Power steering pump guts

I'm in the middle of a Miata engine swap and decided to de-power my steering rack. The only issue I haven't solved yet (in my head at least), is how to tension the power steering/air-conditioning belt, as the pump acts as the belt tensioner in the stock setup.

Until a few years ago, there was a Mazda part that replaced the pump with an idler, but that part is NLA new and almost impossible to find used.

So, I'm stuck with my pump-as-tensioner.

Am I over-thinking things if I'm concerned I should somehow open this up, gut it, and grease it before I start running it without fluid?

WWGRMD?

If you can't find an idler pulley I would say just keep the power steering unless there is some reason it's impossible to get it to work anymore without too much money.

I did this. I pulled the power steering pump apart, removed the pump part, resealed with RTV and reassembled. I refilled with ATF. For the hose bungs I either plugged and sealed with something and JB weld, or welded shut. Can't remember. It worked very well though. Eventually, I bought a real pulley off of Joey on this board. I had no issues with just using the gutted pump though, and it was free!

EDIT: If you do find a pulley, and the bearing is bad, McMaster-Carr has the proper size bearings. I also replaced the pinion shaft bearings in the de-powered rack with McMaster-Carr ones. One of the bearings was 7mm width and I could only get an 8mm width, but it worked fine.

Did you check the dorman line? They have several types of ac compressor replacements which can be remade to replace the powersteering pump.

So, if I read this right, you need the pump to tension the AIRBERKELEYINGCONDITIONING? Turn in your mancard at the window to the left.

So do I see a possible market for these pieces? I am surprised Flying Miata has not picked up on this. But.. . . I bet if I could be my hands on a power steering pump I could fab something up. Once finished make a jig and you make up a bunch more. Use an off the self idler pulley replacement of some kind and voila you have a sell-able product.

dean1484 wrote: So do I see a possible market for these pieces? I am surprised Flying Miata has not picked up on this. But.. . . I bet if I could be my hands on a power steering pump I could fab something up. Once finished make a jig and you make up a bunch more. Use an off the self idler pulley replacement of some kind and voila you have a sell-able product.

Yeah, I thought about that, but I'm just not sure how much market there is for these bits. Frankly, the original piece has a E36 M3-ton of cast metal making up the base - I don't know if that's because of the forces involved, or simple over-engineering. That and the issue of getting the belt perfectly aligned make me think that this project would require too much material and precision to hack something together...

And yes, I like running A/C in my convertible. I like being cool and I like the sunshine (my top is almost always down).