Does anyone have fitted an electric power steering column on their locost?
Care to share some ideas?
I'm thinking on fitting one myself. I know that some fiat's and corsa's have electric power steering...
I beleve most folk use corsa columns (mostly corsa B I think)
its electronic so needs a some inputs from the ECU to work - but there are a few people who sell kits / controlers to make it work
dax even offer it as an option on there 427 kits (cobra replica's)
here's one example off the bay: eBay Item
[Edited on 10/12/2010 by mcerd1]
I've fitted them in a few Mk2 escort rally cars and an Anglia, its really good in them, cus of the wait and what theyre used for, a mate has
build a buggy, something like a rage and we fitted electric power steering to it, he likes it but i think its much too light, the car is about the
same weight as a seven.
I'll look tonight at home but we were buying the control boxes on ebay for £50 posted and getting col from local scrap yards with the vauxhall
control box for £100, but they are getting hard to come accross now.
It has to be a corsa B one, or a very early on in the corsa c range,
[Edited on 10/12/10 by madrallysport]
I have fiied a corsa column on my kit but dont feel the need to use an electric version.
RD 
I have fitted it to my Cobra, if you go on the Cobra website I have documented everything there over the years!
The best one seems to be the Corsa B column as it is simple, and now you can get the electronics to drive it from Ebay for £25. Dax used to sell both
for over a grand!
My column was £50 from a scrappy.
In a corsa they work by getting a signal from the wheels, the faster they turn, the less assistance given, so assistance is speed dependent.
The electronics from Ebay replace the sensors with a pulse signal, but thats all. You can increase and decrease the pulse rate with a dial to raise
and lower the assist but it is not speed dependent. That is the theory, in practice the electronics do not adjust, I have tried two types now, one for
Escort rally cars and one for Cobras.
It is a lovely piece of kit and fairly straight forward to fit if you can weld brackets.
Some say if you switch it off it can damage the system.
Also a lot of the columns needed replacing early in the life of the Corsa as they developed faults, so I would try and remove one from the car
yourself if possible.
All that said, I have a big chevy v8 and a heavy car. I wouldn't have thought it necessary on a locost, ther may be better ways of lightening up
the steering.
Remember, it may damage the system if you only turn it on for parking.
I used an MGF column, photos in my archive 
Corsa B is a fave, but were only fitted to certain higher models (GLS etc) and only in the latter years of the shape (1999-2001 - the corsa B ran
1993-2001 but earlier ones were Hydraulic PAS), so they can be fairly hard to find.
The Corsa C column is also useable.
Both require a pulse input to the control module to control the level of assistance (they were orginally speed related controlled by the ECU) as
stated above, you can buy control units but I would expect it would be faily simple to create one yourself with a trip to Maplin for 555 chip and a
potentiometer and some other components.
[Edited on 10/12/10 by loggyboy]
quote:
Originally posted by Tilo
Does anyone have fitted an electric power steering column on their locost?
Care to share some ideas?
I'm thinking on fitting one myself. I know that some fiat's and corsa's have electric power steering...
I have the complete Corsa B set up, Column, motor, ecu's and all wiring. If anyone is interested make me an offer
Oh I also have the complete set up for a corsa C
[Edited on 10/12/10 by bowood14]
I haven't tested the handling yet...
Do you think it's going to be too light?
Yes.
As my car uses a full size sierra rack, I did it another way and fitted Renault electric pump. Reason being that my car is a mite heavier than most
se7en type cars, plus it has a f*****g great big V6 up the front, and 205 rubber.
Cheers Ray
Power steering
Id be trying a larger steering wheel before fitting EPAS. You soon get used to 7 steering, as with non servo brakes where you have to get used to pressing the pedal harder, you just have to put more effort into turning the wheel.
Me and Darren above used to work where we made them. Very cheap! and, very heavy.
All they need is an input to tell it the engine is running. And, you will need a very heavy duty battery.
So, not really worth all the extra weight for a 7.
Toyota Corrola one is lighter, smaller and goes in an out as well as up and down. The ecu is separate though unlike the Opel one so make sure you get
it off the donor.
Heavy and bulky for a se7en style car. I can't imagine how it would fit in a Striker for an example with a driver as well! I'm going to fit one to my RX7 though with an LS1 up front. Should just about get it under the dash but it's going to require some chopping. I'm am thinking my PC680 battery won't last long with the engine off so will have to wire it to the ignition. Only border line without as it is as I've been driving it for 6 months already. Main reason I'm considering it now is the 9" wide 17's I'm about to fit.
In the Corsa it uses a canbus signal to turn it on only when the engine is running. This is to stop it flattening the battery.
Hi Guys ! Help needed ---- Again.
Loads of questions, I don't need someone to answer every single question just one would be much appreciated.
I've got myself a Corsa C EPAS Column for my 'of sorts' Locost.
I know you can get control boxes that have a potentiometer and a 555/556 timer chip in them but they are far from ideal and to be honest I'd be
scared of using one. These systems run permently, giving the steering column a fake signal to make it believe the car is doing say 1200rpm and 30mph.
