Retrofit power steering.

[garyd]

My 1990 syncro runs on 215-75x15 BFG ATs (38-40psi on the front) and I have a Caravelle non-PAS steering wheel fitted. (It used to be JX TD powered but now has an AGG GTi engine.) However, on urban journeys, particularly with lots of roundabouts and junctions, I am finding the steering heavy & tiring. I am therefore considering fitting power steering.

It seems to me that there are three routes to achieving this:-
1) find a complete PAS set up from a van that's being broken. My guess is that these would be few & far between, possibly expensive. and require the fabrication of pump mountings and a belt drive system on the engine.
2) instal an electrically assisted steering column such as Ultimate Engineering produce. Probably the simplest and quickest route but questions have been raised over safety issues regarding the absence of a collapsible section in the column. I haven't done any research yet to discover whether that is true.
3 Fit a factory PAS rack but use an electric powered pump and reservoir from another vehicle. Acquiring a rack may still be challenging but an elecric pump would be simpler to fit, require much less oil and shorter hoses.

I am tending to favour option 3 at present. I understand that people have used Saxo reservoir/pump units for this purpose. Can anyone confirm that, please?

Is the PAS rack a direct swap for the manual one? I have read that the input shaft (from the bevel box) is a different length, presumably shorter to allow for the valving on the rack input.

How about the track rods?

I also have a vague memory of reading that the wheel bearing housing/ hub carrier has a different length steering arm. Is that right?

Can anyone who has gone this route please comment & assist?

thanks

Garyd

[kenkelso]

If you go option 3 I can recommend Kelly Bray Steering in Cornwall for power steering racks, I have just renewed mine and the service was amazing.

Ken

[weimarbus]

16vmini has used a saxo pump setup, have a look in modified section, I have gone for option 2 and I'm very happy