Danny Boy's Mk4 Build - Putting the project on hold for a while...

[JohnK]

It's possible that you just got a belt that was manufactured on the short side. I would definitely not be applying additional force to the pump or reservoir to further tighten the belt - that's just asking for expensive heartache IMO.

One further comment to Edwardb's comments on the PS rack. As you know, one of the main benefits of going with power steering is the ability to run additional caster. For many people (myself included) this entailed trimming the front upper control arm rearward adjusting sleeves to provide enough adjustability to get to that caster number. I would *strongly* advise doing that mod now if you haven't already vs. trying to do it later on. But to the point of being able to compare PS vs. MS, unless you were to also re-align the car with different caster numbers you're not going to get a "fair" comparison of the overall benefit of power steering. All in all, I would echo the sentiment to just go with PS now.

Edit: One last note on the KRC power steering setup. You can adjust the amount of assist by replacing the high pressure outlet fitting with a different size orifice. The fitting that comes with the pump is the middle of the range (number 7, IIRC). Many people replace that fitting with the smallest that KRC offers (#4) to dial the amount of assist down to the minimum, which is still more than enough for a car this light. If your concern is that the steering will feel over-assisted with power steering, I can say that with the smallest orifice it does not.