Rare96WS6

Anyone on here have a maunal rack on a daily driver? Will the steering be unbearable at parking lot speeds with the stock tire size(275/40/17)?

JS PERFORMANCE

No it will not be bad as long as your steering geometry is correct it should be smooth and only require a small amount more effort to steer at slow speeds.

KeithB

I can't speak for a manual rack on a '96 Bird, but I own '68 and '69 GTOs with manual recirc-ball steering. With 245-60-14s on those 3900 lb cars, steering in the parking lot is a workout. And that's with a slow ratio, like 20:1. That would be much worse if I started with a faster power steering ratio (16:1 or even 14.5:1) and just removed the hoses/pump. Throw a cluth pedal in the mix and you'll get tired of that combo quickly.

Question: why do you want to convert to manual steering? Are you aware that the steering pump only robs engine power when you're turning the steering wheel quickly? If you're worried only about drag racing, you won't be turning the steering wheel when you need the most horse power. There, the only penalty would be the weight of the power steering pump on the front wheels. You'd get more bang for the buck by moving the battery to the rear of the car.

Rare96WS6

I actually wanted to do it for the weight. I know there is no power increase from it, well unless having the belt spinning it frees up some. If it was not too difficult to steer with the stock tires I figured the weight reduction off of the front end would be helpful.