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Has anyone actrually fitted an EPAS to their TR6?


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I'm totally restoring my TR6 and so all is stripped out thus I am able to fit an EPAS unit under the dash - making brackets and electrics does not cause me a problem.

With 'kits' like this one  http://simonebirchall.co.uk/diy-system/a-series-kit.html at £250 it is tempting. Mind you they are not really a kit - just some parts - and probably using reclaimed Corsa / Clio units. Accepting this, has anyone done this to their TR6?

Their TR6 Youtube video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cZD7eKLdOo&list=PLB35A628D30AE6A4D&index=30&t=0s

shows the fitting to the steering column in the engine bay simple but I'm more concerned with how it fits under thedash and how the steering wheel and controls actually fit. Has anyone done it?

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It's been done before. There is a fairly recent thread on this as a simple google search would show:

 

Edited by RobH
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Edited by iani
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I have heard that with electric pas the steering will not self correct out of its turned position the way it does without pas or with hydraulic pas so in effect when you turn the wheel it stays turned until you turn it the opposite way again. Not sure I would be able to cope with this. Worth investigating before committing.

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17 hours ago, RobH said:

It's been done before. There is a fairly recent thread on this as a simple google search would show:

Yes, thanks, and I had read this one as well but it is very much like a one-off project with quite some engineering issues. I was really wondering if anyone else had bought one of the 'kits' out there and what their experience was of it both fitting and use afterwards.

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21 hours ago, Richard Pope said:

I'm totally restoring my TR6 and so all is stripped out thus I am able to fit an EPAS unit under the dash - making brackets and electrics does not cause me a problem.

With 'kits' like this one  http://simonebirchall.co.uk/diy-system/a-series-kit.html at £250 it is tempting. Mind you they are not really a kit - just some parts - and probably using reclaimed Corsa / Clio units. Accepting this, has anyone done this to their TR6?

Their TR6 Youtube video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cZD7eKLdOo&list=PLB35A628D30AE6A4D&index=30&t=0s

shows the fitting to the steering column in the engine bay simple but I'm more concerned with how it fits under thedash and how the steering wheel and controls actually fit. Has anyone done it?

Hi Richard,

I would get in touch with Litesteer in East Sussex as they are down your way and produce a fully adjustable EPAS to your requirements and are used by the Bentley boys1

Bruce. 

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On 4/20/2020 at 4:27 PM, astontr6 said:

Hi Richard,

I would get in touch with Litesteer in East Sussex as they are down your way and produce a fully adjustable EPAS to your requirements and are used by the Bentley boys1

Bruce. 

Thanks. As it happens, I'm waiting for them to come back to me but as yet no response.

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Hi All

Interesting post this one and i suppose the need (or want) for PAS depends on what tyres everyone has.

If you've gone from 165's to 195 low profiles (or wider) there may be a need for some assistance at low speed.

After all if the TR6 with its big heavy engine had heavy'ish steering on std 165 whats it like with 195's or bigger?

As my car is a long term off road job i have no idea.

Cheers  Keith

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11 hours ago, Keith66 said:

After all if the TR6 with its big heavy engine had heavy'ish steering on std 165 whats it like with 195's or bigger?

I moved from 205's to 165's, the difference was amazing, so light on the steering now.

Gareth

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Have 195s on mine and have driven 165s and yes the latter is much lighter. Still not sure whether to change when the current boots wear out as I am not particularly effected by the weight of the steering. We did the 10 countries rally on 195s and was pleased with the grip on the mountain hairpins in the wet particularly on the rear with the torque from the supercharger. Not sure whethe the 165s would have been the same?

Tim

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I take it from all these posts that the anwer to my original question is no. It would appear that no one on this forum has themselves fitted EPAS (apart from that one one-off project).

To me that's interesting.

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A member in North London Group has successfully converted his around three years ago and is delighted with the result.Modesty would probably exclude coming on here.

I fitted CDD hydraulic power steering in 2009 ( I think, such a long time ago) and only remember it when driving others. With the many mods I have done on my TR5 this ranks as the best.

Regards Harry

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4 hours ago, Tim D. said:

Have 195s on mine and have driven 165s and yes the latter is much lighter. Still not sure whether to change when the current boots wear out as I am not particularly effected by the weight of the steering. We did the 10 countries rally on 195s and was pleased with the grip on the mountain hairpins in the wet particularly on the rear with the torque from the supercharger. Not sure whethe the 165s would have been the same?

Tim

Hi Tim

I'm sure if you've got loads more torque from a SC 165's would be err interesting coming out of tight corners, est without an LSD so i def understand the need for a little more rubber on the road.

