TECH: Power steering conversion and A/C Removal

[Cp1]

A while ago i began this article describing exactly how to convert your power steering rack to a manual steering system and the process to completely remove your A/C system.

To begin you will (obviously) need to raise the car up so that you can work from underneath as well as from above and you should begin by taking out the power steering as you will need to remove it before you can fully remove the A/C.

IF YOU HAVE THE FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL DOWNLOADED YOU MAY GO RIGHT TO PAGE N28

The P/S pump is connected with 4 bolts that all face the front of the car. and you will need to remove the plastic pulley so that you can get at them as it blocks access. to do this use some you can use a clamp on it and turn till the clamp stops it to remove the front pulley bolt. It can be tough to get off and there is always a risk of busting the pulley as it can be pretty brittle, but thats not really a big deal if your not going to put it back on. before undoing these bolts however it would be best to drain all the power/steering fluid from the system or at least as much as you can anyways. begin by disconnecting the 'S' shaped steering cooler line that sits paralel to the ac condensor then by hand you can turn the pump and it will force much of the fluid out the bottem of the disconnected pipe.

you can now remove the lines from the pump the sensor wire attached to it and the pump itself! Great Success!!! you can also go ahead and follow the lines around disconnecting and removing them where ever you see them, some of them can be pretty tricky to maneuver out near the oil cooler lines but it wont be too much trouble.

now if you plan to take both the steering AND ac out it is much easier to take out steering rack AFTER the AC. so start doing the ac. if your system has a charge in it, it is best to have it properly drained by a licensed professional. though it is not harmful or poisonous it is ILLEGAL in North america to do it yourself!!

THIS SECTION IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE DOWNLOADED SERVICE MANUAL

however mine was already dead so removing it was mostly a breeze start with all the easy to disconnect lines, the condenser, the bottle near the battery can only be removed by first taking your intercooler out and all the plastic shrouding around it. the metal lines can be tricky to remove without bending them but it can be done. the A/C compressor is bolted below the P/S pump and is attached to the bracket with 4 LONG bolts on the side looking towards the passenger side. you can feel your way around but remember the length of the bolts so you dont get scratch your engine bay to all hell.

once everything inside the engine bay has been taken out you should only have two short connectors where the A/C lines connect to the firewall. to completely remove the system you must now work from the inside of the car and begin by removing the passenger kick panels and the glovebox. Directly behind it and under the dash is a black plastic BOX that you need to remove and then take apart, the a/c core is inside and you only need to remove this and then re-assemble the box and reinstall. ONLY REMOVE THE CORE then reinstall. put the glovebox back and the kickpanel and VOILA! no more ac.

Now going back to the steering its time to remove the rack. Its a good idea to set the steering wheel straight ahead and properly or you will have more to adjust later on. first thing i did when removing the rack is undo the steering knuckle link on the steering column so as to unnattach the column from the rack then take off both wheels (again, obviously) and undo the castle nuts on the steering end arms and using a pickle fork or ball joint fork you need to pry the end out of the hub assembly careful not to slice the ball joint seal when prying them out. it may be hard and a combination of smacking the fork into the joint with a LARGE hammer before prying may be needed. but do that to both sides. move the wheels away.

TECH TIP: The factory service manual insists on dropping the front of the engine cradle to remove the rack and this is WRONG: it is much easier to just unbolt the 4 bolts on the sway bar and let it hang down. while you remove the steering rack.

There are 4 large bolts that need to remove the steering rack from underneath so do that and then wiggle the brakets off of the rack and then the rubber bushings that sit inside the brackets. the rack should be able to be manueverd out towards the drivers side wheel well so as to allow the arm on the passenger side to slide down through the gap left by the sway bar, then slide the rack back towards the passenger side and down and out through the bottem of the car.

Now its time to start taking it all apart.
FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL BEGINS ON PAGE N19

the best way to do this is by removing the accordian boots on the shafts and then by carefully marking the Tie rod ends and then removing them. the several page description in the service manual does a much better job than i could do but basically when it is all apart and you have the steering shaft out you will see an

*** THIS NEXT STEP IS PERMANENT AND MAY NOT BE UNDONE ***

UNREMOVABKLE BEARING on one end. you can carefull use a dremel with a cut off wheel to make several cuts into this bearing as deep as possible with out cutting the shaft, the more cuts you make into it the better because to get it off just required a few hits with a hammer again try not to damage the shaft.

When this is completely broken off you can reassemble everything, you will need new lock washers for the tie rods plus new boots if you cut them. the washers were about $6.00 each from mazda and the boots nearly $40.00 each. better get em at napa! for $25.00.

the 'hollow' bolts that you removed from the outside of the rack that held the hard lines should be cleaned and either welded shut or you can fill them with "permatex, COLD WELD" i did the cold weld as it dries quickly and did a very good job. the purpose of doing this is to keep dust and debris out of the inside of the rack, it is also important to grease the shaft and everything else inside the rack when putting it back together or IT WILL RUST. that would not be good. so I used all-purpose Lithium grease which is pretty good and just rubbed everything down.

You can now put everything back together and enjoy the new manual rack. slow speed driving and parking lots may take some time to get used to but you will notice that it feels less "floaty" at high speeds and you "feel the road" this is a major advantage and i find the slow speed difficulty negligble. yes it does take some getting used to but is preferable in the long run.

TECH TIP: you may also undue the four little bolts on the crank pulley and remove the now no longer needed outer pulley safely! just dont attempt to remove the large center bolt or the rear pulley, yes it is a two piece factory pulley. just bolt it back up after you take the outer one off.

So you may ask, how much weight does that save me for the whole thing? How much am i really taking off my car for removing all that crap?

37 LBS!!! yes, that is not very much at all so if that was your big excuse for doing this it may not be worth it. but if you dont mind the manual steering and your a/c is dead anyways its not a bad idea.






DISCLAIMER: i take no responsibility for anyone who attempts this procedure and has any negative results, it is only a description of my method and a helpful guide if you are unsure you can or want to perform this job have a licensed mechanic do it for you, this modification may not be preferable to some and a warning

[BigIslandSevens]

What is the purpose of breaking off the bearing? Did i miss the explanation of what that does for you? I have removed all my a/c and p/s and have been driving with it for th elast 4 years and enjoy it alot. I also DD my 7 so it sometimes gets to be work if i do alot of slow tight driving, but not bad.

Again just wondering about the bearings purpose.( Is this what Mavel(?) does when they convert the racks for people? Thanks and good write up for others.

[Cp1]

the bearing on the shaft actually acts as a piston in the power steering setup where there is a fluid chamber on either side, the power steering fluid acts on this bearing to "assist" the force required to turn the wheels. without the bearing you can turn the wheel without compressing fluid or in this case, air, which would preventing any turning whatsoever if you just removed and plugged the hardlines. the alternative is a "loop line" which connects the two chambers together via a hose this just allows fluid to transfer from the left to the right and vice versa without removing the bearing. a loop line setup is really a half measure, plus it doesnt looks as neat or clean when done right.

Maval racks are essentially the exact same thing as i have described however they replace the cylinder that would normally contain the rack shaft with one that does not have any hard line bungs protruding from it. removing the cylinder from the pinion housing is actually much more difficult then you can imagine. ive done it once but without a proper press it is impossible to re-assemble it.

[railgun]

Pics would really drive home the point of the rack shaft. I'd call it more of a seal than a bearing since it's really sealing the inside of the rack from the outside.

I did this a couple years ago myself as well and it was very easy and I don't regret doing it for a sec. Low speed manuvering is MUCH better than just looping the lines. Still not as easy as w/ PS, but nice nonetheless.

Nice writeup.