fullas think its a good idea.

[20v_rollaboy]

Theres no power steering in my brothers ep82 starlet, 160kw, running semi's around Pukekohe. I didnt have any problems at all.

Dont have any PS in my ep70 either, and drive that every day.

[Crampy]

I was under the impression that the power steer rack was faster than the manual one. That might mean it's a bit trickier to wrestle the car through the tight twisty tracks. I suppose it depends on where you'll be driving it most.

[fxgt race]

was wondering if the ratios were different between the racks,I will check as i have a wreck with no ps still in it, will check lock to lockand see if theres a difference,Don't want a slower rack ,had quite a few moments where the back wants to catch the front.

[jakesae101]

my old boss had a ae82 no power steering and a smallish steering wheel barstard once stopped but once you get underway its not that bad on fast corners

[fxgt race]

I have a nz gt with no ps and yes in the drive way they are very heavy to park,will have the race car down to 790kg so i will give it a try an see what happens

[jakesae101]

yea his is a nzgt aswell doesnt really compare to my escort with a quick rack in it with wide wheels

[matt dunn]

I'd ditch the p/s also.

especially if it's a track car as p/s is for parking.

[85AW20v]

My AW racecar doesn't have power steering and it's fine. When making suspension adjustments you can really feel what's happening e.g. moved the rear swaybar adjustment one hole harder and the understeer reduced a whole heap w2hcih I defiinitely felt through the steering. Don't know if you'd feel that with PS.

[fxgt race]

I guess there is could be quite a difference between rear wheel drive,front wheel drive and mid engined cars.

[Phanatic]

I just done a motor change on my corolla and my power steering isnt connected up yet. I dont have any problems with it, I like it coz for some random reason it feels like I have more control over the car. Does get a bit of a handful doing high speed cornering but I guess its all part of the fun...

[Bazda]

I had the PS belt come off mine various times.
Its heavy! even on the track, esp at the hairpin at puke.
And Def cant opposite lock if your in trouble, as I found put the hard way and hit the wall around the sweeper, also lost it through the esses and couldnt catch it.

As soon as I had PS back on I could easily catch the rear end if in trouble.

I would def recommend PS, esp if your car gets a bit tail happy. Also torque steer can be a problem with my power.

But in saying all this, your car is much lighter. Just disconnect the belt while your out there and see how it goes, if its no good stick the belt back on .

I actually dont have normal PS, I run the electric PS from a MR2.

[Jazza]

With the powersteering belt off my civic, its a bitch to drive. I opted to keep it, purely for drivability's sake.

[TRD Man]

I'm with Bazda on this.

In the FWD cars I've built in the past I've had a tendency to remove the p/s and fit a largish wheel partly for hp considerations and partly for 'feel'.
Bear in mind that they were mainly in the days when p/s wasn't altogether prevalent in road cars anyway.

In the 3SGE Corolla we kept the p/s. Removing it would not have had any significant effect on performance and we felt the weight in the front would make it a pig without it.
I was still able to understand what the car was doing no problem.

Your car might be light enough for it to not be an issue but I'd wager that you'll go no faster by removing it. Why not make the car as easy to drive as possible?

[fxgt race]

Did a comparsion on racks,ps 3.4 turns lock to lock. Non ps 4 turns.I have trouble catching it when it goes at the moment so the non ps rack will even be slower.

We put toyota electric ps unit in my brothers race car,it is an option to remove the drive of the engine but i want to save the weight and they those electric units have some weight to them.

do ps racks have weaker internals as they are asisted with fluid and are not a good idea to run without the pump,is there a risk to using them unconected that they could fail on the track

Idealy i need to use the ps rack with out the pump,or is this bad.

[matt dunn]

do ps racks have weaker internals as they are asisted with fluid and are not a good idea to run without the pump,is there a risk to using them unconected that they could fail on the track

Idealy i need to use the ps rack with out the pump,or is this bad.

generally, PS racks are quicker, and there may also be a difference in
length of the arms on the strut assy too, which affects the lock.

We run p/s racks with the lines looped, but no pump etc on the RWD cars we raced without problems.

If you have the money there may be a TRD or aftermarket quickrack available that's non p/steer?

[Mr Revhead]

i think quaife do some.... nz agents palmside

[ChaosAD]

Theres an article on club4ag which may be of interest.
http://www.club4ag.com/faq_and_tech_pages/Steering%20Box.htm

[fxgt race]

My brothers car has a rack quickener in line,which can be put in but without powersteering it would be to heavy,Ive i was to loop the ps lines do you drain all the fluid out off the rack

hey chaos, was looking at that article last nite,the problem is that my steering rods are conected to a fixed point on the hubs as the ae86 arms bolt onto the bottom of the shocks and you can put shorter ones on to make the steering quicker.

[crispy'86]

My AE82 FX has no power steer now, i had it for a while then went down the weight reduction path. With power steer the back got away from me a few times, bearing in mind i was starting out. Now i'm used to the car i fitted non-power steer rack and column and haven't had any moments when i couldn't feel when the back wanted to swap ends with the front. It's pretty easy to tell but depends on your technique of how to drive out of it. I take it this is on your nz fx hatch?