With an SC and 165's you could recreate onel of those US car chases with loads of tyre smoke, lol.

Cheers  Keith

 

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3 hours ago, Keith66 said:

Hi Tim

I'm sure if you've got loads more torque from a SC 165's would be err interesting coming out of tight corners, est without an LSD so i def understand the need for a little more rubber on the road.

With an SC and 165's you could recreate onel of those US car chases with loads of tyre smoke, lol.

Cheers  Keith

 

 Keith,

Yes, not something I fancied trying, some of the hairpins on the grossglockner were pretty slippery. It was nice to be able to drive pretty much all the way up in 4th gear though! Unfortunately it did for the rear halfshafts, UJs started singing in Austria. We got home but the UJs were toast. Now experimenting with CVs. I have also acquired a 2500 TC saloon which has hydraulic PAS, very 70s feel but I kind of like it! Unfortunately the SC precludes fitting it to the TR. One thing I have noticed however. These cars are sensitive to front toe in (something I suspect is exacerbated by wider rubber). I have a laser kit to set toe in. I backed it off a little (admittedly it was set with more toe in than the book) to half way between the book setting and paralell and the steering became noticeably lighter at medium speed and the car felt more pointy..

Cheers

Tim

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25 minutes ago, Tim D. said:

 Keith,

Yes, not something I fancied trying, some of the hairpins on the grossglockner were pretty slippery. It was nice to be able to drive pretty much all the way up in 4th gear though! Unfortunately it did for the rear halfshafts, UJs started singing in Austria. We got home but the UJs were toast. Now experimenting with CVs. I have also acquired a 2500 TC saloon which has hydraulic PAS, very 70s feel but I kind of like it! Unfortunately the SC precludes fitting it to the TR. One thing I have noticed however. These cars are sensitive to front toe in (something I suspect is exacerbated by wider rubber). I have a laser kit to set toe in. I backed it off a little (admittedly it was set with more toe in than the book) to half way between the book setting and paralell and the steering became noticeably lighter at medium speed and the car felt more pointy..

Cheers

Tim

With a SC I would be inclined to go with the Cosworth hubs and HD shafts rather than CV type.

Stuart.

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2 hours ago, stuart said:

With a SC I would be inclined to go with the Cosworth hubs and HD shafts rather than CV type.

Stuart.

Stuart,  sadly too late. We'll  see how they stand up the RBRR  if it is on. We blew the gearbox last time :-)

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10 hours ago, harrytr5 said:

A member in North London Group has successfully converted his around three years ago and is delighted with the result.Modesty would probably exclude coming on here.

I fitted CDD hydraulic power steering in 2009 ( I think, such a long time ago) and only remember it when driving others. With the many mods I have done on my TR5 this ranks as the best.

Regards Harry

Having looked at this in a lot of detail, my opinion is that the Classic Driving Development's PAS kit is probably the best since it is easy to fit, costs quite a bit less than the other EPAS systems. OK, it's not an EPAS system but I'm not sure that matters. It's obviously low speed when one could do with power assistance.

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23 hours ago, harrytr5 said:

If you want convincing, have a try in mine providing you have TR Register insurance.

Regards Harry TR Nutter

Thanks but I don't need convincing on PAS. I was trying to find out if anyone had fitted Electric Power Assisted steering (EPAS) via one of the cheaper kits (£250) and if so what the experience was of fitting and using it. Seems no one has on this forum at least. I'm still tempted but not sure of exactly the work involved under the dashboard and fitting the steering wheel / column is.

The hydrolic Classic Driver Developments system is the obvious solution at £1,500 but the other EPAS kits are £2,000+ so I would discount them. As I'm converting from LHD > RHD I get a 'free' quick rack too with CDD.

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I did investigate this quite a few years ago to fit a TR6 from a firm that was based in Holland and sold as ready made kits but there were two issues that meant we never went ahead with it, one was the same problem that Marco in the previous thread found (and fixed with re-enforcement) that they hadnt really addressed which was the torque of the unit breaking its mounting which in their kit was an even flimsier version of the original column bracket plus the current draw of their unit which could reach 40Amps!

Stuart.

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Stuart. They are still going and it is EZ Steer. Their system is £2,100 and is (now) TUV Type Approved. So the CDD systems seems the obvious choice.

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15 hours ago, Richard Pope said:

Stuart. They are still going and it is EZ Steer. Their system is £2,100 and is (now) TUV Type Approved. So the CDD systems seems the obvious choice.

They must have done a lot of work on that then as there was no way it would have passed at the time I looked at it.

Stuart.

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