Manual steering, do you regret it?

Power steering is kind of one of those things we take for granted. You don't know how much you appreciate it until you don't have it anymore. And that's all I have to say about that.

I dont mind not having PS at all I dont drive the car everyday or anything like that either it is a weekend only car putting few hundred miles on it at the most but I do lots of in town driving and so on with out any issues and yes it is night and day difference of a PS rack unhooked. My wife also drive the car so it cant be that bad and she is only 5ft tall and not real big. I had to unhook ours due to the turbo placement. I also use the stock shaft with a adapter on it and run stock size tires on the front.

I see no real value in an uncluttered engine bay. If your car is put together right it shouldn't need working on all that often.
I've also never seen a fox that had an electric water pump last as a often driven street car.

Low speed manuevering with a manual rack sucks, Although i'm on the spoiled end of power steering with a 12:1 (yes that's not a typo, 12) so my steering is so fast and easy sometimes it feels like it's not connected to anything.

Lets just say it's like a marriage. You're kind-of committed to in once you take the plunge, and you have to fight to make it work.

I have it. For the same reasons you want it. It is definitely not friendly in the parking lot. If you think you're gonna hold that drink in one hand while you whip into a parking space, forget it. Both hands or no turny.

Another thing I noticed is that you said that you were considering the sport ratio as opposed to the standard "slower" ratio. That will even exaggerate the P.I.T.A. aspect even more. I have the 20:1 slower (more turns lock to lock) ratio as opposed to the quicker 15:1 "sport ratio", and it still was something I had to get used to.

I have since weenied out the front tires from the 245's that used to be on it to some 225's to fit my new wheels, it seems a little easier to steer while rolling it around ( I haven't driven it since then) It will be REAL important that the front end is properly aligned to minimize the effort required as well.

If you do a manual rack properly its not bad at all, unless you have prissy girl arms.

The only time it might be a bit of a pain is when turning the wheel when the car is moving slow or stopped.

P/S although "Standard" today is really a luxury item. The CONS of P/S is less feedback from the road, yet another feature that can go wrong, and parisitic drag on the motor, and not to mention, MORE WEIGHT.

A lot of old cars that had manual steering were a pain, and had HUGE steering wheels and you had to turn the wheel about six times lock to lock, but they had worm gears pushing a link assembly, which included many friction points. Rack and Pinion on the other hand is more direct, so this is not nessasary.

My 88 is minus power steering, and I've got 245-45-17s up front. At a stop, it is a royal pain in the ass, but you learn tricks to drive around it. If you have any kind of motion, it gets easier to steer. Backing out of parking spaces, you'll learn to steer after you are moving. It's all about getting just a little bit of speed and working with the car. You'll get used to it, and it won't be a problem at all.
I've got a 4cyl rack (not as quick as the V8 rack?). It was originally a power steering rack that I drained well and looped the lines on. I've heard you can take the valving out of the PS rack and get an even better feel, but I didn't feel like going through the trouble.

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thats about 10k of driving with one hand on a 1991 steering wheel