Anybody install manual brakes and lose PS

[jeffmerkur]

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if any one has gone to the trouble of installing manual brakes
and removing the power steering so you can safely hyper mile your car.
I have some mile long hills on my way too and from work that it would be nice to shut the motor down and just coast but I still want to be able to stop and steer normally, so its safe.

Thanks,
Jeff

[200KGPGTP]

My fest doesn't even have power steering, as many don't. So that's not an issue.

As for brakes, they retain enough power for me while the engine is off to work for multiple pumps. Even after the vacuum has worn off, they aren't all that hard to work.

I turn my engine off all the time in nice weather to coast. Makes a huge impact on MPG in my situation.

[jeffmerkur]

Ok cool. I haven't even picked my first Festiva up yet so I didn't know that about the brakes. I might install a manual rack later. This car has PS and AC which from what I'm finding out are rare options. I guess I'll find all this stuff out Saturday when I pick up the car.

[neanderpaul]

I've owned 23 festivas over 20 years. I've seen hundreds of festivas. I've never seen power steering in person. They are super rare.

[chrisofna]

Yeah only 90-91 full option cars had them, and even then it's rare. My car had it but it has since been removed. If I have any advice it would be if you find one with PS steer clear of it because it is a lot of work to remove it. If you want to replace it with a normal rack you have to replace everything between it and the column as well which is extremely frustrating.

[htchbck]

^ I would add though that if you have the time and patience to remove everything, and have a car to buy that is equipped with it, it may be worth it to you to buy the car, swap the steering to manual and sell off the PS parts, as there are a few on here who really want it. And for manual brakes, I know a guy that wanted something like that on his Metro for the same reasons you mentioned. He ended up tee-ing into the vac line with an electric vacuum pump and check valve, wired with a relay so that it only ran and maintained vacuum when the engine was off. It was a while ago so I don't remember the particulars of where he got his parts, but it worked, and thats how he did it.

[Occhty]

I've owned 23 festivas over 20 years. I've seen hundreds of festivas. I've never seen power steering in person. They are super rare.

2x^^
I'm up to 27 festys in 20 and have only seen one (my 91) I'm thinking it may be more rare than the sport

Yeah only 90-91 full option cars had them

I've got a 91 that has power steering, and no other options. ( just saying )

[Gomez]

I've owned 23 festivas over 20 years. I've seen hundreds of festivas. I've never seen power steering in person. They are super rare.

Paul, my silver car had p/s in it when you saw it at Ohiostive 2 yrs ago. You probably didn't even realise it when you looked at it because you wasn't even expecting it. lol

I tell ya everytime I go to a new yard the first thing I look for is one with a p/s setup.

[Ghost]

my car does not coast

[blkfordsedan]

my car does not coast

LOL, we have no hills in Nebraska worth coasting down.

[deathegg]

Does a Festy with F.I. have Deceleration fuel cutoff? Meaning when it's coasting in gear and above a certain RPM range, fuel is cut off and engine is only turning because it's connected to the transmission. A scangage would show up to 999 MPG.

My new (computer controlled) Yaris has this, but I wasn't sure how advanced older FI systems are? I NEVER shut off the engine while coasting now, because I know it really isn't necessary.