A little while back – following the advice of Colin Chapman I decided to add some lightness to my car (as well as making some room for the turbo installation).
I had always found the car steering “light” and too removed for my personal taste – so I decided to remove the power steering and air conditioning.
Once I got going there was no stopping me and I managed to pull this much from the engine bay...
In total this came to 18kgs worth opf savings - well worth the effort.
As you can see - this left a huge amount of space in the engine:
One catch when doing this is that you have to add a bolt to the hole created when removing the (very heavy) air con bracket.
I reused the original bolt and used the sleeve from the bracket as a spacer.
If you dont do this you WILL spray oil everywhere and it will be a pain in the A to clean up. Please dont ask me how I know - I was warned - but I'm a idiot.
Here is a pic (from the Flyin Miata site) that clearly shows how to tie off the power steering
Dont be afraid - you dont need to take the car apart to do this - simply popping it up on stands will give you ample space.
Once you have completed the powersteering removal - you WILL need to get a new alighnment - reducing the castor makes a HUGE difference.
I am really enjoying the additional feel from the wheel as well as finding the steering firmer at speed.
As a cheap and fairly easy mod - if you are looking at making the car faster and better handling - I would recommend this as an upgrade - I have no regrets whatsoever.
**Warning** - Please remember if you are doing this to take your car to an automotive Air Conditioning shop to have the gas removed from your car. Its bad for the enviornment and its not to great for your hand if you get sprayed as well.
