I have a 71 Pinto with a 2.0 motor. Right now, it has maual steering. i don't mind, but someday this car will be my sister's daily driver. i would like to convert it to maual steering. I am also going to be installing a dealer add-on A/C system.
What parts will I need to swutch and what cars will interchange to add power steering? I know I will need a P/S pump, brackets, and probably a power steering rack and pinion, but anything else? What other cars an I scavenge parts off of?
This conversion won't happen anytime soon, but I am planning ahead and hoping to scrounge parts for cheap.
Thanks!
Reed stay with stock tire width it will be less work to park car. It would be a lot of expense and labor to install late mdl. pwr. str. + you will need to change spindles due to larger ball joint. But hey anything can be modified. Fred :)
I agree with tire width. My car has p185/60r14 tires on the front and because of the desert climate the original steering wheel was beyond hope, so I put in an aftermarket steering wheel which is smaller in diameter than the original, Once you are moving at a decent speed, steering isn't a problem, but parallel parking takes a little muscle. I had a 78 wagon with factory power steering a few years ago and considered the swap, but almost everything was different on the two cars, all the brackets, the one with power steering had two grooves in each pulley and used two belts instead of one, so all the pulleys would need to be swapped. The rack leaked, and all the front end fittings were worn, so I decided not to do the swap. Both my cars were 2.3 liters so I don't know what else it would take to do the swap to a 2.0
Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) a previous owner of the Pinto swapped rims to some late model mustang rims. I believe the rims are 15x6 or 7 and it currently has 215-60-R15 tires. I will admit that even when the car is moving at low speeds the steering effort is noticeable, and I am a pretty big guy. I know my sister would hate it (she hasnt ever driven the car yet, just said it was cute and she wanted it) so I really want to switch to power steering.
So it sounds like I need to find a Pinto/Bobcat with power steering and get the steering pump, pulleys, brackets, spindles, rack and pinion, and ????. Would having A/C make a difference for the brackets?
Would it be easier to switch to narrower rims/tires?
Thanks.
My daughter bought 185 tires for her 71. She came home for a few days to play so while she was here I took car and had 175 installed. I just told her I bought new tires for you. She drove car into town when she got back she told me car steers easy. My pinto tires I have 155, 165, 175 and 185 - 13. If you do decide to go ahead I have all the parts. I will see if I can get picture of pwr. rack so you can see mounting diferance. Fred :)
Not sure about air conditioning making a difference, none of my cars ever had it. I know the smog pump setup was the same between the p/s and non p/s cars, I hope some of my info helped
Thanks guys.
Fred- I may take you up on that offer in the future, but right now money is tight. I hope to get my financial situation straightened out in a few months though.
Adding power steering to a 71 would be a LOT of work. The 71-73 models never had power steering as an option. To add power steering, it would probably be "easiest" to convert to a 74-80 suspension. This would involve swapping all the bolt on parts plus replacing or modifying the crossmember (cutting and welding). I believe the 2.0L never came with power steering as an option, so custom pump brackets would be needed (more cutting and welding).
The manual steering will never be as easy as late model power steering. To minimize the manual steering effort, I believe the following items should help:
- Keep the car rolling while turning as you mentioned.
- Reduce tire traction (reduced tire diameter and/or width as mentioned above, harder tire compound, higher tire pressure to some extent, etc.). Reduced traction is not the safest way to go, so use common sense as usual.
- Reduce the caster setting. This is also a compromise but with directional stability, so do not go too far.
- Minimize the scrub radius. Center the tire contact patch on the suspension wheel vertical pivot axis. If the patch is inside the pivot point, spacing the wheel out should help. If the patch is outside the pivot point, you would need wheels with more negative off set.
- Do not install a steering wheel with a smaller diameter.
Thanks! After some e-mail discussion with Fred, I am pretty sure I am going to leave the manual steering alone and find some skinnier rims and tires. If I could find a set of 15x4 drag racing skinny rims I would be happy.
Adding ac and powere stearing takes a lof of room . The powere stearing is under the alt on the driver side and the ac is very low under the smog pump on the pass side . The v6 cars almost have more room than mine with all the options
Thanks. I knew it would be a tight fit.
Quote from: Reed on October 09, 2008, 10:08:30 AM
Thanks! After some e-mail discussion with Fred, I am pretty sure I am going to leave the manual steering alone and find some skinnier rims and tires. If I could find a set of 15x4 drag racing skinny rims I would be happy.
There are doughnut spares that are aluminum and look a bit like centerlines. They are 15x4. I think they came in some Mustangs?? Licketysplit is selling 2. http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,9498.0.html (http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,9498.0.html)
Thanks! I will keep my eye out the next time I go junkyarding.
reed i do have a set of stock pinto mags!
but call these guy they know it all when it come to steering and handling
http://www.flamingriver.com/index.cfm (http://www.flamingriver.com/index.cfm)
I agree with oldkayaker's last point! Don't install a steering wheel with a smaller diameter! I regret this decision because (1) the car is harder to steer (2) I'm kinda tall, the steering wheel blocks the guages and I either have to sit up in the seat to see over it or scoot way down in the seat (long legs too) to see under it. I was in a pinch at the time ( did I mention the old wheel was very cracked) , I hated the way the factory wheel looked, went junkyarding and left disappointed, had $50 burning a hole in my pocket, went to Autozone and picked out a shiny( :police: I know you'll see this eventually) chrome Grant steering wheel and one of those $10 install kits, That lasted about 6 months (did I mention I live in the desert) The sun glaring off the chrome blinded me in almost every direction I traveled, the bolts on the adapter kit stripped and one day while making a corner the steering wheel turned but the car didn't. Back to Autozone, this time got a black Pilot wheel (car still has this one) so I'm not blind and the steering wheel hasn't slipped around yet (3 years, fingers crossed) but I still can't see the guages and the car is still hard to steer! If anyone has a decent used blue stock wheel or a decent black rallye wheel at a reasonable price, please drop me a pm. Sorry about the rant, use a Ford steering wheel!
The car still have the factory steering wheel. I think these later Mustang rims just create too much drag for parallel parking. At speed and even low speeds it is fine, but even I have to exert some effort to park it.
I am pretty much decided on finding some different rims, but i need to save up the cash.