Getting steering column & electric power steering before buying a subframe

[mrpotatoes]

I'm really interested in getting an electric power steering column to fit on my 68 Firebird. Manual steering is kind of awful. Very awful.

Thing is sometime mid-next year I want to buy SpeedTech's ExtReme front subframe which will require a custom steering column and they use Ididit. I've looked at Ididit's offerings and they are exceptional. I would love to get one of theirs right away that will continue to work later when I get the ST's EFSF.

I do not however want to buy an expensive steering column only for it not to work with the new subframe later.

Anyone have any ideas on this? Perhaps someone's gone this exact route and can give me their thoughts.

Thanks!

[raustinss]

Dont ... it's quite a process , someone else on here started a thread re the same idea maybe do a search and read thru the info on there

[Andric LibreSinn]

Which part was a process? Do you have any more info I can use to search? I get 6 pages of results searching for electric power steering.

[jetmech442]

I might be one of the guys raustinss is referring to, lol. He was actually the first to comment to throw shade. If you need a car with great steering right now, or you're looking for Porsche 911 level steering feel then yeah, he's probly right-better off with a power box from Lee, although you still don't get 911 feels lol.

I see three paths available right now..
1) buy an aftermarket, professional system from EPAS-Performance, Unisteer..or other. Realistically it’s about the same money when you factor in a column, Lee box, Lee pump and cooler. All the work is done for you. I’m not sure about steering feel on these systems or tunability.

2) Integrate a Prius/Equinox ..etc electric box. Either use the Bruno box for the equinox for knob-style adjustability, or be okay with constant “medium” assist with the prius setup at all speeds. There are known issues with the steering wheel needing to be guided back to center instead of letting the wheel snap back to place. Andrewb documented his swap on his cougar very well, and I have a thread here laying out a lot of the knowledge I gained earlier this year. Depending on what you use the car for and how mm precise the steering needs to be would determine if this setup works for you. IIRC, andrewb and many others have completed the swap for less than 300 bucks.

3) Integrate an EPAS system of your choice and make it work as close to factory as possible. This is the route I chose because the car is my hobby and passion. Every time I do something different, I get to learn a lot and do stuff that’s not been done before. I chose a system out of an FRS because I really like the steering feel. Toyota spends more hours(more engineering budget) on tuning that system for feel than they do the prius, so I would like the algorithms to perform as intended. This involves finding/interpreting wiring diagrams, splicing hardware, spoofing or translating sensor signals and last but not least, the mighty CAN-Bus. Reverse engineering ‘yotas Canbus channels with their proprietary data and hidden calculations is time consuming and requires access to that exact car to drive around and sniff the bus. I was making good progress, then we decided to sell the house and my buddies FRS is having issues after he completed the valvespring recall. We just got moved in, so I’ve been stalled for about 2.5 months. If this path interests you, then lest be best friends and tackle it together lol.
I feel like the above three are the options at this current time, perhaps in a few months/years more people will crack different Bus systems and open up more options. If you’re interested I say go for it, hotrodding is about swapping new fangled junk into your ride to make it more betters. My thread is here if your looking for details.

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/130064-Toyota-FRS-Electric-Power-Steering-in-an-A-Body

Cheers.

[raustinss]

Was never trying to toss shade by any means.. I just know these systems are crazy for getting everything to start working safely and correctly . I very briefly looked Into it and it's way over my head. I would love to see a company figure it all out for the aftermarket thou

[jetmech442]

Was never trying to toss shade by any means..
I'm probly using the term wrong, should leave the new stuff for the kids. -more like razzing, I dunno, I didn't mean it to imply that you were negative.:cheers:

[chuckd71]

Use a volvo electric power steering pump on a regular power steering box? Other than doing it just to do it, which is fine of course, is there any specific need for going electric? Seems like a hassle for little gain at this point unless you're doing a Gen V swap but ymmv

[SERIUS]

I would keep it simple and steer away from trying to use a electric power steering column sounds like plenty of headaches down the road.On the other hand I am building a 67 Camaro now with a speed tech extreme subframe and I used a ididit 67 camaro column but I had to shorten it 1.5 inches for it to work.

[andrewb70]

If you know you're getting a new subframe relatively soon, just don't do anything. I have the Prius/Yaris EPAS solution in my Cougar, and it's OK, but the steering feel is not optimal...blah..blah..blah...I have a ton of details about it in my Cougar build thread.

Andrew

[ilikeike]

Is Stielow using the electric steering in his top shelf builds ?
If not, I’d probably just go with a high quality rack because the electrics swaps probably aren’t quite there yet.

[raustinss]

No mark uses conventional power steering, no electric, no rack , a off the shelf gm pump and a rebuilt gm box

[dhutton]

No mark uses conventional power steering, no electric, no rack , a off the shelf gm pump and a rebuilt gm box

Pretty sure he uses DSE subframes exclusively. They use the Mustang based rack and pinion.

Don

[David Pozzi]

I wonder if the commonly used Mustang manual rack is strong enough to handle power assist. I'm sure it's strong enough to work for a while but wonder about durability.

[raustinss]

Don you are 100 percent correct, I forgot they use a rack on that subframe. Carry on while I remove my head from my ace

[MCB Matt]

The Speedtech Extreme frame uses a Sweet Manuf. rack, they are VERY well tuned and work great in their frame. I would stick with it for sure and when you are ready, let me know. We are a direct Speedtech dealer and can offer you great forum pricing on it, as well as over 100 more brands.
Matt

[Andric LibreSinn]

I didn't know this thread was still going.

Will do, Matt, thanks. Tho I think my plan is for this coming summer or next fall as im going to be putting her away for the winter and picking up a different hobby.
The Speedtech Extreme frame uses a Sweet Manuf. rack, they are VERY well tuned and work great in their frame. I would stick with it for sure and when you are ready, let me know. We are a direct Speedtech dealer and can offer you great forum pricing on it, as well as over 100 more brands.
Matt