Club 80-90 Forums

Hi
A question for all you techies out there, is it possible to put power steering on an air cooled.
Been told its only possible to convert a watercooled.
Has anyone done it or know someone who has.

Cheers

yes it can be done

there are various types of power steering,

was never fitted as standard to an Aircooled tho and you probably wont get it to fit on the engine end , although modifications can be made so it will work.

i would expect it would cost you somewhere around the £1000 mark if your paying someone to do it tho.

yes you can do it by using one of the electric power steering pumps as fitted to i think the citreon saxo or something like that in place of the engine mounted set up.
all the rest of the gubbins will fit. very expensive tho

Rozzo wrote:yes you can do it by using one of the electric power steering pumps as fitted to i think the citreon saxo or something like that in place of the engine mounted set up.
all the rest of the gubbins will fit. very expensive tho

Hi what do you mean by very expensive, our camper is a 1982 Aircooled 1970cc petrol engine.
cindy66

from what i know a new rack from vw is around £1500

plus labour/ and the other parts!

2nd hand racks are hard to find.

water cooled setups 2nd hand go from between £500 and £800 pounds , then you need to fit them.
does this seem expensive to you?

cindy66 wrote:

Rozzo wrote:yes you can do it by using one of the electric power steering pumps as fitted to i think the citreon saxo or something like that in place of the engine mounted set up.
all the rest of the gubbins will fit. very expensive tho

Hi what do you mean by very expensive, our camper is a 1982 Aircooled 1970cc petrol engine.
cindy66

errm i mean very expensive tho as in not cheap. the 2nd hand power steering parts are extremely sought after so are errm very expensive to buy, the electric pumps are quite sought after for kit cars etc and so are errm very expensive to buy,,, and the pipework you need to get made up is fairly specialist stuff so guess what,,, it can be expensive.
i'd just blow the tyres up and get used to it,, which is errrm free

Rozzo wrote:

cindy66 wrote:

Rozzo wrote:yes you can do it by using one of the electric power steering pumps as fitted to i think the citreon saxo or something like that in place of the engine mounted set up.
all the rest of the gubbins will fit. very expensive tho

Hi what do you mean by very expensive, our camper is a 1982 Aircooled 1970cc petrol engine.
cindy66

errm i mean very expensive tho as in not cheap. the 2nd hand power steering parts are extremely sought after so are errm very expensive to buy, the electric pumps are quite sought after for kit cars etc and so are errm very expensive to buy,,, and the pipework you need to get made up is fairly specialist stuff so guess what,,, it can be expensive.
i'd just blow the tyres up and get used to it,, which is errrm free

Thanks Rozzo I have just blown the tyres up and it does feel alot better, put 45 in the front and 55 in the rear.
We will also get New Tyres on it, would this make it better on handling as well, we only got the camper a couple of weeks ago.
Cindy66

I am also interested in power steering. I have an arthrytic condition that comes and goes. It has been my luck that both this summer and last my wrist joints have acked like buggery, while driving the van on my summer hols round France. I am O.K. over small distances such as camping in the U.K. but if I am driving all day, I tend to seize up.
I am quite happy with my van in other respects and am getting quite attached to it. My thoughts are whether I should trade it in now for a model with power steering or attempt to get this one upgraded. The van is 1,900cc water-cooled and cost me just under £4,000 last summer. I am not into DIY so get the local garage to do anything with the engine.
It sounds from what is being said that the costs are so high that trading in for a model with power steering may be my best bet. Are there particular models that cam with PS as standard?

My camper has a power steering setup that was fitted sometime after delivery. (Not a VW fit). I believe it was commissioned by the first owner who was getting on in years and found the van a bit heavy. As quite a few campers were bought by this type of customer (!), there might be more out there with power steering kits than you imagine. The instal was done by a company called Steering Developments Ltd, who are still in business making adapted vehicles. Might be worth talking to them, although chances of them being able to duplicate the exact T25 set up after 20 years or so are small. They may have modern parts that would fit though (at a price). It is a good set up and still works perfectly though. If you go the route of looking for another van, you may well find a UK van that was fitted with aftermarket power steering like mine amongst all the Westfalias with factory fitted installations.

Good luck!

VW nerd on the brickyard has a retro fit electric kit that he has been working on.

I know is sub £500 so might be worth a look.

Cheers

ttcharlie