I disconnected my power steering belt last weekend and a now want to remove my power steering pump and bypass it. I am not going to go completely hardcore and remove all the hoses - I would like to be able to back to stock without too much effort (and also use the existing reservoir). So I plan on connecting the high pressure metal line that comes out of the pump to the (larger diameter) rubber return line coming out of the reservoir (both marked in blue in the picture). Fortunately, an adapter already exists to perform this connection (red arrow). I wonder if anybody would be able to find the part # for this adapter.

TIA.




[Engine is not mine. I stole the picture from an old posting.]


[Modified by norice, 12:05 PM 12/7/2001]

 

Why do you want to remove it? Power or feel?

I think the power steering on the Type-R is such a POS that it single handedly breaks an otherwise great drivers car. I don't know why on earth they made the steering this light. Do the Japanese have weak arms?

 

That pice is a custom Honda manufactured part that I *seriously* doubt your gonna find anywhere. Plus that hose is a steel braided hose capable of holding 1200+ PSI (no that's no a typo). If you did find someone who made that part, it wouldn't be cheap, and it prolly wouldn't mate to that standard heater hose on the other side of the pump.

Sorry for the negative feedback, but I figure the truth is what's wanted, even if it's not good news . . .


[Modified by jeff652, 1:14 PM 12/7/2001]

 

I removed it for feel. The power gains are not huge (~3 whp from what people report, though I guess that this is not bad for a free modification given that a $1000 exhaust may not even give that).

I agree with you - power steering is the one significant flaw on the Type-R.

The problem is that many people have never driven a car with a manual rack and would be astounded at the amount of effort that is required to turn the wheel at low speeds. Very few modern sports cars have a manual rack - the notable exception being the Lotus Elise.

 

jeff652> That pice is a custom Honda manufactured part that I *seriously* doubt your gonna find anywhere. Plus that hose is a steel braided hose capable of holding 1200+ PSI (no that's no a typo). If you did find someone who made that part, it wouldn't be cheap, and it prolly wouldn't made to that standard heater hose on the other side of the pump.

But surely Honda has to sell that part? If someone develops a leak in their power steering system (a common problem on older cars) and the culprit is this part, how is a mechanic going to fix it? If the part were not available, then any power steering fluid system leaks would render the car unusable.


[Modified by norice, 1:22 PM 12/7/2001]

 

The entire hose (from pump to rack) is sold as a unit, and it's an expensive unit at that . . .

 

Does anyone have any good pics of what the Realtime Acuras used? Did they replace all the hoses from the rack to the reservior?

 

I think they removed all the hoses and made custom connections to their own reservoir. Nobody has been able to produce pictures of this setup though.

 

According to A&H Motorsports, I have discovered that I can buy the hose and adapters for $105. Not cheap, but better than I expected.

What I would like to know now is would bypassing the pump actually reduce steering effort all that much?

 

Yes it will, but you can always swap in a manual rack. Mike K has a CX rack in his and like it.

 

I don't plan on swapping the rack because I don't want a slower ratio. The Type-R's ratio is just about perfect.

I know it is hard to quantify, but exactly now much would bypassing the pump reduce effort?