Electric Power Steering Pump Conversion For Rb Engine

[ant0ny]

TS Astra I think I got mine from running in a front wheel drive rally car. Despite the short sighted people around... they have been in use in the Off Road Racing for many years for all the positive reasons mentioned.

The standard Holden Astra one is as robust as any on the market and given most people don't know what they are you can pick one up from a wrecker for as little as $250.

For the people who have not seen one they are power assist and have better feel than any Nissan (or any other) mechanical pump. They ramp up the pressure when needed and run in an idle state when nothing is happening. Mine is wired to a switch on the dash so I can turn it off when on the dyno.

If someone gets one and needs a hand with the wiring I can dig up something as it is as not straight forward with more than 1 power wire and from memory the wire colours are odd.

[Duncan]

please post up wiring if you have it....astra sounds easier to find than mr2 or porsche

[SABBAi]

Any update on the Astra pump setup?

[GTRsean]

Josh's 180SX has an astra pump fitted as there was no room to put an engine driven pump onto the VH45DE.

It's been wired up to run constantly, and works very well, but I think it would be better if it did have a controller (lucky the alternator is a 110Amp unit on the v8).

[gobiz]

Hi, if it's not too much trouble, could someone post up some pics on what the setup looks like?

I just bought a sw20 MR2 electric pump on ebay uk for 48 pounds. There's lots up for sale for really cheap, like 30-40 pounds.

Thanks in advance

[T04GTR]

well the astra pump works ok.

i installed one in the uas zed. its quite heavy. and on full lock it draws 75AMPS, at idle with no steering its about 25A.

these pumps were designed to be mounted very near the rack. one thing ive noticed is a slight lag in assistance as its mounted in the boot and has 4 odd meters of hose to the rack. (any hydraulic gurus chime in) we used -4 teflon. mayby -6 with a restrictor would of been better but once your going it feels fine.

they run at full speed 100% of the time. the electronics inside keep the pump at a constant rpm and feed in current to compensate for the pressure.

[XRATED]

try using a simple accumulator... should be available from any available hyd supply joint. It just picks up the initial demand.

J.

[STATUS]

try using a simple accumulator... should be available from any available hyd supply joint. It just picks up the initial demand.

J.

HAHA good idea, gonna steal that idea

[T04GTR]

that is a good idea!

[iruvyouskyrine]

Thread bump, anyone running elec power steering these days? In the form of elec hyd pump (astra/MR2) or electric assist (yaris etc)?

[Dale FZ1]

Have plans (as in interested, talked a bit, done nothing towards acquiring the bits yet) for an R chassis and an S chassis, with the Astra pump setup and a steering quickener.

Main identifiable issue is lag on the assistance - unknown just how much flow capacity is available from the electric pump vs even a standard engine driven pump.  Neither is really spec'd for motorsport application.

[sneakey pete]

They fit under the driver's side battery tray nicely. 1m run back to the rack, botlt them to factory GTR bov points.

Have a dumb unit, do wonder about getting a CAN one and if you could control it better than the internal logic on the dumb one.

Car hasn't really been run with it yet so we'll see how it goes

[JustinP]

I would be really interested if anyone ever attempted to adapt a modern servo electric system to a Skyline, e.g. one of these Bosch units which are found in many modern cars:

http://www.bosch-automotive-steering.com/en/products/car-steering-systems/electric-power-steering-servolectric.html

I like the simplicity of these systems. I would imagine the control/electronics side of things might be the challenge given how different the steering feels on many similar models these days (e.g. different Porsche 911 variants), simply due to software changes.

 

[aleks]

Anyone tried to figure out the lightest possible way to do this mod? Or looked into which options might be lighter than an astra or MR2 pump?

Edited April 17, 2017 by aleks

[Acrula]

Hi, my stock belt driven P/S pump got a ripped hose under driving, the pump failed quickly as a result of that.

So, since it was hard and expensive to get a new pump here in Norway, I found a electric P/S pump from Mercedes A-class, wich got a reservoir in it, and that makes it easy to place around. Only require + and - power the way i installed it, so Hook it up with a relay and a switch, or on IGN. I found that this works very well for my daily driving, but I havent tried on track yet.

 

[aleks]

Acrula, which pump do you think is heavier the nissan one or the A-class? what car do you have? any pictures of where you mounted it?

I've weighed an rb26 pump and I think it was 2kgs, just the pump no belt, bracket or lines but I will double check.

I'm thinking of sneaking one in under the starter motor, even if it weight is close to the same, having it lower and further back would be nice.

Think I might head down to a wrecker and ask them if I can look at and weigh every type of electric pump they have.

Edited April 30, 2017 by aleks

[sneakey pete]

Pretty sure that and all others would be to tall to fit there. 

Astra one is not light. Would be more than pump+bracket+belt+lines+res 

A class one looks a tad lighter

[JustinP]

On 23/04/2017 at 5:48 PM, Acrula said:

I found that this works very well for my daily driving, but I havent tried on track yet.

Is there any difference in steering feel now that you are using the electric pump?

[aleks]

I agree Justin that a class one looks too tall, but I meant to try and fit another, smaller powersteering pump under there.

Going to try and get a hold of a toyota mr-s power steering pump. The astra pumps look abit too big/heavy for my liking plus I dont want to dirty my car with an opel part.

I just weighed a gtr pump with the pulley, belt, bracket and bolts and they come in at 4kgs.  Will weigh the lines and resevior and lines when I pull it off.

[Acrula]

On 1.5.2017 at 10:11 AM, JustinP said:

Is there any difference in steering feel now that you are using the electric pump?

Sorry for late reply. Not on this forum that often. I dont feel any difference at all under normal spirited street driving, but I have not tried it at the track yet.