I've honestly never driven a car with manual steering. How hard is it to turn the wheel? I'm considering switching to manual steering because I'm going to fabricate the brackets for my dual compressor setup and the only low mount alt brackets I've found put the alt where the PS pump is at now. If I do go with a manual box, what applications will fit?

You might consider using a school bus or transport bus dual compresser mount setup instead of nixing your power steering pump. Of course, you would probably need to use two Sanden 508 or 510 compressers. Also, check the wrecking yards for an older style van mount..puts the compresser in the center. (I may even have one of these mounts laying around in storage, but it's going to use a Sanden as well.