Power Steering
 

Hi, I have a beautiful 1975 244 but as I get older the lure of power steering gets stronger. Has anyone retrofitted power steering from a 1980 (?) model and indeed is this a feasible idea?
TIA
John

Yes done it a few times.

You need the full power steering system and also change the lower balljoints

Hi SuperSwede, thanks for your reply. I have located a rack, pump and reservoir but never thought of lower balljoints.....what is the story there?
Do you have the necessary items in stock?
John

Hi - I converted my 1978 to powersteering, have a look at my project thread for some pictures I took.

You'll need a power steering column as they're different to a manual one, a power steering rack, hoses and pump - the power steering pump and bracket should be from a car with a B21 engine (same as yours) as the later pumps have a different bracket meaning the pulleys don't quite line up... although it will work, but the belt won't last all that long and it might squeal.

You'll also need the additional bolt on pulley for the front of your engine, as you'll only have space for two belts currently (and those spaces are used by the belts that turn the alternator, water pump and fan). This might be the hardest part to find actually.

Ball joints - the ones for a manual car are straight, the ones for a power steering car are cranked forwards to increase caster. I have a picture of two different ones next to each other in my project thread.

Cheers

Allegedly, the early 240s had the same ball-joints in both manual and PAS configurations. Haynes (for what they're worth) claim that 1979-on models havve handed ball-joints, so you might not need to replace them.

Haynes is the book of lies. The ball joint type used relate directly to PAS and non PAS

ball joints

https://www.classicswede.co.uk/240_B..._17181639.aspx

https://www.classicswede.co.uk/240_B..._17181638.aspx

I retrofitted PAS to my 79, the front pulley needed sourcing and the pump needs to match the engine as Seb says. It does work but the belt alignment isn't great.
I got around the issue by fitting the b230 to match the PAS :D

I meant to swap my ball joints, or more specifically replace with the correct type when doing my front suspension, but my mechanic replaced like for like without asking as it was needed at mot time.

I've never experienced any issues with having the reduced castor, so don't feel any need to fit the offset type. They're inexpensive either way...

Do you mean the column or just the bottom rod with the universal joints?
Doesn't the earlier column have different fixing points or locking/ignition fixings? It certainly has a different shaft taper for sitting the steering wheel.

The number of splines on the end of the shaft coming through the bulkhead are the same early or late (but may differ at the steering wheel end). The number of splines on the shaft coming out of the steering rack are different- the manual one is a smaller diameter shaft with fewer splines- so you need the later power steering column to connect to the power steering rack.

The columns look quite different- I took a before and after photo and posted them in my project thread here:

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=268976&page=3

Cheers

So you do mean the lower link rod connecting the bottom of the column to the rack, not the column itself?