Hmmm. I had the belt to the power steering and A/C disconnected for a while on my FD. Call me a bitch if you want, but I definately thought that it was too heavy to turn. I'm talking about high speed turns not just parking and that sort of thing. But, with the power steering pump still installed, the fluid must have been needing to pass through the pump as I turned. I imagine this would have made turning more difficult, so if I remove the pump altogether and simply run a loop as lane_change did can I expect the steering to be a bit easier, something like a normal non-power assisted car?

 

If you remove the pump, its not going to get much easier. The rack is meant to be power assisted, that is why it has less turns lock to lock than a manual one. Less turns = more force that you need to use to turn the wheels.

 

If you just pull the belt off, it'll be hard to turn than if you pull off the pump. With the pump on you'll be pushing against a dead pump. It's much easier without the pump.