In preparation for an electric/hybrid conversion, and to save gas while on the highway, I removed the power steering and AC compressor from the engine, and installed the shorter belt. Both P/S and AC are options, so a shorter belt was already specced for the engine. The belt diagram on the hood lip even includes both routes. A less invasive alternative to removing P/S and AC would be simply installing the shorter belt.
A volvo electric power steering pump (this one off an 2005 S60) has the same high pressure fitting and a close-enough return line size to squeeze in. There are two variants of this pump, one has an integrated reservoir, which is nicer. I couldn’t find that one, so I used a bit of coolant hose to form a reservoir. It works fine.
Here are the two pump variants:
All you have to do electrically is connect the two large wires to the battery (ideally through a ~60 amp breaker), and apply 12 volts to one of the three small wires (the one that’s not twisted) when you want the pump on. The pump is variable speed over CAN 2.0B, but it goes into failsafe mode after ~3 seconds and runs at 75% speed if no CAN is present.
Here’s some photos of how I installed mine:
Yeah, I know those welds are shit. Cut me a break.