Power steering thoughts

[Damkid]

So as you guys know power steering was a rare thing for festiva's and I've always thought about trying to locate a festiva with PS but have never been that concerned with it

Soon my 323 GT will be going under the knife again and I'll be swapping out the steering racks for a manual one and I've been considering test fitting the 323 power steering rack in my festiva, I mean hell my KL has a PS pump on it already and I'd just need to run the lines and add a reservoir

Thoughts?

[Movin]

The older people that want something more than those electric wheel chairs but also something very easy to park just love
the auto festies with about 2 inches of lift. ( that makes entry - exit much easier ) . They like the rio caps but want
more..they want power steering!

I have been researching, and not just for others, my off road interests have shown the need for power steering.

I don't want to lose my extra tight turning circle, I turn tighter than other festy probably.
Fast ratio,, with power steering a 2 turn stop to stop would be awesome. Might be tricky on
ice at speed?
mounting should be similar and the gear head angle and location needs to be really close as we
don't have much wiggle room to move the steering column, most of us really like the current
position of the column.

[Damkid]

Power steering thoughts

I'm not thinking about the turning radius, I'm thinking more towards comfort... My Festiva has become a bit more uncomfortable to drive, clutch pedal is stiff as hell, shifter needs minor tweaking, kinda hard to steer in tight spaces, pulls to the right while cruising (worse when accelerating) which a wheel alignment should cure that

So I'm gunna focus this winter on getting the comfort back in my festiva with a few upgrades as well

[bravekozak]

Most of the Prides in Germany came with power steering.
The rack + pump would have to be shipped sea mail (three month wait) in order to keep costs down.
I have an extra reservoir.

[Damkid]

Power steering thoughts

I'll fabricate my own reservoir to best suit my setup and since PS isn't a huge concern, if I can't do it with parts I already have then it's not worth it to me to put money into PS

[bravekozak]

The biggest problem I encountered in the power steering swap was getting a short knuckle boot off of an Aspire, in order to replace the long Festiva knuckle boot.

[Damkid]

Power steering thoughts

Since i'd be using a 323 setup, finding boots shouldn't be an issue, I hope

[Movin]

The cool factor would be good too, but your car is already at the top
of that scale!!

[Damkid]

Power steering thoughts

Lol ya more cool factor is nice, but it's not needed at this point like you said :lol: