Electric power steering

[Etype Maria]

Hi. Has anyone on here had experience in use or fitting of the EZ power steering system ( I think their a Dutch company).
Thanks for any advice.

[mgcjag]

Have a look here... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10580

[chrisfell]

Nope, but I have driven a S1 with power steering by Lite Steer. It worked when it was required, and not when it wasn’t. Lite Steer is £2k, from memory EZ is....er...not!

[lestere]

A friend of mine has just fitted this system to a TR7 and is pleased with the outcome.
He said there were no problems with the fitting. The amount of assistance is adjustable and nothing is visible under the bonnet.

[MarekH]

Go and search one of the e-type club magazines for an article by Rod Shears on this subject. He has fitted electric steering to a number of Jaguar cars and I think the donor parts were from a old Maestro. Total cost will leave you with £1800 more in your pocket than if you go down the £2000 route mentioned above.

kind regards
Marek

[chrisfell]

I've been trying to keep this comment to myself, by I cant keep it in any longer.
Protein shakes and working out with weights is cheaper, and the benefits can be used elsewhere.

[Kember17]

I've been trying to keep this comment to myself, by I cant keep it in any longer.
Protein shakes and working out with weights is cheaper, and the benefits can be used elsewhere.

While that is certainly true for me, my wife, for one, would object to having to develop arms like a navvy's simply to move the car out of its parking spot, and I didn't marry her for her resemblance to Charles Atlas either .

[bitsobrits]

I have installed the EZ power steering in my S1 E type several years ago, and it certainly helps with low speed maneuvers as I run 6.5" wheels with 215 section tires.

However...

I did my own install and found it impossible to get the steering column (the upper section of which is replaced by the EZ unit) mounted fully in the "up" position, which is where I preferred it before. Due to the mounting design, the column now has a slightly flexible quality which I greatly dislike.

Additionally, the system only provides assist when needed, i.e. when it detects increasing load in your steering inputs. At parking lot speeds this is fine. But in certain conditions, generally medium speed (50-70 mph) corners or decreasing radius corners, you can enter the corner with no apparent assist, then when beginning to accelerate at the apex, the assist comes in with the effect of causing a bit too much steering lock, to which you have to adjust. This effect is fairly subtle, not unsafe in any way, but very annoying, and certainly doesn't give one confidence in the car's tracking. The system is adjustable, and turning it full down helps, but ultimately I put in a discreet on/off power switch which cured the handling ills. Now I turn it on for parking work, then off as soon as I'm up to speed.

I really am contemplating removing it entirely.

[markc555]

Go and search one of the e-type club magazines for an article by Rod Shears on this subject. He has fitted electric steering to a number of Jaguar cars and I think the donor parts were from a old Maestro. Total cost will leave you with £1800 more in your pocket than if you go down the £2000 route mentioned above.

Interesting Any idea which magazine edition number Marek? I wouldn't mind a read.

I've seen Vauxhall Corsa EPS systems retrofitted to a number of cars but not an E Type.

Cheers

Mark

[Kember17]

Go and search one of the e-type club magazines for an article by Rod Shears on this subject. He has fitted electric steering to a number of Jaguar cars and I think the donor parts were from a old Maestro. Total cost will leave you with £1800 more in your pocket than if you go down the £2000 route mentioned above.

Interesting Any idea which magazine edition number Marek? I wouldn't mind a read.

I've seen Vauxhall Corsa EPS systems retrofitted to a number of cars but not an E Type.

Cheers

Mark

I thought the Corsa executions were a mite dangerous as they appear to rely on spoofing the unit to believe certain inputs that might not properly accord to real data.

I'm experimenting with the MGF system and am planning to use "real" inputs.

I have some photos of the modified steering column somewhere and some details of the bits of kit needed but my project is slightly stalled owing to illness at the moment. I'll see what I can dig out.

IIRC, labour apart, the cost of the various bits of kit is considerably less than £100.

Peter

[MarekH]

I have no idea which edition of which club magazine it was, although Rod did give me a .pdf copy some years ago. His name will pop up if you ask around. If you get stuck, I can dig out an email address held on another computer somewhere.

It may well have been a MGF now that is mentioned - my memory on this is a bit hazy as I have a s3 so am not incentivised to remember the exact details. I remember the parts were £50-£60 from a scrapyard and the cars were plentiful.

kind regards
Marek

[markc555]

No worries Marek.

I did google "Rod Shears" and as you can imagine got some interesting and dramatic tales and pics of structural failure rather than the man himself

Cheers

Mark

[MarekH]

He lives in Walton.
PM me your email address and I'll send it on to him.

kind regards
Marek

[abowie]

He lives in Walton.
PM me your email address and I'll send it on to him.

kind regards
Marek

If you guys come up with some concrete information about how to do this could you do a write up here? For that sort of outlay I'd try it just for the exercise.

[politeperson]

I am in the middle of doing a Corsa B steering box conversion.

The unit itself is GM, probably fitted to millions of cars and is small and looks very robust. It is self contained and has an internal ECU.

It requires a control box which is programmable for the speed inputs. I bought one some time ago for £90.

The speed inputs are produced from a windmill and a hall sensor. I will probably fit that on the gearbox end of the prop. It also requires a power input which no doubt will involve a high current relay triggered input. That is it.

The control box has 3 settings, full assistance, medium and no assistance.

I was going to programme it to provide full assistance up to 2mph, medium up to 10 mph then it would provide no assistance over that speed.

So it would just be for manoeuvring.

My concern is that is it might create friction in the steering system, so I might lose self centering. I dont think it can be that bad, as the unit probably compensates for its own internal friction. I dont know yet.

I have got as far as mounting the unit on an old bulkhead assembly. I was going to extend the column with old MK2 Jag columns I have, to replicate the original units length. That means I will also have Jag splines for the steering wheel.

The whole cost of this so far is £250. I will post some pictures if I get a moment.

[markc555]

Good info James, I’d be interested to hear how you get on.

There’s some good information here (http://www.super7thheaven.co.uk/corsa-e ... g-kit-car/) particularly on the controller side of things and how to set them up

Cheers

Mark

[MarkRado]

I have installed the EZ power steering in my S1 E type several years ago, and it certainly helps with low speed maneuvers...

I did my own install and found it impossible to get the steering column (the upper section of which is replaced by the EZ unit) mounted fully in the "up" position, which is where I preferred it before. Due to the mounting design, the column now has a slightly flexible quality which I greatly dislike.

I really am contemplating removing it entirely.

I am contemplating an ez system as well
Can you please explain what is the difference in design? I thought it is a straight swap. Any deviation would be a horror,
thank you

[RogerHicks]

Hi, we can help, look us up, Power Steering Solutions on Facebook.

[gtjoey]

4,000 miles in the last 4 or 5 months.
Its a game changer.
1967 etype coupe.
Love it.....
Its an updated model with speed sensitive.
It transforms the car toa 1990 ish feel ALOT BETTER.
Iput 10,000 miles a year.......
I love the ez.....
gtjoey1314