Converting to Electric Power Steering

I'm thinking about adding PS to my Civic. Something about having 550mm of rubber on the ground makes steering pretty comically difficult. Add to that the fact that my co-driver this year has much less upper body strength than me, and the need is there. As a bonus, the Civic PS rack is a quicker ratio.

Now, I could install the entire PS system off of another civic, but I'm thinking of trying out an electric system. I'd still use the power rack from a PS civic, but the plan is to use an MR2 electric pump.

Anyone ever done this? In the MR2, the pump is variable speed based on steering input and vehicle speed. Will I run into problems just running it at 12V? Any other wisdom is welcomed.

The S2000 elec rack might fit easier just cause it's Honda.

I was thinking the shoebox SI (newer hatchback) had electric system also

Have you seen this? :LINK 12v, relay and circuit breaker.

Thanks for the link. I had seen that. That's one of the only ones I've seen where they just run the pump wide open. Most folks integrate the ECU and control circuits. I'd prefer not to do that unless there is a compelling reason to.

To clarify - The rack is no problem. There was a different model on my car that came with PS, so the rack bolts in place. I don't want to adapt a different rack. I want to feed it with an electric pump.

KIWI at HT mentioned making kits for this: http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1556487

-- edit : He's not doing the kits, but plenty of good info is there.

Somewhat off topic but related:

Girl I work with has an '07 Malibu. The steering has started making a clunking noise. She called the dealer and started to tell the person who answered about it, then I heard her get put on hold as they moved her call to the service dept. She said that when she described the problem the receptionist asked "Is it a Malibu?"

She talked to the service guy, who once he found out it had 50k on it told her that the 3 year 36k warranty was done and it would probably cost around $800+ to fix it.

I googled "malibu steering problem" and got a bunch of hits - GM is having a ton of trouble with their electric power steering. Replacing steering racks, adding lube, replacing steering sensors, all kinds of advice.

It's a huge recall waiting to happen, looks like.

I work at an auto parts store and we had a woman come in a few weeks back with a newer 4cyl pontiac G6. There was a light on her dash calling for power steering fluid but no one could find a place to add fluid to the system. The diagrams in the owners manual didn't match up either.

G6 I think is the same system. No belt, pump, or fluid if so. And they wonder why they're having to get bailed out?

2.0dohc wrote: I was thinking the shoebox SI (newer hatchback) had electric system also

^^Funny, I plan to eventually pull mine off.

Dave, what size are your tires?

Hasbro wrote:

2.0dohc wrote: I was thinking the shoebox SI (newer hatchback) had electric system also

^^Funny, I plan to eventually pull mine off. Dave, what size are your tires?

275/35/15 in the front. 225/45/15 in the back.

Also - thanks for the HT link hondaworkshop. I didn't know Raglin was using this setup. Good precedent.

Has anyone seen the bolt on EPS kits from electricpowersteering.net?

EPS Electric Performance Steering

More specifically anyone tried adapting their ?

I've seen the EPS kit on a couple of hot rods and there's a vendor in Europe that sells a similar kit for Volvo 1800's (for well over $1000 + s/h). The $1000 price tends to be the sticking point. If they cut that by 50% I think more folks would be willing to try it.