Power Steering for Fiat Spider?

[djape1977]

install high quality balljoints and tie rods.
install idler arm with ball bearings
rebuild/adjust/replace steering box
get the front wheels professionally alligned
get new tyres
with all of this done, spider will be a joy to drive but steering wheel effort when parking will always be much higher than with any modern car. only power steering will fix this.

why is it hard to steer? for the same reason it's joy to drive. relatively direct steering compared to other cars of the era with same type steering system. spider has about 3.5-3.8 turns lock to lock, while big sedans of the era with no power steering typically had closer to five.

high quality ball joints - tyere are 10 ball joints/tie rods in total. that means 10 rotating parts when youturn steering wheel. reduce friction in every balljoint, you reduce steering effort

idler arm as it is is 30+ yrs old and most are worn, stuck, not working properly. it can be rebuilt but new type with roller bearings will significantly reduce steering effort compared even to properly working original idler

adjusting/rebuilding seering box takes experience. find someone who knows how to do it

diferent tyres have diferent level of grip. find the ones you're comfortable with.

[vandor]

> Also the hydraulic dampers are much looser feeling that the replacement rubber bushing type,

The replacements use ball bearings, not rubber bushings. Nothing rotates easier than a ball bearing
The bushing type idlers came in early 124 Coupes and Sedans, and some of the late Pinins.

[bradartigue]

> Also the hydraulic dampers are much looser feeling that the replacement rubber bushing type,

The replacements use ball bearings, not rubber bushings. Nothing rotates easier than a ball bearing
The bushing type idlers came in early 124 Coupes and Sedans, and some of the late Pinins.

Huh? I've owned spiders dating to 1970 and none had a rubber bushing - the only ones I ever saw were sold as replacement parts. Maybe they all had the rubber ones swapped. The hydraulic one is what you want.

[djape1977]

idler with oil damper inside was put in place to reduce transfer of bumps from the road to the steering wheel. back in the days when 124's were designed, in early 60's, cobblestone roads and dirt tracks were still common in southern europe and such idler made sense.

back then, this was still a daily used road in italy


pretty soon italians gave up on damper/idler and came up with ordinary bushings type damper.

now, it just wouldn't be me if there was no LADA in the story, right? well, when ruskies bought the licence and the whole factory and started making lada sedans based on 124, they kept italian solution for next decade. idlers with rubber bushings were used untill early 80's when they came up with idler with teflon bushings. remeber your no-stick teflon lined frying pan back home? some improvement, steering was definately lighter than with rubber. less friction - less steering effort.

it took the fall of berlin wall and demise of goverment controled gigants of eastern block for next improvement to appear in 124 parts industry. someone in newly emerged private sector of post communist russia came up with idler with ball bearings. they started appearing on the market in late 90's. first time i bought and installed one was back in 2000. noticeable improvement! steering effort is definately reduced, and if you took time to grease the bearings every couple years, it would last forever.

conclusion - lada parts. good ones. fiat never installed ball bearing idler in any of their cars. even argenta, last fiats RWD model, designed in early 80's, used teflon bushings idlers

driving impressions?

oil filled damper-idler definately lessens the impact of small bumps on the steering wheel. on bigger bumps, no diference. on even surfaced roads no diference either apart from steering being lighter. and when you're exiting the corner, steering wheel self-centres much faster if you let it go.

all in all - a good upgrade