retro fitting power steering

rossburns · Postby **rossburns** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:44 pm

hi all, have an na8 which has power steering, but have just bought a 1991 na 6 which does not, it does feel very heavy which is expected, but it also seems that more of the ruts bumps and holes seem to feed back through thr steering, how complex would it be to retro fit power steering and what sort of cost do you think it could be, cheers ross

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:55 pm

Could try changing your wheel alignment. Less castor would make it easier

I've always found ps mx5s very light, manual racks normal compared to other power steer cars and depowered ps racks a touch heavy.

You would need the rack, pump, lines and a wheel alignment. Does your new car have ps? If not you will need to find the ps idler I believe.

PS parts shouldn't be that hard to come by in used condition but I would guess 100 for the rack? 50 for the rest with no idler. 100 for the alignment As ball park numbers.

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rossburns · Postby **rossburns** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:14 pm

ok. thanks

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:28 pm

I'm surprised. When I had both my NA6 and my NB8A I enjoyed driving the NA6 without power steering. Felt like better feedback and more in touch. I never found it heavy and neither did my wife who is quite fussy. I had all new shocks & springs and new 185/65 tyres which all helps. I'd check the tyres are not old/worn plus the alignment first.

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hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:38 pm

Rack, pump, pulleys, belts, and the hard/soft lines.

Pretty sure that's all you need to swap over.

Maybe a couple of wires as well?

The power steering is a lot nicer, the manual steering is like driving with a brick tied to each wrist.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:42 pm

Funny how different people feel differently. There's even a few nbs up here running sans power steer.

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Pamex · Postby **Pamex** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:49 pm

I swapped to power steering from manual. Massive difference. Nothing else was changed.

Absolutely love it, and wouldn't go back. I really struggled in motorkhanas before then, as it was fricking tough for me to get the steering wheel around quick enough. PS made a world of difference.

I still like manual steering, and drive at least 10 different manual steering cars similar to MX5s on a daily basis. We found the same thing when we've put electronic power steering on an MG C. Huge difference, for the better, compared to the original manual rack.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:56 pm

Mazdaspeed made an electric power steer kit that came up on YJ once that would let you dial in assist level. Would have been awesome if not stupid expensive and no details.

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M1474 · Postby **M1474** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:58 pm

Agree with sailaholic, how much caster are you running?

wassup · Postby **wassup** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:09 pm

Same as Pamex I went from manual to power assisted on an NA6. Hard lines, pump, pulley and rack is all that's needed. There is what looks to be a spare wire near the thermostat that's not connected to anything, that is for connecting the setup to the ecu to compensate for rpm draw at idle.

I like the manual at speed but the power rack whilst alittle light feels awesome. The car feels a lot more dynamic too

Your target is an imported Eunos badged NA6 as all of these came with power assist as standard. They're much rarer on Oz delivered models, the odd na6 and some, most? Na8s

Apparently the NA was originally designed with power assist and it was a near last minute decision to also equip it with a manual rack that some believe was not properly tuned or designed for it.