power or manual steering for mk3 itb?

[Anviltester]

i have been toying with the idea of going to a manual rack for the 97 gti we run. i have a new mk2 manual rack. i have also seen people just looping the original ps rack as well. Main reason I'm thinking is mine may have a small leak on the fittings that i can seem to eliminate. Aside from that, what are the pros/cons to it? we run a kaaz limited slip diff. I've seen (but can't find the article) of shine racings against this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Knestis]

Either of those options would be great - with the one minor inconvenience that they are illegal.

K

[Flyinglizard]

The k3 ties rods are 1/4 in longer. You also need the manual Mk2 lower steering shaft, very hard to source. Most places show NLA.

[shwah]

What Kirk said.

There is a silver ITB Golf III (maybe on the east coast now) that was running manual steering because the original builder found documentation of a couple Canadian spec cars sold in California that way. I don't know if it was converted back when it moved out of the mid-west, but when we discussed it after the fact the builder and I agreed that it was not legal, because the ITCS assumes US market cars.

[Anviltester]

ok let me clarify. i looked at the mk2 but as was said, some of the parts are impossible to source and there was some mounting issues as well. It is legal to convert the stock rack to a manual one by looping the rack to itself and getting rid of the resevoir and pump. The questions reverts still back to power or manual and which is better under the circumstances.

[Anviltester]

And to prevent the "no its not legal" comments, lets say its running in nasa or any other sanctioning body or class other than itb.

[Flyinglizard]

For road racing; I run non power for all of my Vws. Locked diffs with turbo torque steer is not an issue for any of our drivers. My steering wheel options go from 14 iin to 16in. The Mk 2-3 have a pretty good scrub radius that seems to allow welded diffs and non power.
The A1 Rocco with welded likes the really big steering wheel. . Nonpower will work /drive fine at road racing speeds and tunr radius,IMHO

[shwah]

So if I were building a car without rules, or with rules allowing non-stock steering racks, I would run without power steering. I would experiment with a depowered rack and a manual rack to see if I was more comfortable with the quicker or slower ratio. If I were asking a question about installing a non-stock rack on a forum dedicated to IT cars, I would also expect responders to assume I was asking about an IT car (and based on your post #6 I still am assuming that). I can say that it was worth a relevant amount of HP to run without the pump on the dyno.

[Anviltester]

thanks mike and chris. i have searched, and I'm searching some more and about to make a phone call to a steward i know but lets go back to IT legal - does it state anywhere that running the stock rack just not "powered" is not allowed? It seems that it would be as all the parts are still factory as came in the car. no/yes?

[Flyinglizard]

USA issue MK 3 all had PS. > There is a chance that the ultra low Hp Canadian issue non turbodeisel and the single point injected gas may have not had PS.
My factory shop manual shows all PS . along with the Canadian engines.

Edit, checked just now in the book. No mention of nonpower and the statement that" all models covered in this book have PS.". A3 all 1993 -1999.

The normal situation over the years is to leave the belt very loose so that it leaves the car, along with removing the fluid from the pump.
This is only done if the rest of the field has out- qualified you.
You should be able to find the PS HP value from any of the Bpsec guys, David for sure as he dynoed the Mazda in box stock form and maybe the grassroots car.
IMHO you would fail protest without PS. No place does it say that you need the belt or what the tension must be. FWIW there is about as much power iin the alt system..

[shwah]

This is a case where the Roffe corollary applies. IIDSYCYC + IISYCYBWC
If it doesn't say you can, you can't: The rule book does not have to specify that the power steering system be run fully connected. As long as it does not say that you CAN, then you cannot alter the system.

However....
If it says you can, you bloody well can: pulleys are free - a smartly designed pulley with a bearing integrated into it somewhere might be doable (though I have never seen it done).

I would make sure I really needed to before I went to that level of effort though.

[Anviltester]

well the car is fast - a def front runner so we just put the stock rack back in as is but jb welded up the externals of the fittings so they don't leak anymore. Chris, funny you mention the bearing as i have done that before for something similar. Just had the car on the alignment rack and the camber numbers are strange. guess ill have to search for these numbers or start another post. I may have a bent rear beam the way the numbers look but never aligned the car since we got it so I'm flying a little blind.