944 PS Pump thoughts

[toddc]

I've done some googling and some searching here on pelican but not really found the info I'm curious about.

We're all familiar with the PS pump leak problems on the 944, the rebuild procedures and even swapping in the bmw 528e pump with the vw pulley.

My real question revolves around the steering effort with a fully functional rack and pump.
While stock feels great when all is well, there is still quite a bit of effort required at anything below 30mph.

Has anyone ever considered or tried using a different size pulley to spin the pump a bit faster and provide a bit more assist?
Or for that matter done anything to a rack to change ratio?

These are random thoughts, feel free to let me know why this may be good, or bad and what you have seen.

Thank you,

Todd

[OPRN]

I believe they were purposely set up with the steering effort as it is to try and retain some road feel/feed back for the driver. That is one of the things I like about my 944. It's part of what makes these a true sports car for me, I would hate to loose that!

[thomasryan]

bad upper strut bearings, low tire pressure, increase tire width over stock, moving pump vanes from their original position and orientation, leaks on the suction side (aeration) and/or worn ball joints increase steering effort.

[IdahoDoug]

Agree with Thomas on that, but will add my personal pet peeve. Adding wider rims with the improper offset. Engineers spend a lot of time calculating that with precision and tiny variations completely change the handling, steering feedback, and stability while braking.

So if you've done any of these things to your 944 it may explain why you have higher effort than you prefer.

[Jfrahm]

I always felt they were overboosted, at least compared to a 928. I've thought about switching to a 928 pump to increase road feel.

[thomasryan]

I like heavy steering.

my old mercs have a variable assist and one of the cars is stuck in high speed/low assist mode. ten degrees of caster so it loads up nice and phat. I haven't conjured Rumpelstiltskin to make the drivers wheel harness which, by Mercedes pricing, is made of gold.

[toddc]

Originally Posted by IdahoDoug

Agree with Thomas on that, but will add my personal pet peeve. Adding wider rims with the improper offset. Engineers spend a lot of time calculating that with precision and tiny variations completely change the handling, steering feedback, and stability while braking.

So if you've done any of these things to your 944 it may explain why you have higher effort than you prefer.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Stock 15" phone dials, stock tire size, suspension recently freshened up....

[mattdavis11]

Go with a manual rack. They never leak.

I've driven a 951, didn't like the power rack at all.