Anyone know what cars all the steering parts are from?

[dnb]

I know a few, but could do with some help to complete/correct this list so I can finish a little project...

Working from the wheel back to the rack:

• Wheel is a Personal. The mounting PCD is annoyingly fractionally different to Momo, and rotated by 30 degrees.
• Column is from a Vauxhall Cavalier, but was stretched by TVR. Did they change the spline on the rack end or is it still 1990 era GM?
• The "first" universal joint is presumably assembled from a GM half and a Ford half so that it matches the column spline and the spline on the shaft to the rack.
• Shaft to rack is a Ford part IIRC. I don't remember what car it came off.
• Second UJ is again a piecemeal affair. This time, it's Ford to GM.
• The Rack is derived from the GM parts bin. Vauxhall Firenze springs to mind.

I am particularly interested in the splines used and what UJs can be used. The reason is that I am changing various bits of the steering and need a way to either make a Corsa C column-to-rack shaft 50mm or so longer and be compatible with the TVR column-to-rack shaft, or create some kind of intermediate 50mm long shaft that the corsa part and TVR UJ can be fitted to or find a (preferably collapsible) 300mm (including UJs) shaft to replace the Corsa part entirely. However it is done a support bearing will be needed because there will be at least 3 UJs in the new system. In most schemes I have concocted, this lines up with the bulkhead with little effort - all I need to know is what ID the bearing needs to have.

Any ideas?

[dumbfunk]

Not answering your question I'm afraid but you may like to know that a very cheap adapter ring is available (on eBay even) that will convert Personel steering wheel fixings to Momo/Sparco for just a few quid. It screws between the new wheel and the standard boss and brings the wheel about 5mm further forward but that actually improved the position in my case.

[V8 GRF]

I'm sure I recall being told that the whole steering column was a single vauxhall part with just a bracket welded on at one point.

The PAS rack I believe was a complete custom unit built for TVR, not sure about the non-PAS version.

[spend]

There are at least 3 different versions of the UJ's on the intermediate shaft, so be careful not to get wires crossed (might be 1 PAS & 2 non PAS but I'm not clear on that) with info from wrong models.

[dnb]

Thanks all. I have a selection of racks, so this is not a problem. I have also found the momo to personal adapter pieces.

Spend - I was afraid someone would say that...

[Aussie John]

As Spend said there are a lot of variations; I had 3 different length intermediate shafts when repairing mine.

[Wildfire]

The intermediate shafts are also different widths (girths) depending on the car. Will check mine over the weekend, but I think it was a bit hit an miss.

[dnb]

It's all got a bit difficult...

I took the old column apart tonight, and it is definitely modified from Vauxhall spec. The spline on the end is welded, and there is a welded section after the collapsible joint, presumably so that the column length could be changed.

Here's a picture of all the parts. From top to bottom there is:
A spare Impreza rack to column intermediate shaft
The Corsa C PAS column
A collapsible Corsa C intermediate shaft
The original TVR column innards plus the first UJ.

The parts are laid out so that the approximate length differences can be seen.


Not sure how to proceed now, but I'm hopeful there will be something in the GM parts bin that will work...

[jesfirth]

If you can get hold of a TVR PAS rack (which are like rocking horse sh*t) you can add a citroen saxo ps pump £50 off ebay (they used them on the tuscans t350's etc) and get power stering without going the full electric route. when i looked into it I heard from a couple of people who have done it that the electric route is tricky because the corsa column has its own ECU which is very difficult and expensive to programme to get the weighting correct. They can also overheat if heavily used for sustained periods on a track. as a result I did the standard TVR ps rack with Saxo pump route and it's great. the ps pump fits neatly in the inner wing by the rad. poor photo but you can just see the brackets and hoses in the top left of the photo.

[dnb]

The saxo electric pump pas doesn't suit me, even though I have a TVR pas rack. There simply isn't space in the inner wings any more. I will be converting the rack to manual.

I am unsure why the corsa steering should overheat. I have only found need of pas when parking the car. The rest of the time it could be switched off.

[jesfirth]

Hi dnb. Topcats converted one of their race cars to the corsa electric column route and it was they that advised of the problems with the lightness of the feel, the ecu programming and the overheating but the latter is a car being spanked around a track for half an hour - i doubt it would happen on the road. You are right about the space it is tight in there on mine. HTH Jes

Edited by jesfirth on Monday 13th June 14:44

[dnb]

Advice noted. I don't want to refurb my PAS rack really - I am sure it has not worked properly for the last 4 years!

I don't do many trackdays and when I do, I can turn the assistance off. The wheels seem to turn nicely when the system is not powered.

The key thing for me is that the steering responds quickly for autotests. Usually about a minute in duration - heat shouldn't be an issue.

I'm using a Corsa C system. I have heard about a lot of problems with earlier versions - I hope GM got it right for the 2nd EPAS attempt!

I was not planning to do much with the ECU other than lie to it about the road speed until the assistance level is OK. I do know a number of ECU/electronics experts, so I should be able to do something sensible.


Last thing: Can someone confirm that the spline on the end of the original steering shaft is from the Vauxhall Cavalier?

Edited by dnb on Tuesday 14th June 01:10