If you are not actually doing that speed then the level of assistance is obvious going to be wrong. With a light weight cars, I have read horror
stories about them self steering at high speed and being impossible to keep in a straight line without constaintly playing with the adjustment dial.
My car with it's V8 and 4x4 system is heavy for a Locost but light compared with a Cobra.
I'm not fitting anything with a dial or a switch on it as I'd rather let the missus struggle. I want to do this properly, not bodge it and
end in a hedge. When the torque sensor on a Corsa's column wears out, people have been steered against there will with little warning or they zig
zag you down the road when trying to go straight.
This is what I have dragged from many forums:
The 2 heavy weight wires
brown -> earth,
black -> +12v ign live (50amp fuse needed)
Small Wires
Black/Green -> EPS dash light
Green -> engine rpm
Light blue/red -> speed sensor
Black -> ignition switched positive
Brown/white -> diagnostic feed
My Questions.....
1 Does anyone know what the wire colours really correspond to? Is my research correct?
2 Black/Green -> EPS dash light - Can I Ignore this?
3 Green -> engine rpm - Is this a feed from the ignition? e.g. one pulse per spark?
If so, I have an 8 cylinder not 4, so I have to divide this by two.
Or is it a feed from the gearbox or flywheel sensor? e.g. one/two pulses per revolution
What voltage is it, 0-5 or 0-12v?
Can I draw much current from it?
4 Light blue/red -> speed sensor
Is this from a abs sensor? If so, how many pulses per revolution are there? What voltage/current is it? 5mA, 0-5v, or 0-12v? Do I need to condition
this signal or can I connect my Sierra sensor directly to it?
5 Black(small) - > from previous posts, the power steering can take bag loads of current, therfore it needs to be disabled during start
up.
Is this what the small black wire is for? 0volts = disabled?
6 Brown/white -> diagnostic feed - I'm guessing this is an output therefore I can ignore it right?
The Corsa 1.2 C has 175/65/14 tyres on the rear. Ignoring tyre compression, that's 878.53 revolutions per mile. I have 235/35/19 tyres on mine
with 774.88 revolutions per mile. I think my Sierra rear stub axles have 94 pulses per revolution. (I lost count 5 times counting those bumps!). Does
a notch = one pulse from the sensor?
Does a Corsa have 26 notches, as I've read on different forums they have either 26 or 29 pulses per rev? Are either of these correct?
774.88 x 94 = 72838.72 pulses per mile.
Assuming the Light blue/red -> speed sensor wire comes directly from an abs sensor - If so, how many pulses per tyre revoltion does a Corsa have? I
need to calculate the pulses per mile. Or does it come from the gearbox or somewhere else?
A Corsa C weighs about 1200Kg, I guessing my lardie Locost will come in around 900kg, but I will leave the standard rpm/speed/assistance
characteristics unchanged.
Also, I have a Siemens 09.185.826 Impulse Signal Converter from a non-abs Astra G/Corsa C/Zafira A. It looks like a orange relay and is found in the
fuse box. It's takes two feeds from an ABS sensor, an ignition live, ground and speed output which allegedly (according to one forum) could be
directly fed to the EPAS ECU - it was never tried and I've not wired mine up.
Pinouts are as follows:
In1 -> ABS sensor
In2 -> ABS sensor
Out -> Speed Output(blue/red)
15 -> Ignition live (black)
31 -> Earth (brown)
I bought mine for a £1 from a well known auction site.
Has any one used one of these? What output voltage are they? How many output pulses per abs pulse?
Sorry guys, that was tons of questions..... But HELP!!!
ps. I did do a Msc in Electronics, but never used it, so don't be too afraid of getting over technical with your answers.
[Edited on 5/3/13 by seventhheaven]
More.. Postie just delivered a cable with a usable length of wire hanging out of it rather than stumps and the colours are different:
2 Thick ones:
Red
Brown
5 thin ones
Blue/Brown trace (might be red trace though)
Red/White trace
Black
Green
Brown/White
DOUBLE HELP!!!
[Edited on 5/3/13 by seventhheaven]
[Edited on 5/3/13 by seventhheaven]
[Edited on 5/3/13 by seventhheaven]
I've found gold!!!
This is vital info for anyone doing this kind of conversion!
Check out this site :
http://www.vwkd.co.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1309&pos
tdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60
In case his download dissapears, I've put it on my server here:
http://www.super7thheaven.co.uk/images/documents/EPAS-Speed-Pulses.xls
You'll need MsExcel but the info inside is essential. It explains the 3 different speed maps, what speeds they kick in at, the abs pulses per
mile, the wires, where and how to get speed/rpm pickups etc etc etc.....Pure Gold.
Apparently, the column has 3 different maps that kick in at 18 and 45mph.
To quote his work:
"Corsa EPAS system varies assistance depending on steering input, and to a certain degree, speed of vehicle.
Engine speed signal is there to ensure that the system does not draw power without the engine running, as it would quickly flatten the battery.
Should the EPAS ECU lose the speed signal, it defaults to a single assistance map - This is how the non -speed sensitive power steering in Corsa Vans
work.
