Unfortunately motor assist is not an option for me, laws down here would make going down this path very difficult

I've once read about Toyota pumps that were suitable and simple enough to retrofit in an older car.
Based on that I bought one once, but ofcourse it turned out I needed one that was a few years newer, because those would have some variable pump control built in.
The older ones just work at one rpm and are always pumping and heating up the fluid.

Your very lucky living in the US.
Our police carry decibel meters with them and on Friday and sat night cruises they will write you a ticket if the exhaust is ‘loud’, and they will write you up for an inspection. The inspection is where the trouble starts as such, because I would be altering the original steering from OEM that’s an issue, changing a pump doesn’t interfere with the mechanical connection of the steering, another little one they do is make you turn a tight circle, if your inside wheel scrubs indicating you could be using a spool in your diff, they will write you up as an unroadworthy vehicle. Yes your lucky in the US

Your very lucky living in the US.
Our police carry decibel meters with them and on Friday and sat night cruises they will write you a ticket if the exhaust is ‘loud’, and they will write you up for an inspection. The inspection is where the trouble starts as such, because I would be altering the original steering from OEM that’s an issue, changing a pump doesn’t interfere with the mechanical connection of the steering, another little one they do is make you turn a tight circle, if your inside wheel scrubs indicating you could be using a spool in your diff, they will write you up as an unroadworthy vehicle. Yes your lucky in the US

crash have you got a pump , bloke in Brisbane was selling TS Astra pumps fairly cheap.

Is this some Australian slang?

crash have you got a pump , bloke in Brisbane was selling TS Astra pumps fairly cheap.

crash is the poster with an issue. he is being asked if he has a pump. if not, there is a guy in Brisbane that is selling pumps off TS Astras (a car model form the Holden line) .

The way i understand it the astra pump will increase pressure as the demand increases and is built into the pump, there are a couple of ways to wire them up as to the pump starting up, i have two pumps here ear marked for my ute and factory power steering box. Im just going to run them as is and hope the box will handle it, first pump i picked up for $60 so you can find them cheap. Also apparently they can draw a bit of power so a good alternator will be needed.
My son also has a ktm 520 exc, fast bike for a 17yo that weighs about 80kg.

Maybe the earlier pumps were controlled by the canbus but im sure these Ts models are pressure sensitive, you can here this pump ramp up speed when he turns the wheel.
https://youtu.be/Yy6oQPJJ2qY
That said it still wouldn't lower the pressure (to what you want) at full lock but will idle back in the non demand steering. I don't know maybe I'm not seeing it right.

What about a GM type II pump with a remote reservoir? That would save a considerable amount of space up front. If you want to dial in the flow and pressure Turn One has hardware that can help.

Dodgy, yes I saw his adds, according to a PS guy on the Northside the Astra TRW pumps can’t be pressure controlled, so he says, they run around 1400 psi and I’d like it around 800-900 psi, he has a pump kit out of a European car (mini, bmw) that can be, but I’m thinking it’s a sales pitch and I don’t know that much about ps pumps. The Astra pumps are cheap, his conversion pump is $1400😳 and that a little more than I would be prepared to pay

I looked into this a few months ago. There are two Astra pumps: the earlier one (TRW I) puts out about 100 bar (1450psi) whereas the later (TRW II) is around 80 bar (1160 psi). Furthermore the earlier TRW II pumps are pressure controlled (or actually electrical load sensed) and the later ones require an ECU input. You have to look for an early TRW II pump. These pumps came in a variety of different models not only in Astra models.
The benefit of these pumps is speed sensitive power steering (high speed --> low steering input --> low electrical load --> low PS assist)!


btw. if the pressure is still too high you can buy this little device that allows you to adjust the pressure: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Heidts-PS-101-Adjustable-Power-Steering-Valve,14895.html

Have a close look at the connectors (the old pump has just one connection - the newer pump has several). This is the pump you want:



That's the newer pump you should avoid:



btw. have you looked at Mercedes pumps? W168 pumps (A 168 466 04 01) are 71 bar (1030 psi) and W414 (A 414 466 00 01) pumps are 81 bar (1175 psi).

I'm going to look into the programming of an Arduino or Raspberry Pi (my nephew has some experience with the Raspberry). Could also program the computer to track/monitor/control other things as well (not sure what yet, but...).

IMO, about the only simple ways to get to read the speed on an older car without CAN stuff is to feed off the transmission's governor oil-pressure, or install a combined cable and electric pulse sender on the transmission's speedo-connector.

IMO, about the only simple ways to get to read the speed on an older car without CAN stuff is to feed off the transmission's governor oil-pressure, or install a combined cable and electric pulse sender on the transmission's speedo-connector.