1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Junk Gen1 Steering Rack Needed for Power Steering Pump Delete Kit

Just a bit of update: Carlos of Condor now has c0op3r's steering rack. Prototype reversible plug&play delete kit in the works.
Independent tests by Da_Ghost on his own version of looped lines showed promise. Resistance is between a dead pump & a good one!

Appreciation goes to c0op3r for volunteering & shipping his spare steering rack to 'silence'. Same goes to Carlos of Condor Speed Shop (aka silence) for sharing his bimmer experience & expertise in tackling a kit for the gen1 community. Thanks much, guys!

For those interested, stay tuned for updates.

The kit won't exactly look like the e30 one here due to rack design differences, but you get the idea:

 

Thanks for pointing, scott. But silence, I believe, is based in Ft. Lauderdale. If there's anyone near him who could lend him a rack for fabrication & fitting, it would be of great help. Our gen1s need an alternative to the fail-prone OE pump & leaky hoses. Would leave us 1 thing less to worry about.

 

c0op3r, I requested silence to correspond w/ you. Hope this works out so we can all have an easy, hobo reversible delete kit option.

 

Replies & updates from 'silence' of Condor Speed Shop emailed & PM'd, c0op. Thanks!

Very popular on e30s, this kit makes steering effort somewhere between having a working pump & a dead one in. Many owners opted for this mod to make the steering feel more CONNECTED, riddance of a leaky pump- a bonus. The rack will have most of its fluid out when the delete bypass block is installed, hence the expected decrease in steering resistance.
I've driven with a bad pump & well, 'twas hard but drivable. A slight decrease in resistance would make it bearable. A significant one might make it an ideal option. We'll never know until we get to test it.