power steering

[Jeff]

Has anyone installed power steering on 48 Pontiac with keeping the stock suspension ? If so please share info. Thanks Jeff

[50scars]

If you go look at Fords from 1956, full sized up to the mid 60s, and up into the 1980s on Fairmont, Grenada, and other light cars, they had a power steering system that was easily added after the fact. It consists of a ram that bolts to the left side of the frame, and has an eye in the center of the tie rod. You will have to conjure up the brackets to mount the pump on your block, and some way to get an extra sheeve on a pulley to drive the pump.

[Larry]

If you check the 1949-54 Service Manual steering section we have on-line, you can see that the entire power steering (aside from the pump) is on the end of the steering column. Therefore, is it not perhaps possible to change the steering column in the '48 with a later model with power steering?

With the suspension and steering staying pretty much the same for all the '40s and early-'50s Pontiacs, I'm guessing the pitman shaft on the power column might be in the same place as on the original non-power shaft.

Since the engines were the same for almost forever, I bet a pump and pulley assembly should fit most all engines.

If you can check out a power steering car, I bet you will learn a lot.

Keep us posted.

[50scars]

It would be wonderful to install a 53 or 54 Pontiac power steering unit, however, they are rare as hen's teeth. And finding the double sheave pulley in usable condition is even harder. The Ford unit is a readily available solution that requires minimal changes to the car, and they are reversible.
By the late 60s, power steering exceedingly common, and there were a whole lot made, and a whole lot of them still exist.