Question on adding Power Steering to 64 Tempest
 

Hi all..

Im looking to see what it would take to add power steering to
a '64 Tempest that has no power accessories currently.

I dont really have access to the car to see what the setup currently is..
( this would be a surprise for one of our club members for long years
of club service )

My main question is in the pulley setups.. Since I mostly know
B Bodies Im not sure how A Bodies were set up when stock..
Basically.. would the original setup be all 1-groove for the alt only on
a no power accessories car ?

If I wanted to add PS to the car I presume I would have to
change over to a 2 groove pulley system.. correct ?

Thanks for any help

John

Basically same as 64 fullsize. 64's did have an early and late setup. Early was 2 belts around ps pump and alternator, 2nd was one belt for the alternator, one for ps pump. 2nd style is easier to find. Have some of the parts ready to bolt on: bracket and strap and maybe some of the pulleys. PM is you want pics, etc.

Man I hate that I just gave away a complete 326 front accessory drive about two months ago.

Thanks Bob.. we spitballed this idea a while ago and I believe between the group of us
we have some of the needed items already.. since the alt is already single
groove ( presumably) we would most likely go with the later 1 and 1 setup
instead of the earlier 2 belt..

IIRC we already have the PS pump and bracket. The only thing
we werent sure of off the top of our heads was what we might have to change
in the pulleys.. Im betting the 2 diff setups issue is why we werent sure.

I'll circle back with our guys and confirm what we do have.. and see
what kind of $$ wed feel comfortable spending.

Thanks

John

If you have the original '64 manual steer set-up in the Tempest then you already have the correct Harmonic Balancer and Pulley.

Only two used, one for A/C, one without A/C and the full size used the same as the V8 Tempest.

It has 2 grooves.

For the Water Pump pulley, you will need to replace your single groove pulley with the 2 groove pulley.

If you had A/C, you would already have the cast iron Pump and Alternator Mounting Bracket, 545313. I assume you don't. They seem to show up on ebay frequently enough.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/64-Pontiac-...-/262937500516

Of course you will need the Pump and the pump front support bracket plus the T shaped Alternator support brace. I believe you will want the correct Alt Straps, these are reproduced.

Your original Alt will have a single groove pulley. If you want to have the early Twin Fan Belt setup, you can swap to a 2 groove alt pulley. The Alt is the same either way, just the pulley is changed.

The PS pump pulley will be 2 groove for the early setup, a different single groove pulley for the 2nd design.

Here is a complete setup on ebay right now. All you would need to add is the Power Steering Gear and Hoses. It is the early twin belt setup. Cast iron bracket should be painted black, not sure why he restored this one silver.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-GTO-OR...tZ2qVO&vxp=mtr

If nothing else, the pictures will help you see everything that you would need aside from the alt straps and the PS Gear. If anything else is needed, I can't think of it aside from bolts and nuts.

BTW, there was a Dealer Accessory Package offered in '64 for the Power Steering so that a manual steer build could be readily converted to PS to satisfy a customer.

The fan pulley is probably going to be the hardest part to find. I don't think any other years besides '64 have the correct offset grooves in the fan pulley for the '64 setup.

Also, the crankshaft pulley offset is also different in '64 than later years. If you can't find one, I think I have a spare--pulley only--the harmonic balancer from other years will work for '64.

The '64 2 groove 8" dia.water pump/fan pulley was first used in production for some applications dating back to '61 AFAIK. The p/n for it is 538547.

Eventually it was listed as a Service Part for various applications going back to '58. It was last used in production for '64.

The tough part is identifying it since AFAIK, there was never a stamped p/n on it.

This looks to be a legit example of one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-64-Pon...pWTi~B&vxp=mtr

Hopefully your Balancer Assembly is original, shouldn't require any changes.