[Ecco]

Hi guys just wanna get some opinions on whether or not it'll be worth installing power steering into my Vitara.
I'm about to hook into it but I dunno whether it's worth it?
What does everyone think?
Cheers

[jdk81]

Yes.

Buy the whole lot from one car.
pump, lines, box, reservoir, brackets for lines etc etc
If you get the steering shaft, itll make life easier.

For the hundred or so dollars, it's worth it

[Ecco]

I've got a g16a as a second car I bought with a hard top so I was just gonna swap it all over now and put the manual steering in it. Will I need to swap the steering shafts?
I'm running 31s will it make a big difference out on the tracks?

[greyghost]

yes as they said

[jdk81]

Re the PM

You may need to remove the front bar. (phillips head screws, some plastic clips and IIRC 10mm socket/spanner)

At the front of the car, behind the bumper you can undo the two bolts which support the power steering lines if it has them (think its a 10mm socket)
Others may just have black plastic clips which clip onto the cross member

Remove the split pin on the castellated nut on the pitman arm/drag link
Remove the castellated nut from the pitman arm/drag link (17mm socket IIRC)
Remove the drag link from the pitman arm - can be done with a pitman arm puller, possibly a ball joint separator or using another nut to the protect the thread, and striking the nut with the hammer. An extension bar, bit of round, bit of pipe etc anything to get a good impulse strike onto it, and can fit down from the top. It's fiddly but works well.
Failure to use the nut to protect it will ruin the thread.
Using the castellated nut to do this, can ruin the castellated bits on it.

Remove the bolts on the steering shaft uni near the brake booster (12mm socket/spanner IIRC)
Remove the bolts on the steering shaft at the rubber disc
Remove the steering shaft
May need to remove the spline and bracket piece of the steering shaft on the steering box too - may be difficult to wiggle out if attached

Locate the power steering wire.
It plugs onto the pump, and runs up to near the passenger light, there is another plug there, remove that piece, and plug it into the other car.

Undo the bolts and bracket from the steering pump (10mm socket/spanner bolts on the pump, 14mm spanner/socket on pump bracket to block, There is one (sometimes more) bolt/nut requiring a 12mm spanner/socket too
Remove the power steering bracket, and belt etc - (if one car doesnt have the harmonic balancer which can run the power steer, you will need to swap that too)

Remove the oil reservoir (10mm socket/spanner IIRC) - keep it all connected and up, so it doesnt leak out.

Remove the 3 bolts holding the power steering box on (17mm socket/spanner)
When its done, you can wiggle the whole lot out and keep it all connected.

However, it is a lot easier to pull it out in bits and pieces, (A bottle of power steer fluid is $10ish) but I like to avoid contamination.

There is some variation on how Suzuki ran the lines on the vitaras etc
Some models the whole lot can be wiggled out complete and installed complete. Others are more difficult.

It can all be wriggled in, on install do the steering shaft last, so get the wheels pointing straight ahead, and steering wheel in the correct position.
You cant really fiddle with the splines on the shafts etc, as the locating bolts limit it.

The power steering shaft is shorted than non power steering.
The non powersteering shaft can be removed and hammered down and compressed shorter, but means its probably longer in an accident.
As you are swapping car to car, swap the whole lots etc.

I think that's about it.

[Ecco]

jdk81 wrote:

Re the PM

You may need to remove the front bar. (phillips head screws, some plastic clips and IIRC 10mm socket/spanner)

At the front of the car, behind the bumper you can undo the two bolts which support the power steering lines if it has them (think its a 10mm socket)
Others may just have black plastic clips which clip onto the cross member

Remove the split pin on the castellated nut on the pitman arm/drag link
Remove the castellated nut from the pitman arm/drag link (17mm socket IIRC)
Remove the drag link from the pitman arm - can be done with a pitman arm puller, possibly a ball joint separator or using another nut to the protect the thread, and striking the nut with the hammer. An extension bar, bit of round, bit of pipe etc anything to get a good impulse strike onto it, and can fit down from the top. It's fiddly but works well.
Failure to use the nut to protect it will ruin the thread.
Using the castellated nut to do this, can ruin the castellated bits on it.

Remove the bolts on the steering shaft uni near the brake booster (12mm socket/spanner IIRC)
Remove the bolts on the steering shaft at the rubber disc
Remove the steering shaft
May need to remove the spline and bracket piece of the steering shaft on the steering box too - may be difficult to wiggle out if attached

Locate the power steering wire.
It plugs onto the pump, and runs up to near the passenger light, there is another plug there, remove that piece, and plug it into the other car.

Undo the bolts and bracket from the steering pump (10mm socket/spanner bolts on the pump, 14mm spanner/socket on pump bracket to block, There is one (sometimes more) bolt/nut requiring a 12mm spanner/socket too
Remove the power steering bracket, and belt etc - (if one car doesnt have the harmonic balancer which can run the power steer, you will need to swap that too)

Remove the oil reservoir (10mm socket/spanner IIRC) - keep it all connected and up, so it doesnt leak out.

Remove the 3 bolts holding the power steering box on (17mm socket/spanner)
When its done, you can wiggle the whole lot out and keep it all connected.

However, it is a lot easier to pull it out in bits and pieces, (A bottle of power steer fluid is $10ish) but I like to avoid contamination.

There is some variation on how Suzuki ran the lines on the vitaras etc
Some models the whole lot can be wiggled out complete and installed complete. Others are more difficult.

It can all be wriggled in, on install do the steering shaft last, so get the wheels pointing straight ahead, and steering wheel in the correct position.
You cant really fiddle with the splines on the shafts etc, as the locating bolts limit it.

The power steering shaft is shorted than non power steering.
The non powersteering shaft can be removed and hammered down and compressed shorter, but means its probably longer in an accident.
As you are swapping car to car, swap the whole lots etc.

I think that's about it.

Thanks heaps for all that. Was really helpful. Although I had to remove the radiator on both vehicles (made it a lot easier) to get that third bolt on the steering box out.

I've got it all into my G16B however it's a bit noisy. It wasn't on the other one. But looking at the pump it looks to be a few millimeters back towards the oil filter than it should be. The p/s pulley is sitting back a bit so it's not exactly parallel with the outside belt section of the crank pulley so it's sorta offset. The noise is more of a tick than a squeal. Has anyone had this issue before?
I'm not sure how it was on the other car because it was running an a/c compressor as well off the same belt as the pump and I've just put the pump on it's own on this one.
Appreciate all the help.
Cheers

[jdk81]

I didn't think of this before, but this happened to me on my sierra p/steer conversion and I wasn't sure why initially, I modded my bracket to suit.
I had this issue with my alt, and had to swap brackets over.

G16b timing pulley is wider, than g16a.
So the brackets for g16a will make the pulleys sit back, compared to g16b brackets.

On the other vit i did, it was a g16b to a g16b, so i didnt take notice.

[Ecco]

Ahk thanks so I'm not imagining it's sitting a bit out which is probably causing it to be noisy.
I'll either try a bracket from a g16b if I can find one or modify the one I have.
On another note I'm thinking about chucking the a/c in as well but where the adjusting bracket at the top of the motor for the a/c compressor bolts on on the g16b there's a stud sticking out close to the mounting threads for the exhaust manifold so the bracket will foul on that stud is this a case of just cutting that section out of the bracket to miss the manifold?
Thanks for all the help.