Well I ordered this kit from Chris last week sometime, and it came in over the weekend. I finished installing it yesterday, so I figured you guys would like a review, in case you were thinking about doing this.

<U>PURPOSE OF THE KIT</U>: When you take power steering out of a car that came with power steering from the factory, it causes premature wear of the steering components because of the lack of ps fluid flow, not to mention the fact that the steering can occasionally seize on you. This kit provides the necessary equipment to remove all power steering components, and install a fluid feed/return sytem on the steering, so that the steering without ps is much easier, and will not cause premature wear on the components.

<U>PRICE</U>: The entire kit was $68.50 (shipping included) which I believe is a pretty reasonable price.

<U>SHIPPING</U>: Shipping was prompt; I received my kit 2 days after Chris had my mailing information.

<U>INSTALLATION</U>: This install is not extremely hard, however it isn't like changing your oil either. The entire install (removal of the complete power steering system, and installation of Chris's kit) took me around 4 hours. If you plan on doing this, put some crappy clothes on because you WILL be getting dirty.
Chris's instructions were very well thought out and easy to follow. My only difficulty was in locating the high pressure ps fluid feed line, and the return line, however when I email Chris, he promptly responded with instructions and a diagram on how to find the 2 lines.

<U>RESULTS</U>: This is one of the best 60$ I've ever spent on my car. I havent had a chance to dyno the car yet to see what the HP increase was, but it is definetely noticeable; I can actually start my car moving in 2nd gear from a standstill, whereas before, I actually had to rev the motor to get moving from 2nd. High in the rpms, the car definetely has a little more *****, and acceleration has definetely improved.
My rough estimate is that the power steering delete added roughly 5 HP, though someone on the ITR board dynoed his car after installing the kit and picked up 7 HP. ~5 HP for 60 bucks isn't a bad gain at all. On top of that, driving without power steering might be difficult, but with Chris's kit, once you are in motion (5 mph plus), you barely even miss the power steering. When you are on the highway cruising at around 65 mph plus, you dont even notice that the ps is gone. The only difference is that when you turn the wheel, it wants to turn back straight, but you get used to that fater driving around for more than 5 minutes.

I've driven cars without power steering before, and Chris's power steering replacement kit makes it about 40 -50 % easier to turn the wheel at low speeds.

<U>FINAL VERDICT</U>: I don't miss my power steering at all. Where the car felt numb and unresponsive before, now I can actually feel the road under the tires, and it gives me a greater sense of confidence when taking turns at high speeds. Chris's kit makes driving without ps alot easier and not as painful to drive at low speeds. not to mention bumping up your WHP by around 5 HP.
Definetely worth the 60 bucks; thanks for the kit Chris





Modified by Eclipse spanker at 5:51 PM 8/23/2004

 

Pics?

Does it come w/ a reservoir and everything to help vent pressure from the system?

 

The only reason i hesitate to remove power steering is because I know that if I ever have to sell the car it will kill the value of it. How hard do you think it would be to put the power sterring back on even with this kit installed?

 

yes, it has a reservoir included and all the mounting hardware.

here's the original thread:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=563116

 

Assuming you don't crossthread the power steering rack where you install the high-pressure barb fitting, reinstalling the power steering is the opposite of removal. all you'd have to do after putting it back on is have someone slowly add fluid to the reservoir while you slowly turn the steering wheel from lock to lock (to purge air from the system). nothing is permanently modified with the installation of this kit.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by artifex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Assuming you don't crossthread the power steering rack where you install the high-pressure barb fitting, reinstalling the power steering is the opposite of removal. all you'd have to do after putting it back on is have someone slowly add fluid to the reservoir while you slowly turn the steering wheel from lock to lock (to purge air from the system). nothing is permanently modified with the installation of this kit.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

exactly

 

bump for the evening, and for any others considering this kit

 

I really appreciate the kind words and the positive review, Gus. I'm very glad that you like the kit.

 

On that note, I've had the kit installed for about three weeks now, and as long as i have the car i won't go back to power steering. the setup is very clean and works like a dream. some have complained of the effort it takes to turn the wheel when the car is stopped, but even after a few days you get used to it, and the feedback from the tires is awesome.

As eclipse spanker said, the steering felt numb and unresponsive before.... now i can really tell what the car wants to do. If you can live with a bit more steering effort at low speeds, i'd reccomend purchasing this kit.

 

Brining this one back from the dead. So after a good amount of time driving it now, what do you think? Still working good? Any problems?

 

Yes it has been a while, and the kit is still worth its weight in gold.....I dont miss the power steering one bit, and I love the raw unadulterated feel of the road; plus I definetely like the extra hp ! It's worth it !

 

i had the kit for a year and decided to put PS back on.. great kit, but PS is just too nice of a convenience.. it only takes a few tough parallel parking incidents to make you want to put PS back on..

 

hmm...i get paid on monday...i might hafta get one

 

Have you tried autocrossing the car w/ this kit?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Have you tried autocrossing the car w/ this kit?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No I haven't, I'm not an autocrosser, I'm more into drag....but I do a little back road winding every once in a while, and I just really hgave nothing negative to say about the kit......Its awesome. I like the extra hp, and I just love the raw feel of the road, especially when going around corners, and I drive with much more confidence now that I can get feedback from the road.

 

I had removed the PS belt frrom my ITR and autocrossed. Problem I had with that was that when I was in a sweeper turn and bleeped the gas, everytime I bleep the steering tried to straighten out, very hard to control and too difficult to make smooth turns and transitions when you have to hold the steering wheel tight.

I will soon install a similar kit, not bought from Padawan ??? I bought it part by part from his original thread.I hope I am not missing anything.