Electric assist steering for manual racks?

[preston]

I just did this last Fall. I had a Woodward power rack but the servo just had too much stiction for my liking, I could not steer it effortlessly in small movements when going down the road. It was fine for turning, but just too stiff for micro-corrections. I removed the servo and hydraulics, and bought the steering column and electronics from a Saturn Vue. This change is well documented, particularly on the web forum vintage-mustang. Just do a search on Saturn Vue.

I had to do some fabricatoin to match it to my Ididit steering column but nothing too difficult. The motor seemd large and ungainly but I was able to fit it behind a '68 Mustang dashboard. Granted my car is a tube frame with non-stock firewall, but if anything I had less room, and many people on the mustang site were able to fit them behind stock dashboards.

I'm very happy with the conversion, and the whole deal only cost me $350, including a little controller that is sold with a pot to alter the steering assist.


I couldn't get rid of the steering pump because I have hydro boosted brakes, but that would be a nice touch otherwise. It was nice to remove some hydraulics from the car.

here are some links that helped me:

http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/mo...ver-eps-7.html

http://epasperformance.com/

I couldn't see paying $1200+ for one of these systems , the Vue stuff is cheap on ebay. I bought mine from a guy in Vancouver WA and paid a little extra but he had tested the unit and included the potentiometer electronics so I ddn't have to do any leg work.