Adding power steering and air con

[patience]

Hi Guys,
Found a clean 86 with some options I'm after in Japan, however it doesnt have air-con or power steering, which are options I did want as well.
I was wondering how hard it would be to install air-con and power steering in it, and most importantly how much it would set me back roughly. Keeping in mind this will be a daily driver, and yes I did want power steering :)

Thanks in advance

[FLT LNR]

hey man fair question. but to answer it with another question.....

have you felt how light the stock (non power) steering is????? it's fair light. unless you have the arms of a 90 year old granny i wouldn't bother...

as for air con... understandable if you live in NT, QLD or somewhere really hot i suppose.

both are expensive to add to a car without them fitted. if you want both we're talking a grand or two if you can't install it yourself.

good luck with the import anyhoo

[dctrd]

have you felt how light the stock (non power) steering is????? it's fair light. unless you have the arms of a 90 year old granny i wouldn't bother...[/b]

I second this, one handed reverse parking on fat tires FTW
Also, in a Sprinter, the more kw going to the rear treads instead of the steering rack/Air con the better.

I shouldn't talk, i retained the A/C in my conversion. To be fair tho, there is a heap of glass in a hatchi and it heats up ALOT in summer.

Retro fitting these things are painful and expensive too, look for the car with all the major bits you want already on it if possible.

[yoshimitsu9]

to put the lightness of the steering into perspective. my sprinter has yokohamas worth $120 each on the front, at a very very slow roll the steering is lighter than my dads AU falcon ute

[DavisJD]

Putting in aircon wont be overly difficult, most people will throw out all there air-con gear so you'll find them cheap or free.

Regassing the aircon once its installed will cost around $100. Even if you cant install the gear yourself (which is a bolt in affair) it shouldnt take an auto-electrician or mechanic more than 3 hours to do, so its not going to cost you to much.

im not to sure on the power steering, the arms go for around $200, but most the gear is going to be hard to obtain so it may cost you a bit to get powersteering. Do some searching and see if you can retrofit anything from other model cars found locally. that will save you alot of money over importing the parts you need.

[dctrd]

The compressor would be an easy bolt-in affair, the under-dash portions of the system would take alot more work to get in i.e. remover most of the dash, drill holes in the firewall for hoses ect.

[DavisJD]

You shoudlnt need to remove most the dash, just the glove box, possibly stereo and heater surround, though you shouldnt have to. Firewall will already have the holes in it, they may be plugged with rubber grommets though which come out easily.

[dctrd]

Are you sure?
I haven't taken one out myself, but looking at mine tonight, it looks like the plate work on the sides of the stereo would have to come out.

http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/4/8/4/3/153568.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=43682395zx5.jpg)

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/9603/64205041pd4.th.jpg (http://img210.imageshack.us/my.php?image=64205041pd4.jpg)

Either way, it's a big sucker, and looks like it would come out easier than it goes in.

[driftism]

It comes out easier than it goes in, but it isn't that hard to refit. You have to remove the glovebox, and the speaker mount on the passenger side. It would be advisable to remove the panels in the centre of the dash, that makes things a bit easier.

I have power steering in my car, and i'm not the biggest fan of it, It makes daily driving shitloads easier, but you loose all the feeling through the front end, which can make it hard to sense what the front is doing on 'spirited' drives.

[DavisJD]

Yeh the 2 sections closest to the passenger door are whats needed for AC. The middle section behind the heater controls and stereo is your heater core.