Spider Power Steering Conversion

[Geezer]

I've been shopping for Alfa lately. The best ones that I have found so far are late '80's and no power steering. Power steering is important for the wife, I'm manly enough to do without.

That being said has anyone ever converted a late '80's Spider to power steering? I was thinking that getting the parts from simular vintage donar car should do the trick. Anybody know of any problems with doing such a conversion?

[jarrington]

If you want a Spider and need PS, just buy a '91-'94 and be done with it. They came with power steering standard and look better than the '80s cars anyway.

-Jason

[Geezer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarrington If you want a Spider and need PS, just buy a '91-'94 and be done with it. They came with power steering standard and look better than the '80s cars anyway. -Jason

[jarrington]

You might have to go to Hot-lanta to find anything really nice. Paul Spruell was the Alfa dealer there and would probably be a good place to start.
http://www.paulspruell.com/

-Jason

[Geezer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarrington You might have to go to Hot-lanta to find anything really nice. Paul Spruell was the Alfa dealer there and would probably be a good place to start. http://www.paulspruell.com/ -Jason

[papajam]

Another option to reduce the steering effort in a non-P/S equipped car is to reduce the caster angle of the front end.

[Geezer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by papajam Another option to reduce the steering effort in a non-P/S equipped car is to reduce the caster angle of the front end.

[Greg Gordon]

Follow Papajams advice and drive the car without power steering. The effort involved is so minimal you wife will never know. Our Milano without power steering has about the same steering effort as our BMW 535i with power steering, above 20 mph it requires less effort.

[papajam]

It's all a compromise and how much the caster can be changed could depend on where/how the vehicle may be driven. As you said, less caster equals less high speed stability and the steering will be less self centering. If all highway, take out less caster. All city, take out more. One degree less caster might be a good place to start.

[jarrington]

Tire width makes a huge difference, too. My current '74 and my old '87 Quad both have 15" wheels and 195 series tires and are pigs to steer at low speeds. The '81 that followed me home has the original 185/14s and is a piece of cake.

-Jason

[alfanfl]

Tire pressure also makes a difference.

[maxmax]

Dear Geezer,

I completely agree with your idea of converting tp power steering yor spider.
By the way I have a complete power steering original fitment from a 91 - 94 spider in perfect conditions (without the idraulic pump). I bought this on ebay one year ago because I wanted to fit power steering on my 1300 giulia GT junior coupé bertone.
I decided to give up because the fitting is not so easy in the coupé but it will be staightforward in a early spider. I realised that the shape of the steering box would require some body modifications in a coupé and I do not want to go for a non reversible modification.
The bits are still in their box in wich I received them. Actually they came from California.
Please let me know if you are interested. I was going to ebay them back when I saw your message.
Best regards

Massimo

[vintage prep]

Geezer,

Just tell her it has power steering and that's as good as it's going to get! Lets face it, these cars are not like old American cars with manual steering, they don't take a lot of effort.