MX-3.com

Got major surgery planned for the end of the month with my looming inspection. I plan to drop the subframe and follow the right up in the FAQs to swap out my injured power rack for a 90-94 323 manual unit. New front wheel bearings, tie rods, the struts and springs have about 12K miles on them and my bushings were all done about 3 years ago or 20K miles so this should tighten up the steering considerably and have every wearable part in the front end replaced including the carrier bearing i did a few months ago. The part # for the correct belt is listed, and i did some cross referencing on part #'s for the rack itself but i wanted to check with yinz and see if i've got anything wrong.

Rack- A-1 CARDONE Part # 242690 Reman. Manual Steering
http://my.cardone.com/English/club/memb ... NUM=242690

When i go in for inspection i plan on getting an alignment, having them suck whats left of the refrigerant out of my A/C, and an induction cleaning service, as it did wonders for my old red GS and the DE could stand to use the carbon cleaned out of it. New camber wedges and e-brake cables are on the docket as well. Getting back to the A/C; is there a known belt length/part# for dumping the compressor and gutting that whole system? I doubt that the highest model level for the GS/GT/LS came with an option for no AC so idk if its even possible with our belt set up? We luck out with the PS belt being able to just use the other side of the idler pulley to keep tension, could i do the same thing with the AC/alternator belt?

Also, i seem to be struggling to find rack bushings. I could've sworn id seen blue poly ones on here somewhere, but no luck with the google-fu. I have a dealer part# but id rather not pay their ridiculous prices for 2 peices of rubber. The only bushings i can find for the 323 is for the power set up ;/

Sounds badass, let me know how you like the manual rack!

Some mx-3's didn't even come with A/C, so you should be able to just buy a non-a/c belt, but I think that's just for 4cyl cars. You could just take a string and measure the length and get the closest size to it.

here's a pic with no A/C:

My GS didn't have AC

If you remove your PS pump you'll also have to buy the shorter belt which should run $10-20 (Dayco Part # 5040295, 4 rib 29.5" belt).

Here's some threads with info:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=64720&hilit=power+ ... elete+belt
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=65960&hilit=power+ ... elt+number

Welp, i've got all the parts lined up for the swap(manual rack, outer tie rods, wheel bearings and seals, camber wedges, belt). I had to get the rack bushings through Mazda; they weren't too expensive but they were 1 of only 3 sets left in the US! So get those while you can people. The rack i recieved from Rockauto seems to already have one of the bushings on it, but it may end up not being the right size/shape.

Did you do it? Has anyone else reading this done it?
I am thinking about doing it, too, but want to know how the steering feels. I'm not too concerned about the effort it may take, since I'm strong (I had a Chevy van that had a bad P/S pump, so I took the belt off and drove it cross country for a couple of years). I would like to know if autocrossing would be difficult.

fowljesse wrote:Did you do it? Has anyone else reading this done it?
I am thinking about doing it, too, but want to know how the steering feels. I'm not too concerned about the effort it may take, since I'm strong (I had a Chevy van that had a bad P/S pump, so I took the belt off and drove it cross country for a couple of years). I would like to know if autocrossing would be difficult.

I'll let you know soon.

So would manual steering feel the same as if you were driving a car with power steering but with the engine off? Does that add extra resistance and make it more difficult?

My water pump is on the way out and I'm still driving the car... when it gets close to overheating I shut if off and just keep coasting... this includes turns and tight turns with the car off and no power steering assistance at low, medium and high speeds.

I'm sure that the manual steering is a lot easier than power with the power off. I'm actually considering putting on the shorter belt to bypass the P/S pump temporarily to see what it feels like.

fowljesse wrote: I would like to know if autocrossing would be difficult.

Not sure, but I love PS for autocrossing, you gotta be nimble and quick with the steering.

The gearing is different in the manual rack. It takes more turns to go from lock to lock.

Well i never did do this entire swap. Too much s--- such as the exhaust bolts and motor mount wanting to strip out and even after trying to get it out sideways instead of dropping the subframe, did we run into more breakable problems.
W/e my issue was, the bearings and tie rods i did plus alignment got rid of it so im happy. Sent the rack and belt/etc back and used the money to get some projectors and HIDS.

Mooneggs wrote:So would manual steering feel the same as if you were driving a car with power steering but with the engine off? Does that add extra resistance and make it more difficult?

My water pump is on the way out and I'm still driving the car... when it gets close to overheating I shut if off and just keep coasting... this includes turns and tight turns with the car off and no power steering assistance at low, medium and high speeds.

there would be a different gear ratio within the rack so steering effort should be easier with a non power steering rack compared to a power steering one disabled.

Nd4SpdSe wrote:My GS didn't have AC

If you remove your PS pump you'll also have to buy the shorter belt which should run $10-20 (Dayco Part # 5040295, 4 rib 29.5" belt).

Here's some threads with info:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=64720&hilit=power+ ... elete+belt
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=65960&hilit=power+ ... elt+number

I bet it's cause it was Canadian GS, who needs A/C in Canada anyway? lol