I now have Electric Power Steering

I now have Electric Power Steering

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Discussion

Hedgehopper

1,537 posts

243 months

Sunday 22nd March 2015
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stevesprint said:
Once I was finally happy with the level of assistance I then chopped and welded my top front suspension arms to allow more caster angle adjustment to increase the straight line stability which worked a treat.
I have considered this mod. myself (on my hydraulic rack) to make the steering feel heavier and have a stronger self-centreing action but not had the conviction to try it out.

Did you just widen the gap that the top ball-joint sits in and then add another spacer to the 8mm one already there? Did this mod. on its own make any difference to the feel of the steering?


SteveSPG

2,120 posts

201 months

Sunday 22nd March 2015
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Hedgehopper said:
I have considered this mod. myself (on my hydraulic rack) to make the steering feel heavier and have a stronger self-centreing action but not had the conviction to try it out.

Did you just widen the gap that the top ball-joint sits in and then add another spacer to the 8mm one already there? Did this mod. on its own make any difference to the feel of the steering?
i got a pair of upper arms and made the ball joint gap wider by moving the top plate back. made a lot of difference to self centering feel at speed having a few more degrees of caster. worthwhile doing this mod.

Hedgehopper

1,537 posts

243 months

Sunday 22nd March 2015
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

How much wider did you make the gap...i.e., what size spacer did you add?

stevesprint

1,114 posts

178 months

Sunday 22nd March 2015
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Hedgehopper said:
I have considered this mod. myself (on my hydraulic rack) to make the steering feel heavier and have a stronger self-centreing action but not had the conviction to try it out.

Did you just widen the gap that the top ball-joint sits in and then add another spacer to the 8mm one already there? Did this mod. on its own make any difference to the feel of the steering?
Increasing the caster angle certainly increases the self-centring effect with and without power assisted steering, but will only make manual steering heavier as the hydraulic PAS will apply more assistance by design. This does mean PAS cars with bigger wheels and R888s can experiment with a more aggressive caster angle to compensate.

Yes I widened the top ball joint gap by a further 8mm and you can see I fitted an additional 6mm spacer in front of the ball joint and a 2mm spacer behind, and yes I did this mod on its own as my straight-line stability was badly affected by R888s and spider wheels. Although I removed and chopped the arms myself I did have them welded professional and now I'm happy with them you are reminding me that I should really get them re-powder coated.





Its all makes sense once you consider the following caster angles: -

Original Griff/Chimmy 4 deg +/- ¼
PAS and all later cars 4 ¾ deg +/- ¼
Factory Griff Spiders spec 5 deg +/- ¼
Steve Spiders & R888s 5 ¾ deg
BMW M3 factory spec 7 to 8 deg

Hedgehopper

1,537 posts

243 months

Monday 23rd March 2015
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Thanks Steve for the very helpful info. and pictures. The beauty of this mod is that it's simple and by re-arranging the spacers can even be returned to original spec. if required.

TonH

1 posts

64 months

Tuesday 15th January 2019
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I have red the positive posts and wondered whether the positivity remains after 3 years of usage.
Can anybody who'd this system installed comment on that?

SILICONEKID 357HP

14,997 posts

230 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
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The big question is a much does it cost and is it controlled from the ecu

stevesprint

1,114 posts

178 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
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TonH said:
I have red the positive posts and wondered whether the positivity remains after 3 years of usage.
Can anybody who'd this system installed comment on that?
7 years and 15,000 miles later its been brilliant, faultless and the 2nd best mod I’ve done to my Griff only because my LT77 to T5 mod is my bestest mod. My EPAS is so good I actually forget I’ve got EPAS but probably because I went to the trouble and expense of making my EPAS speed sensitive, which I strongly recommend. I did have my manual rack refurbed last winter by Kiley Clinton (steering-racks.co.uk) and also installed two new UJs as they looked original but surprisingly were still ok.

EPAS seems to be gaining popularity in the classic car world and there are often EPAS companies at the NEC Classic show, both these two companies have EPAS installations for TVR Chimmies.

https://www.lloydspecialistdevelopments.co.uk/
http://www.simonebirchall.co.uk/
http://www.ezpowersteering.nl/type/26/144/TVR_Chim...

SILICONEKID 357HP said:
The big question is a much does it cost and is it controlled from the ecu
If you mean the Engine Control Unit, No mine is not, why do you ask? Can Engine ECUs control EPAS?? I have two separate road speed sensors on the same crown wheel, one for the EPAS ECU and the other for the humble old 14CUX.

Tekno

194 posts

100 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
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SILICONEKID 357HP said:
The big question is a much does it cost and is it controlled from the ecu
Gather it was £1,500 + VAT in 2015.

pb450

Original Poster:

1,301 posts

159 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
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I'm the OP on this thread and I can confirm that 3 years down the line it's still fantastic. Fit and forget. Does what it says on the tin and make the car a pleasure to drive when slow speed manouvres are required.

Took the car on track at Spa last year and the steering was great. Above 30 mph (or was it 20, I forget now) there is no power assistance so no loss of feeling at track speeds. It doesn't work from the ECU (which is now replaced with a Canems unit, also fitted by Lloyds) but has its own sensor for speed detection and hence power assistance amount.

I know there was no price increase 1 year later (cos I checked) but you'd have to contact Lloyds again today to obtain current quote.

Still highly recomended. No fluid leaks either with EPAS! thumbup

LLantrisant

995 posts

158 months

Friday 18th January 2019
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