I have an idea on how to do a better manual conversion, but I've never taken the steering box apart, so I don't know if it will work. I want to remove all of the valves so fluid can be pushed freely from one side to the other, rather than through the doubled back lines, eliminating the need for a breather. Then I could just plug all of the holes. Anybody with experience on the inside of a steering box? What do you think?

 

Well i swap my rack a pionon (sp?) sterrin rack out of my Cx and put a gs-r subframe in there so i could have PS. IF u want to eliminate it, take all the hoses off, and turn ur wheel back and forth, all the PS fluid will squirt out. Then just plug em up. I dunno exaclty what ur looking to do?

 

well, I know that when you turn your wheel, valves open or close in order to direct the flow of fluid to one side or the other. When you plug the holes, and do nothing else, the valves are still trying to direct flow. I think if you ONLY pluged the holes, steering would be incredibly hard (if even possible). That's why I doubled the lines back and put a breather on, so fluid could still flow freely. But, if I removed the valves from the box, the fluid could flow freely from one side to the other, rather than pushing it through the lines.
Basically, I just want to know what's going on in the box, and if removing valves (and whatever else) would open a path for fluid flow directly from one side to the other.

 

well, I'm gonna go tear it apart and see what I find. I'll post the results.

 

Nope, PLuggin the holes works exelent. Its just a pain in the *** to get the right bolts. I took me an hour at NAPA. I finally got a oil drain bolt from a ford truck, and something else to fit in there. It has woekd for a month great and no problems by just plugging them up.

 

oh, I forgot to mention, it's an '89 prelude and the box is a bit different. If I just plugged mine, I'd blow my rack end seals in a heart beat.
But I did just remove the rack. I took of the rack center seal (the one responsible for making all the pressure) so hopefully that will be the answer I'm looking for.

 

this is super old, but I figured I'd update.
I put it all back together without the center seal in place and it works like a charm. No seal to push fluids back and forth, no unwanted pressure.
Oh, and i just cut the ends of the lines off and jbwelded the holes closed on the flare nuts. Made perfect for some plugs.