EPAS ECU contains 3 assistance maps - Max, Med and Min, which are switched between depending on the speed signal.
The switch from the maximum assistance map to the medium assistance map occurs at approximately 18Mph, according to an ex engineer who worked on
developing system
Similarly, the switch from the medium assistance map to the minimum assistance map occurs at approximately 45Mph, according to the same engineer.
By modifying the rate of pulses per revolution of wheel, either artificially using a signal multiplier or mechanically by using a different ABS
reluctor ring or VSS pulse source, the system can be fooled into thinking the vehical is travelling faster (or slower) than it actually is, and hence
change the points the assistance maps are switched."
Thank you Greatoldone, you've solved all my problems in one go
Corsa EPAS Column - Everything I've found
[Edited on 7/3/13 by seventhheaven]
keep us updated - if it works I may need it for my next project
It's a lot simpler than I feared and you don't have to use one of those nasty controller boxes you see on the auction sites. But you will
need a £20 speedo corrector module and a £4 siemens amp module.
The ABS signal feeds to the speedo corrector. This converts the pulse signal to the correct frequency before passing it to the EPAS.
It's mapable, it's stable and it should work as Vauxhall intended. It's even cheaper than the auction site modules, that let's
face it, are potentially leathal.
Everything I've found on the Corsa Epas -
http://www.super7thheaven.co.uk/blog/corsa-c-electric-power-steering-epas-a118.html
I've also taken Greatoldone spreadsheet and done a few mods to make it simpler to understand and use.
I just have to build it now. Check my blog (above link) for progress.
I hope that helps someone
Have a Corsa C EPAS I have dissmantled it as much as possible whithout using force. Now I need info how to connect a Volvo/any steering wheel shaft
to EPAS input shaft. I cannot understand function and how to dissassemble the sleeve connecting Corsa steering wheel shaft to EPAS input shaft. Just
grind the sleeve apart?? I understand "seventhheaven" has gone through this process.
Pics shows what it looks like today.
[img]http://http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/BGA45/media/EPAS1_zps567f9dcd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/img]
[img]http://http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/BGA45/media/EPAS2_zpsf8f3d6a8.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2[/img]
[img]http://http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/BGA45/media/EPAS3_zps1f27c488.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img]
My pics doesnt show. Doesnt photobucket work for downloading. Is it better to use Picasawebb?
I give it a new try.
Have a Corsa C EPAS I have dissmantled it as much as possible whithout using force. Now I need info how to connect a Volvo/any steering wheel shaft to
EPAS input shaft. I cannot understand function and how to dissassemble the sleeve connecting Corsa steering wheel shaft to EPAS input shaft. Just
grind the sleeve apart?? I understand "seventhheaven" has gone through this process.
Pics shows what it looks like today.
[img]http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/BGA45/media/EPAS1_zps567f9dcd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/img]
[img]http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/BGA45/media/EPAS2_zpsf8f3d6a8.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2[/img]
[img]http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/BGA45/media/EPAS3_zps1f27c488.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img]
I give it a third try.
Have a Corsa C EPAS I have dissmantled it as much as possible whithout using force. Now I need info how to connect a Volvo/any steering wheel shaft to
EPAS input shaft. I cannot understand function and how to dissassemble the sleeve connecting Corsa steering wheel shaft to EPAS input shaft. Just
grind the sleeve apart?? I understand "seventhheaven" has gone through this process.
Pics shows what it looks like today.
[img]https://picasaweb.google.com/bogunnar.andersson/20130501#5873065960779796050[/img]
[img]https://picasaweb.google.com/bogunnar.andersson/20130501#5873065940723447186[/img]
[img]https://picasaweb.google.com/bogunnar.andersson/20130501#5873065977525156386[/img]
I give it a fourth try.
Have a Corsa C EPAS I have dissmantled it as much as possible whithout using force. Now I need info how to connect a Volvo/any steering wheel shaft to
EPAS input shaft. I cannot understand function and how to dissassemble the sleeve connecting Corsa steering wheel shaft to EPAS input shaft. Just
grind the sleeve apart?? I understand "seventhheaven" has gone through this process.
Pics shows what it looks like today.
I will try and help with pics!
EPAS 1
EPAS 2
EPAS 3
I will remove my post if you sort yours out no problem.
Adrian
[Edited on 1-5-13 by AdrianH]
Thank you AdrianH. First I didnt noticed your post as it came on a new page (2). When I have more time I will try to learn how to add pics.
I see that Rally Design now do a MK2 Escort EPAS system.
http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=15327
Has anyone used a Renault electric pump arrangement similar to the one Chippy refers to? I have tried emailing him but haven't received a
response.I have a Sebring MXR that needs power steering. I have a standard Sierra column and rack and don't really want to hack the column to
weld in a Corsa unit. Sierra columns are getting rarer and I don't want to render the column scrap if the Corsa unit fails. I've looked at
Renault units on ebay and it appears to be a reasonably easy upgrade. Any help in upgrading my steering would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Chippy passed a while back
RIP Ray
[Edited on 27/7/14 by rusty nuts]