I’ve had my first 5 for around a month it’s a 90 NA6, the AC was dead when I bought it and I’m taking it out as there is not currently a belt on it (shorter one on the PS) I only use the car for hard B road weekend use and have read about de-powering the rack to feel even more raw and connected, wondering if anyone here has done the same and peoples opinions?
IMHO this kind of readings is usually by the same type of people that say you should also disconnect the abs, and while you are at it maybe also disconnect traction control and all other gadgets you may have that interfere with the direct connection you have with the car.
Personally I think its a lot of rubbish and I have some other adjectives to add to that but I wont. If you want to use a manual rack you need to change the gearing so that you can actually be able to turn the wheel while stationery - if you intend to drive the car on public roads…
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Appreciate the opinion, was just an idea whilst taking out the ac after seeing and reading about it. It wouldn’t be a swap as I’d modify the powered rack and delete the seal inside, have you driven a 5 with no ps?
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what do you think you are missing from the current setup?
to answer your question, yes I have driven cars with broken ps, and its not fun. Once it start moving its ok but stationery its a pig
Not sure I’d say I was missing something and it’s a huge compliment to Mazda for having such a smooth and nailed down PS setup for a car that’s now 32 years old, feeling almost as good as my daily (not really comparable) which is why I’m looking to maybe be a little more engaged when I’m wanting to really “drive” on the weekends/when I feel like it. Again I have no experience with properly converted 5’s so was just hoping to find someone that had and if they loved or regretted the decision.
I have; Eunos Roadster M2-1002. It was woeful. But the factory maniual rack is not the same as a depowered power rack (its a lot slower (ratio) than a depowered rack).
At the time, the powered rack in the 1990 MX5 was just about the best you could get (not speed sensitive, but RPM sensiitive). The best set up was on the 1996 cars, which are remarked by the designers as being pretty close to what they originally wanted.
Good write up. There are depowered racks and then there are depowered racks. Do it properly.
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The unpowered rack in most UK NA models is ok. Heavy when parking, but not unmanageable. Feels very good on the move. There must be loads available in breakers.
The problem with the factory non-powered rack is that its very slow (too many turns lock to lock). I thought it was awful on my M2-1002. Bob Hall (Father of the Miata, All Praise Him) agreed, and considered the non-powered rack in the Nissan March (Micra) to be a better design. It was a rush job by Mazda to meet a last minute US sales request (6 weeks to knock it together).
I like non-assisted steering. Equally, I like power-assisted steering.
What I don’t like is bad steering.
In this particular context the concept of ‘bad’ applies equally to a vague, overassisted power tiller as it does to a non-assisted one which exhibits excessive column/rack friction (which people somehow equate to ‘feel’) and/or loads up at the sight of a curve. And with my reference points, the non-assisted steering of the Miata (NA or NB) qualifies as bad.
There’s a lot to the old adage of “the best you’ve driven is the best you know”, which is why I suspect the non-assisted system has the proponents it does.
Unfortunately I’ve driven too many cars with non-assisted steering which place the Miata’s in a negative light. Mind you this is neither especially good nor hideous if taken as an absolute. However, in the context of a reasonably lightweight sports car absolutes are exceedingly difficult to apply and/or rationalize; context is what denotes the difference between that which may be merely acceptible and that which is exceptional.
The Miata’s non-assisted steering is - based on my reference points - nowhere close to the level of competence displayed by rest of the Miata’s chassis. Which means it’s not as good as it should be.
When price-engineered econoboxes like the second-generation Nissan Micra/March have better on-center feel, still with a quick ratio and are utterly devoid of load-up as lock is applied, the inadequacies of the Miata’s non-assisted steering become readily apparent. I won’t even raise the subject of things like the delightful non-assisted steering gear of Series I through SE Lotus Elans, as such comparisons cause the position of the Miata to become even more odious.
Given the work which the development staff put into the Miata, it deserved better than the underdone non-assisted steering forced upon it by unwarranted concerns from an offshore sales department. And the proposed assisted set-up was indeed a delight on the mules I drove with it. As stated in an alternate thread, it was perhaps the second-best power-assisted steering set-up I’d ever driven. Not bad when the only things better – or at least as good – cost a minimum of six to ten times what a Miata does.
… the tweaks to the power steering used on 1994 and later NAs (as well as NBs) embodied some of the work which had been done for the original gear and is better in terms of the subjective aspects of the assisted steering where the hardware in 1.6 litre NAs falls short.
Well, at least to me. But I like anchovies on pizza, all the Thin Man movies, blonde Asian girls who wear pink thigh-high boots with matching microdresses (so I married the second one I could find), every record/CD written or recorded by Yumi Arai/Matsutoya, and Watanabe Yoshimasa’s manga, so I will readily - and happily - accept that my tastes are not universal. Nor do I think they should be.
I’m still acutely peeved by the fact that if the development of the car had gone according to plan, there would be no non-assisted steering, period. Instead, the power system would have gotten the development and tuning it deserved (before the money stopped coming in as Mazda hit the wall financially in the late 1980s) and nobody would be any the wiser. Other than expressing delight at how good the Miata’s (power) steering was. The only griping would be coming from the mob who place philosophy before output. And they could always disconnect the pump
.
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I replaced the factory manual rack on my '95 mk1 for a properly depowered one 7 years ago, and I really like it. It’s certainly not too heavy at parking speeds - me and my Mrs are both 70 and have no trouble. I’ve been driving long enough to know the difference between steering weight and steering feel, and having driven many power steering MX5s I much prefer the depowered rack, and have no regrets at all. I’ve never understood why people think a sub-1000kg roadster needs power steering anyway.
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A properly depowered rack is very different to broken power steering.
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I was looking at it in the perspective - if I simply disconnect the power steering pump what would happen.
If you really want to change the rack to a manual one this is my thought logic.
advantages
to some people it may give a better feel of the interaction between the tyre and the road
disadvantages
my comment on the better tyre-road feeling is… what percentage of people can actually understand and feel the difference especially in a DIY job. IMHO in the low 5% of the people who drive mx5’s. I find the experience of people can significantly vary from person to person.
You have something that works and works well. If it aint broke why change it.
No real weight savings
You have to use a different rack with different gear ratio and you have to figure out which one to use. This will require some figuring out work but by the looks of things people have already done this task so you can read up I guess on other peoples experience.
IMHO disadvantages weigh more than the advantages. But everyone’s mileage is different and can vary.
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I’ve driven a caterham Academy extensively on the road which is about as connected as you get in a road legal car. The ps rack on a mx5 NA (mines a 96/7) gives a relatively similar experience bearing in mind an mx5 is plump next to a caterham. I had a go in a green 1.6 without ps and that wasn’t placeable like a caterham or indeed a mx5 with ps. The car was designed to have best feel with PS and PS is what I’d be sticking with.