Advice

Welcome aboard, Chalkywhite,

Enjoy the forum.

Power steering was standard on the Wolseley 18/85 which appeared in 1967, and became an option on the Austins and Morrises from that point onwards. So, your early "C" reg would not have had power steering. I have driven a number of cars with p/s and have to say that I find the original set-up over-light with little "feel".

If you are looking at converting your car to p/s, the original system used a pump mounted on the back of the (special) dynamo, a pair of hoses and a power steering rack. These parts aren't particularly difficult to track down with some patience, but bear in mind that the upper suspension arms on the front were specifically p/s or non-p/s - the steering geometry is different between the two.

Late cars (MkIIIs) were alternator cars and used a separate p/s pump driven by an auxilliary belt. Some parts were shared with the following Princess, so again, most things can be found if required.

Nowadays, electric power steering can be added by specialists who add an electric motor to the steering column with some fancy electronics. These seem to be mostly sourced from Corsa cars and by all accounts work well.

From my own experience, I find that the cars are nicely balanced and weighted with manual steering once you get over a few miles an hour. They are heavy at parking speeds, but, hey, we all need the exercise!

It would be nice to see some pics of your current car when you get the opportunity.

Chris.

My car didn't come with power steering and I agree with Chris that once you're rolling you don't really need it - you can always put some more air in the front tyres!
However parking/manoeuvring is a pain.
If you add wider wheels obviously it makes it worse.
I do a bit of motorsport in mine from time to time and found it hard work - particularly up and down mountain passes (!)- so went with an electric system which has transformed the driving experience for me.
You can vary the level of assistance easily just by turning a knob - so full assistance for car parks, next to nothing for motorways and in between, the rest of the time.
Cost from memory was about £1200.
I learned to drive on a traditionally power assisted 1800 and agree with Chris that it seemed to me over assisted.

Cheers
Andrew

Interesting that you can vary the assistance on the fly. Is it a series of pre-set or constantly variable settings? If the latter do you find it hard to adjust to the new weight, a bit like going from a manual to PAS and oversteering at first? Maybe not an issue for a seasoned rally driver such as yourself but for us mere mortals?

When I owner an 18/85 I researched whether the PAS pump could be operated through an aircon compressor type of clutch just to engage at parking speeds but sold it on before I got round to it. On reflection I think it would have required more than that.

Back in 1971 I hired a crab in Kent from a well known company which seemed to have slightly heavy steering from the start and drove it to Worcestershire before discovering it did in fact have PAS but the reservoir was empty!

David