Re: Digest - GTV6 Power Steering

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, William, I don't know what you mean by a "primer" on Vermont 
=Rhode Island, that wasn't ------ wait a minute, V=RI, Ah, Ohm's Law! 
Frankly, I've never heard that particular mnemonic before. What's that, 
military? I did learn Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls, but Violet Gives 
Willingly for the universal color code, but not Vermont=Rhode Island. I 
did learn this one:

      E
-----------
    I    R

Where you cover the one you want to solve for with your finger. It has 
helped these aging memory cells on more than one occasion!

Anyway to the Power Steering.

First of all, we GTV-6 owners get some luck (for once). The suspension 
on a Milano Verde and the suspension on a GTV-6 are identical. That 
means that the ZF power steering rack for a Verde not only fits in 
place of a manual GTV-6 rack, it mounts in the same holes and connects 
to each wheel's tie-rod ends without modification. What it does NOT do 
is connect directly to the GTV-6's steering column which IS different 
from the Milano. There are three choices here: Replace the GTV-6 column 
with a Milano column, cut both a Milano column and a GTV-6 column in 
half and TIG weld the Milano lower portion to the GTV-6's upper column, 
or use the adapter that Alfa Parts Exchange makes up. The first one is 
messy. It means you have to replace the GTV-6's steering wheel with a 
Milano steering wheel and replace all the GTV-6 column switches 
(lights, turn signals, wipers) with the Milano stalks. the second one 
is less messy, but the GTV-6 steering must still come out, the TIG weld 
must be absolutely straight, and the welded-up column is difficult to 
place. The third alternative is the one I used. APE replaces the lower 
joint on the GTV-6 column (the one that's inside the car's footwell) 
with a composite that's GTV--6 above the U-joint and Milano below it. 
This works almost perfectly.  I say almost perfectly, because the one I 
got was just a scoche too long, and we had to shorten it. I suspect 
that the ones APE cobbles-up in the future will be more correctly sized 
-mine was the first one they sold, I understand. Now, there are two 
ways to go on the pump and the rack (or any combination thereof). You 
can buy the whole ball of wax from APE, or you can buy a new 
(remanufactured, actually) pump and rack from International Auto Parts 
for about $800. The problem with the "new" pump and rack option is that 
you get NO hoses, no fluid reservoir, and no mounting bracket for the 
pump. While you can buy a new rack-to-reservoir hose from IAP ($90), 
the bent steel tubing pressure lines are NOT available from them. If 
you buy the whole ball of wax from APE (I don't know what APE charges 
because my PS "kit" came as part of a package deal along with the new 
3.0 liter engine and a new air-conditioning pump as well), you get 
almost everything. The problem with this second solution is that the 
rack may or may not leak. APE tries to weed-out the leaking racks, but 
there is no guarantee. The pumps, OTOH, are all probably OK. My 
mechanic says that they don't fail very often. If you do buy a complete 
"system" from APE, ask them to include a fluid reservoir and mounting 
bracket from a 164. This can be mounted to the inside fender wall on 
the driver's side using a couple of stand-offs cut on a bias to set 
vertically against the slope of the fender. Oh, yes, I forgot to 
mention that because of where the PS pump mounts on the engine, you 
lose that huge windshield-washer tank on the drivers'-side fender wall. 
The PS fluid reservoir fits there in it's stead.  If you carefully work 
out where the reservoir is mounted, you might be able to squeeze a late 
model spider's windshield-washer bottle in next to it, but most likely 
you'll have to order one of the older plastic bag-type washer 
reservoirs from IAP or do without. I chose the latter - for now.

Of course all of this is much easier if you have the engine out BUT it 
can be installed with the engine just lifted a bit from it's motor 
mounts (so my mechanic tells me).

The installation works well, and needless to say, it transforms the 
car. It's not just that the steering heaviness is gone, but that it's  
much quicker as well. The standard GTV-6 steering rack givers one 3.5 
turns lock-to-lock. While not exactly '49 Buick territory, its nothing 
to write home about and makes the car much more suited to the freeway 
than it is on back country roads. This is a shame, because otherwise 
the chassis is quite agile. The Power Steering, on the other hand, is 
2.3 turns lock-to-lock, making turn-in crisper and the car is much 
easier to negotiate on mountainous twisties without being "twitchy" in 
normal driving. Alfa chose the steering ratio well for the Milano and 
it suits the mechanically similar GTV-6 equally well.

Good luck.




On Thursday, April 10, 2003, at 05:51 AM, William Bean wrote:


> Hi George -
>
> I saw your "primer" on Vermont = Rhode Island, nicely done.
>
> However, I am interested in your comment that you added power steering 
> to your GTV6. Given that the incredibly heavy steering is my main 
> gripe about this otherwise terrific vehicle, can you provide a bit of 
> information about what you did and how difficult it was. I cannot 
> imagine that you could find room for the rack and the other parts. I 
> also see a 3.0L motor in its future.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Bill Bean
> 84 GTV-6
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