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Electric power steering


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Hi Tony

 

I got mine from this guy - he is often at the TR shows, including the International. http://www.powersteeringforclassiccars.co.uk/index.htm

Its very good, but a bit pricey - from memory about £1200 and it uses a Citroen rack and comes with a new pulley/pump etc.

I also felt that I had to modify the fittings slightly. The kit includes a new crossmember, as the old one sits too tight against the front pulley.

Even so, there is no room at all to fit a new fan belt. So I've strapped/wrapped one on the engine side out of harms way and then modified the base plate (in the kit) that is used to fix the steering rack.This mod allows me to tip the steering rack forward a smidge, so that I can fit a new fan belt if necc without having to dismantle anything. Although you would still need to get underneath the car and undo the steering mountings to loosen off. Not nice on a rainy road, hence the 2nd fan belt fitted on the engine side. The mod was simple i.e turn upside down one of the mounting bolts on the plate and have the bolt head welded.

I haven't got any pictures on this PC (I'm at work) but will take some and post.

 

Best Bill

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Hi

While on holiday in Cornwall recently I got talking to a guy in a car park who had one of these electric power steering modules fitted to his MGB.

He let me drive it around the car park and I was very impressed

Only drawback it costs around £1200

 

 

www.ezpowersteering.com.

 

 

cheers

Mark

 

 

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Mark we did consider that electric conversion when I was building Bald Ricks TR6 up but I was put off by their installation method as they wanted to replace the existing bulkhead mounting bracket for the column with to my mind a flimsier split bracket (Having seen too many originals broken away and split I didnt fancy their one) also the main column is cut and shut.to insert the drive. It is a costly installation and also needs a 40 amp feed for the motor requiring a very beefy electrical feed and you would really an uprated alternator to cope as well. To cap it all their communication was pretty poor so we didnt bother in the end.

Stuart.

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I have the hydraulic one on my TR5 and fitted it 3+ years ago, could have been longer as time flies by. Very happy with it and keep a spare

belt just in case.It is very tight at the bottom but I have adjusted the mountings to suit and if my memory is right I can just get away with it.

Regards Harry.

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  • 6 months later...

Mark we did consider that electric conversion when I was building Bald Ricks TR6 up but I was put off by their installation method as they wanted to replace the existing bulkhead mounting bracket for the column with to my mind a flimsier split bracket (Having seen too many originals broken away and split I didnt fancy their one) also the main column is cut and shut.to insert the drive. It is a costly installation and also needs a 40 amp feed for the motor requiring a very beefy electrical feed and you would really an uprated alternator to cope as well. To cap it all their communication was pretty poor so we didnt bother in the end.

Stuart.

 

with an electric power steering system the motor will only demand what it needs to operate, and with the ratio of the racks /tyre width and compound and steering wheel size a tr it would never need 40 amp , an alternator upgrade isnt necessary

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with an electric power steering system the motor will only demand what it needs to operate, and with the ratio of the racks /tyre width and compound and steering wheel size a tr it would never need 40 amp , an alternator upgrade isnt necessary

I was only quoting what the supplying company had stipulated in their installation requirements. As I said we didnt go ahead with it for the reasons stated above.

Stuart.

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  • 6 years later...
44 minutes ago, richard allsop said:

Hi Bill

I have just bought another TR6 and want to fit  the hydraulic version . Where can I get one please and who supplies them?

https://www.classicdrivingdevelopment.co.uk/cats.asp?cID=6&carID=3&page=TR6+POWER+ASSISTED+STEERING

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I had the chance to drive an EPS on a TR4. The engineering was excellent done and I was very excited to drive. After the testdrive I can conclude that there are certainly advantages such as parking, slow driving with curves, but for high speed sporty driving, my excitement diminished. I missed the feeling with the road, the behaviour of the car.

Jochem

Edited by JochemsTR
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5 hours ago, JochemsTR said:

I had the chance to drive an EPS on a TR4. The engineering was excellent done and I was very excited to drive. After the testdrive I can conclude that there are certainly advantages such as parking, slow driving with curves, but for high speed sporty driving, my excitement diminished. I missed the feeling with the road, the behaviour of the car.

Jochem

They obviously hadnt incorporated the speed reducing software that is normally part of an EPS package on a modern. This was a problem years ago with hydraulic power steering on Series 1 XJ6, lovely at parking and town driving speeds but at high speed far too sensitive, cured eventually with re-valving on the Series 3.

Stuart.

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EPS is for the convenience of the driver.

This also makes sense on high speeds because the fast spinning wheels need to be forced to change their direction.

You can test this with a switched on angle grinder in your hand.

A torque sensor on every ESP unit avoids overdoing, the effort to turn the steering wheel so is always the same at any speed.

If you want to be challenged by the road you have to switch the ESP off or reduce the intensity,

or the unit needs informations about the speed to increase the needed torque on the steering wheel.

But - ESP is for the convenience of the driver.

Edited by Z320
my very bad english
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23 hours ago, stuart said:

They obviously hadnt incorporated the speed reducing software that is normally part of an EPS package on a modern. This was a problem years ago with hydraulic power steering on Series 1 XJ6, lovely at parking and town driving speeds but at high speed far too sensitive, cured eventually with re-valving on the Series 3.

Are there any speed-sensitive, or angle-sensitive systems available? Many years ago I drove a car with experimental angle-sensitive hydraulic assistance. Really impressive. But that requires a non-linear rack (I think). Is the hydraulic system referenced above (by iani) progressive? And are any of the available EPAS systems progressive in any way?

JC

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I asked the same question in April ...

https://www.tr-register.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/72558-has-anyone-actrually-fitted-an-epas-to-their-tr6/

I spent some time looking in to it and basically decided against it (EPS) and went for the Classic Driver Developments hydrolic version (still to be fitted).

I did not have a problem with fabricating a bracket or two for the EPS setup but my conclusion was that the low cost EPS kits were simply a second hand Corsa unit and a bit of loom. I could find little help from contacting the suppliers (and one never responded) so one was totally on your own. The EZ Steer system was more expensive that the CDD so little point IMHO.

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11 minutes ago, Richard Pope said:

I spent some time looking in to it and basically decided against it (EPS) and went for the Classic Driver Developments hydrolic version (still to be fitted).

Please update us here on your experience. For the price it would be nice to have a thoughtfully-engineered solution, not just a bodge.

JC

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My experience was that the couple of suppliers were only interested in selling the Corsa unit and a loom that I had to connect to (no problem for me). It was clear to me that they were either scrap yard unts or possibly an exchange unit. However the only helpful supplier told me the instructios for how to fit the units were "Look on our Instagram and Facebook accounts sure there's a tr6 on there" and followed this with "On the column under the dash just behind the Y piece manifold for the heater pipes" when asked again. Another simply linked me to a YouTube video of a car with it fitted - not very informative either.

So with the above, I thought it not a good idea to continue even though the cost was circa £250. The EZ Steer system was £2,000 whereas the CDD hydraulic system was £1,500 and had good reports on this forum. For me, I got a free quick rack as I am converting to RHD so needed a replacement rack anyway. It will be a year or so before I'll get around to fitting it, though.

To me, the opportunity for someone to supply a true kit using an EPAS unit from a Corsa or similar is a real opportunity. Won't be me though.

 

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