legacycentral bbs

Here's what you do. Run an undriven pulley and an aftermarket steering wheel that's smaller diameter then OEM. Walla! It makes your steering very tight and responsive.

Vikash got to drive my car at the Shootout and he said he really liked the feel of the steering too. It's very nice. I recommend it for anyone looking to tighten things up a bit.

You mean underdriven PS pulley?

No, underdriven crank pulley.

An underdriven crank pulley really isn't going to do much.

"voila"

Would turning the p/s pump more slowly even make any difference above idle? Maybe the steering wheel has more to do with it?

legacy92ej22t wrote:Here's what you do. Run an undriven pulley and an aftermarket steering wheel that's smaller diameter then OEM. Walla! It makes your steering very tight and responsive.

Vikash got to drive my car at the Shootout and he said he really liked the feel of the steering too. It's very nice. I recommend it for anyone looking to tighten things up a bit.

Good idea, but going ud crank pulley does more than just slow down the PS pump. I don't know if I'd want that on my car...

matt, what happens when you have to whip the wheel one way then the other? Can the underdriven ps pump keep up, or is it like hitting a wall?

I wonder if I could drain the fluid from the power rack, and bypass the power steering pump altogether?

You can't do it with fluid in the rack, I tried. But I heard Douglas Vincent bypassed the pump and was still running the power rack?

I just want a manual rack.

Brando did something like that because the ps was in the way of something else. I thought it was horrid, and i like manual racks.

jamal wrote:"voila"

Hahaha, you got me. =)


I don't think it's just the wheel though. I swapped in my OEM steering wheel for inspection and had it in for about a month, a while back, and it was still much more solid and responsive then with the oem crank pulley.



Scott- No, it's fine. It's just tighter...more solid.

Manarius- I'm aware of the negative aspects of running an ud crank pulley. My alternator doesn't like it one bit.

somehow i think a underdriven ps pulley would be better.

oh and when the ps goes out in a car like the ss it sucks hard.

i have a manual rack in my civic and love it but when ps goes out on a big car its....well just bad

Ya, I lost the PS on my Econoline 350 bucket van (boom lift) and had to drive it like that for about a month. I'd get home and my shoulders would ache. It sucked.

An ud ps pulley might be better but I already have the ud crank pulley and it works just fine.

azn2nr wrote:somehow i think a underdriven ps pulley would be better.

oh and when the ps goes out in a car like the ss it sucks hard.

i have a manual rack in my civic and love it but when ps goes out on a big car its....well just bad

That is because there is still fluid in the rack.

An un-powered, power rack doesn't make a manual rack, but rather a hard-as-shit unassisted rack.

But if there was no fluid in it, how would that make it while unpowered?

Online mag Autospeed has a electronic box that modifies the duty-cycle of any solenoid. I haven't ordered it yet, but
it can dial easier steering at slow speeds with stiffer at
higher speeds. Or whatever.

pretty sure that there are no electronics in our steering.

the power steering pump is capable of pumping enough fluid at idle, so when going 60 mph, it is pumping way more than you need it to. The relief valve opens and bleeds off most of the high-pressure side into the low-pressure side.

under-driving the PS pump regardless of method will have the effect of possibly causing too little flow to maintain pressure near idle. This will lower the pressure and maybe make the rack feel tighter (increase effort), when idling in a parking lot

however, once the point is reached where the relief valve begins to open a little (now maybe 800 engine rpm instead of 600 rpm), the pressure will be the same as before and there will be no difference.

to do what you want you'd have to change the fluid pressure, not the delivery rate. the only way to do that is to change the calibration of the releif valve. This may be possible but I personally wouldn't mess with it, unpredictable power steering can be pretty dangerous.

were there any manual racks in an impreza or something?
I love manual steering in small light cars but unsure what it would be like in a legacy. a lot of power racks are quicker ratio than their manual counterparts, for example in A1 chassis vw's.
would it be bad for the rack to run it without fluid? maybe put some breathers on the lines to keep pressure and debris out of it. just an alternator would be pretty sweet.
on a side note, has anyone seen those quick steering gear overdrives for steering? they are a circle track type deal but are available in several ratios. might make for good feel and great steering with a power rack. a little twitchy maybe...

The power steering on my car is long gone. It's not bad and you can't tell when your just driving down the road. Turning the wheel while stopped is pretty much the only time i notice it but im pretty used to it by now.

Dan - You emptied the system of fluid, correct?

With as much castor as I have, I'd be worried about breaking something trying to turn while stopped without any power assist, and having the rack seize, of course.

What are the concerns with that?

With the racifying of the Legacy, I'll be gutting as much as I can. Every pound counts. Goal: 2500lbs incl. driver. We'll see how it works out.

I've got a manual rack now, and the car is 200% more smokey! It feels like shit.

My smaller aftermarket steering wheel made a huge difference in terms of weight and feel - pretty much like my (manual rack) GLs with their tires inflated fully (somewhat low inflation would be pretty heavy in parking lots). Phil's driven it and can attest to this, I would think.

Steve

Just saw this, due to a bad PSP on the wifes sedan.

Anyway,

I have been running a filled steering rack with no pump for about a year. Never a problem. Just very stiff and hard to park.