Dumb question probably...
How necessary is power steering in the G3 Prelude? I've been having problems with my pump, and rather than replace it, I was actually considering just foregoing the thing. It's mainly a beater commuter that stays on highways and does little in town driving that requires quick turns.
I know on my Integra, people said to remove the PS belt when dragging for extra power.
I'm sure the steering has to be pretty light on the Prelude. Any thoughts?

 

hell no, i have a 3rd gen with its PS pump shot, that thing is a serious bitch to turn, keep it on there.

 

try driving with the car in neutral while u hav friends push the car. if u can handle that then u could probably handle a car without power steering. id like 2 hav an extra car without power steering so i can drive it whenever im in the mood 2 excercise.

 

More money...
Luckily a friend's 3rd gen just died last week. If she doesn't fix it (again), she'll parts it out, and I may just stock up on some parts.
I also need her front bumper...

 

also on a different note you can damage a car that is equipped with PS if you continually drive it with the PS dissabled. if you do at some time decide that you want to put the belt back on and drive it with PS you may find out that you have over time damaged the seals in the the PS rack, the correct way to do this on a third gen is to remove EVERYTHING PS related and swap in the manual rack as well as the steering colum, bacuase its not meant to hold up to the added stress of non PS.

 

since your car is a "beater commuter", i really dont see what the problem is with simply removing the belt... the rack in my 3rd gen accord busted about two years ago, the rack will not hold any fluid, it all leaks out... instead of going thourgh the headaches of replacing the rack, i simply removed the belt and the pump... the steering was a little stiff when doing slow speed turns, feels absolutely normal at normal speeds, and once i replaced my front tires, it almost felt like power steering again...

on a side note i also ripped out my ps off my prelude, and all the lines associated with it... lots of room now...

 

Hmmm... Some differing opinions here.
I suppose it comes down to how much a replacement will cost, if I can do the work myself, and if I really can get by without it. As for some sort of terminal f=damage, I'm not too concerned. It's still working, but it leaks like a seive. It's also going through spells of working, then not working, making noises, jerking, etc.

I know Miata guys who yank out their PS to save weight. What's the difference?