uprated steering coupling / Power steering conversion.

[Jon-HPF]

Has anyone managed to change the rubber steering coupling over to a more conventional Universal joint (metal). If so Id appreciate the feedback as the steering's heavy as hell on my car with 205 tyres fitted and I feer this puts a lot of strain on a rubber disc no bigger than a digestive biscuit!
Also , i remember that the The VX/490 had power steering with slant 4 2.3 engine (used to have one years ago) - should have kept it ! Has anyone ever tried a power steering conversion over to HC slant 4 cars? Look forward to some positive feedback.

[droopsnoot]

I didn't have any trouble with my Sportshatch - which has a quick rack as well as 205-section tyres on the front. That said, I haven't checked it for a while. You'd think that if it presented a problem, there would have been a suitable Sportpart available at some point.

But I know what you mean - it was awful jumping out of my everday car (with power steering and normal tyres) in to the hatch with no power, 205/60s (usually with 10psi in them as I always forgot to check) and a quick rack and a small steering wheel.

[xwv2300]

when ade reads this, he might tell how he had a bmw power rack on his coupe ( rover turbo motor), so its possible. if your runnung a 2.3 then the pulleys from a fe vx should fit.
the fe rack is too wide but could be cut down i suppose, not sure on the mounts etc though.

[ade]

when ade reads this, he might tell how he had a bmw power rack on his coupe ( rover turbo motor), so its possible. if your runnung a 2.3 then the pulleys from a fe vx should fit.
the fe rack is too wide but could be cut down i suppose, not sure on the mounts etc though.

it is possible the only problem that i found was that you get lots of bump steer, the only way to make sure this doesnt happen is to make sure that the nuckles on the rack have a straight line running through the top swing arm bolt and the lower swing arm bolt does that make sense
--0-------------------0-------------------0----
bottom bolt steering knuckle top bolt

thats the best i can draw it i actually cut the front suspension in the centre and added 110mm to the middle thats why the car looks well fat at the front

[Sid]

Yes, I fitted a metal UJ from a Triumph dolomite on my HC, later adapted to
fit the HB.
As I recall it involved cutting the metal sleeve part from the viva coupling
(long end), sliding the cut end over the triumph bit's shaft and welding
them together.

Sid

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon-HPF" <modifications@vauxhallviva.com>
To: <modifications@vauxhallviva.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 2:18 PM
Subject: uprated steering coupling / Power steering conversion.

Has anyone managed to change the rubber steering coupling over to a more

conventional Universal joint (metal). If so Id appreciate the feedback as
the steering's heavy as hell on my car with 205 tyres fitted and I feer this
puts a lot of strain on a rubber disc no bigger than a digestive biscuit!

[Jon-HPF]

Not sure if I get the drawing , do you mean leaving some tolerance in the shaft to allow up/ down movement ?


(Jon I edited your last three posts as two of them were just reposts of the whole message thread, I dont know why you felt you needed to repost the previous posts ?

I Have also stripped out all the junk from this email to help readers understand the message.

If you are having trouble understanding how to use the forum, please ask or read the FAQ's)

[Sid]

Can't honestly remember for sure but I suspect I cut the triumph male shaft
down actually.

From recollection I cut the whole hollow piece (about 4" long) from the

Viva's joint, (HC I'm talking about here) which the Triumph coupling's shaft
then slid neatly inside from the cut end. I suspect I cut most of the
truimph shaft off just leaving enough to insert into the sleave and the
welded them together having first ascertained the required overlap and
marked the correct position in-situ.
To protect the bushes in th UJ while welding it was necessary to apply the
weld in very short bursts and quickly submerge the coupling section (but not
the weld itself) after each burst, to cool it, so it was a bit fiddly, but
in my case necessary as the Viva's bulky coupling fouled the V6.

The above only works on the HC. To make the above assembly fit a HB I had to
use about a 6" section of the bottom of the HC steering column, ground to
fit the HB's column clamp at the bulkhead.

Sid

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon-HPF" <modifications@vauxhallviva.com>
To: <modifications@vauxhallviva.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 3:21 PM
Subject: Re: uprated steering coupling / Power steering conversion.

Did you use the whole dolly coupling ?, from rack spindle to shaft via

u/j.