Share your feelings on the Power Steering Delete.

[j.amrol]

The power steering delete.

It's free, and frees up some hp (feels way more than it is). Incredibly increased road feel, and steering response is so un- believable that I can not understand why they didn't roll off the assembly line this way. Parking isn't bad at all, just turning the wheel at a dead stop takes a bit of effort, but hey you should have both hands on the wheel anyway.

It took the weekend working at it a little here and a little there having my family up for a BBQ, and going out. I swapped the steering rack (last of the front end), and looped the lines on the new one. I am now debating on putting the res. back into place so I have a place to check the fluid for the rack. Even though cleaning up my engine compartment was part of the idea to begin with. I'm sure old ladies would hate it, most girls too. Hell I'm only 135lbs and 6ft tall. I'm definitely not weak like the figures suggest but I'm surely not the strongest guy around.

My thoughts are that power steering never did anything but numb the road, and help old ladies park. Like a manual vs. auto transmission.

What are yours?

Also should I, or should I not put the reservoir back into place?
I can't really come up with any good reason to except to top off fluid which doesn't leak, and it's self bleeding. The main reason not to is it's one more un-necessary thing in my engine bay. So I'm stuck.

[Kyle B]

I removed the steering pump, drive belt, and reservoir from my car when I built my motor. I also removed the entire A/C system. Road feel and turn in is a lot better, but I am am considering putting everything back in. It takes A LOT of effort to turn the wheel in low speed situations. Other than that I will say that the steering feedback is 1000 times better than it was with everything in place. I always felt that BMW overboosts the steering in virtually all of its cars.

[j.amrol]

When you put it back in are you going to go with a larger pulley size to minimize the power assist? I was even toying with the idea of using a clutch like the one on the ac compressor to switch the pump on and off, but then while it was off you would be forcing fluid through the whole system making it even harder. If you have any idea where to find a giant bolt on pulley let me know

[gnastydent]

not with mine it so easy to turn exccept when stoped but still not bad do it

[Kyle B]

Originally Posted by j.amrol

When you put it back in are you going to go with a larger pulley size to minimize the power assist? I was even toying with the idea of using a clutch like the one on the ac compressor to switch the pump on and off, but then while it was off you would be forcing fluid through the whole system making it even harder. If you have any idea where to find a giant bolt on pulley let me know

I'll probably end up leaving it off. I'd have to relocate the reservoir; right now my custom intake elbow is too big for both to fit in the same spot

[j.amrol]

Do you happen to have any pics of your engine bay? I'd love to see the custom intake. On my Ex-E30 I made a custom intake and ran it down behind the spoiler. It was always getting wet though and started to rust & looked like crap so I don't think I'll do that again.

The only issue I've had after the power steering delete was today pulling into a real sharp blind driveway and I was going a little fast. Even if I had power steering I doubt I would've made it.

[itsabimmerthing]

I deleted the PS on my E30, and I think it is retarded that the car came with PS. It felt 1000 times better without it. I thought the effort from a stop was still easy, and the extra feel made it fell like the drivers car it was built to be.

[j.amrol]

My girlfriend got behind the wheel, navigating through Manchester, NH "the queen city", and had no problem. She felt as if she was in complete control, and appreciated the road feel. I was amazed at her response. All she drove was Honda's until I came along. The farthest she's ever been to a wrench was going down while I was running brake lines.

I'll never forget when she was driving our EX-E30 and turned to me and said "It feels like I'm driving a machine, not a car"

[Kyle B]

J, here's a couple of pics of the engine bay and one of the front of the car after a bath. I had to fabricate the intake pipe to fit the M30 AFM and provide a mounting point for the nitrous nozzle. I made it from T304 SS.

BTW, I would never run the intake that close to the ground, that's just like begging for hydrolock.

[j.amrol]

Yeah it was really close to the ground. Especially because my E30 is slammed out. Definitely a lesson learned, but in my own defense why would you be driving through puddles anyway? I leave that to my chevy. All in all between water, and heat it was just an unnecessary hole cut. My current E30 sticks with pulling from behind the lights. My turbo install starts in about a month, then I'll be pulling air through a scoop on the passenger side of the hood. The filter will probably still get rusty. Just like this one did, but the cooler air from the top of the hood + turbo & inter cooler should allow me to run 1bar on 93 octane. I will be adding an MSD adjustable ignition system just in case but hopefully it won't be needed with all stock internals & 93 octane.

[Kyle B]

Sounds cool, good luck with your turbo project 1 bar shouldn't be a problem, there is a guy on a different message board that has his peak boost set at 20psi on stock ETA internals.

[itsabimmerthing]

Hydrolock is about as apt to happen as to hit the lottery. Hydrolock is a internet scare, and that is about as far as it goes.
No offense to anyone who may have hydrolocked....
But if you just exercise common sense with your setup, you will not hydrolock.
Most of the time hydrolock occurs, someone ran through a deep pool of water, or was being careless.
20psi is not very specific. It all depends on turbo. 20psi on a 14b, for example, would be much less brutal than a GT30 or 20g at 20psi. As with any turbo project, your setup is only as strong as your weakest link. The weakest link being the tune and fuel for most people.

[Kyle B]

Originally Posted by itsabimmerthing

Hydrolock is about as apt to happen as to hit the lottery. Hydrolock is a internet scare, and that is about as far as it goes.

Go visit any MINI forum, and you'll see PLENTY of cases of hydrolock on cars with bone stock intake systems. I know one person that had his engine ingest water and hydrolock while driving through a 3" puddle. Like winning the lottery, just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

[ejnight]

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Originally Posted by j.amrol

Yeah it was really close to the ground. Especially because my E30 is slammed out. Definitely a lesson learned, but in my own defense why would you be driving through puddles anyway? I leave that to my chevy. All in all between water, and heat it was just an unnecessary hole cut. My current E30 sticks with pulling from behind the lights. My turbo install starts in about a month, then I'll be pulling air through a scoop on the passenger side of the hood. The filter will probably still get rusty. Just like this one did, but the cooler air from the top of the hood + turbo & inter cooler should allow me to run 1bar on 93 octane. I will be adding an MSD adjustable ignition system just in case but hopefully it won't be needed with all stock internals & 93 octane.

[ejnight]

Can I do this with a e36 m3 rack?