Electric power steering pump

Guys I have a Firm Feel stage 3 steering box on my Cuda and love it however, my ps pump is kind of in the way as I need to fit a crank trigger and vac pump on the engine. So I e looked into electric pumps! They remote mount and by all accounts work great, they put out around 1400 psi which is a little higher than I’d like but possibly still within the specs of the steering box. If you google it there are several conversion that pop up. I’d be interested in your thoughts?

Are you talking about an electric pump, or electric motor assist? You can do electric steering like the new cars have and get rid of the whole PS mess. There are some retrofit kits out now.

Motor assist is what I would be doing, ditch the hydraulics.

I agree, like trying to streamline a horse to go faster.

Unfortunately motor assist is not an option for me, laws down here would make going down this path very difficult

I've once read about Toyota pumps that were suitable and simple enough to retrofit in an older car.
Based on that I bought one once, but ofcourse it turned out I needed one that was a few years newer, because those would have some variable pump control built in.
The older ones just work at one rpm and are always pumping and heating up the fluid.

I'm curious how in depth any inspection is that the mod you are seeking that it would be noticeable enough to flag your car, or maybe just how lucky we are in the US.

Your very lucky living in the US.
Our police carry decibel meters with them and on Friday and sat night cruises they will write you a ticket if the exhaust is ‘loud’, and they will write you up for an inspection. The inspection is where the trouble starts as such, because I would be altering the original steering from OEM that’s an issue, changing a pump doesn’t interfere with the mechanical connection of the steering, another little one they do is make you turn a tight circle, if your inside wheel scrubs indicating you could be using a spool in your diff, they will write you up as an unroadworthy vehicle. Yes your lucky in the US

I’d love to be able to control the pump a little, most pumps are controlled by the BCM. When not turning the wheel the pump motors idle down.

Organize with LIKE minded people and overthrow that stupid government.

Thanks for sharing. FWIW its worth, I spent some time In Australia in the early 80's and its a great country, and great people, really enjoyed it. Of all my travels, it was the only country I would live in other then the US, but not sure they would have me,

crash have you got a pump , bloke in Brisbane was selling TS Astra pumps fairly cheap.

Is this some Australian slang?

bloke.
a man.
"he's a nice bloke"
synonyms:
man · boy · male · individual · body · chap · fellow · geezer · lad · fella · punter · character · customer · sort · bod · guy · dude · hombre · cove

crash is the poster with an issue. he is being asked if he has a pump. if not, there is a guy in Brisbane that is selling pumps off TS Astras (a car model form the Holden line) .

Dodgy, yes I saw his adds, according to a PS guy on the Northside the Astra TRW pumps can’t be pressure controlled, so he says, they run around 1400 psi and I’d like it around 800-900 psi, he has a pump kit out of a European car (mini, bmw) that can be, but I’m thinking it’s a sales pitch and I don’t know that much about ps pumps. The Astra pumps are cheap, his conversion pump is $1400😳 and that a little more than I would be prepared to pay

And for those who must know, Crash520 came from me once owning a 520KTM dirt bike, that thing was a handful on a good day so I’m sure you can figure it out from there🤣

The way i understand it the astra pump will increase pressure as the demand increases and is built into the pump, there are a couple of ways to wire them up as to the pump starting up, i have two pumps here ear marked for my ute and factory power steering box. Im just going to run them as is and hope the box will handle it, first pump i picked up for $60 so you can find them cheap. Also apparently they can draw a bit of power so a good alternator will be needed.
My son also has a ktm 520 exc, fast bike for a 17yo that weighs about 80kg.

Thanks. I am aware of what a Bloke is but....
The lack of a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, then the lack of a question mark after "have you got a pump" had me thinking that this was some Australian expression like "Shrimp on the barbie" or "Carby" for carburetor.
Carry on.

The ASTRA BCM controls the pump speed via rpm/car speed, and other inputs for sure, I’m wondering if on one of the two control wires a variable resistor somehow couldn’t be put in line to control the pump speed and pressure ???? I would like to have the pump pressure at around 800psi, the Astra pump runs around 1400psi, Mopar pumps are supposed to be 900-1300 psi roughly I’m told, there is also a ps bypass valve which may work, I might need to grab a cheap pump and experiment a little

Maybe the earlier pumps were controlled by the canbus but im sure these Ts models are pressure sensitive, you can here this pump ramp up speed when he turns the wheel.
https://youtu.be/Yy6oQPJJ2qY
That said it still wouldn't lower the pressure (to what you want) at full lock but will idle back in the non demand steering. I don't know maybe I'm not seeing it right.

Yeah I’m not sure either mate, I just don’t know that much about those pumps and I haven’t got the time or money to go splashing it around on a whim, nor have I got the $1400 old mate on the north side wants for his kit

What about a GM type II pump with a remote reservoir? That would save a considerable amount of space up front. If you want to dial in the flow and pressure Turn One has hardware that can help.

Mark is that GM pump driven by the crank? If so that my issue, as such, I’m looking at that ability to remove the pump from the engine. Heist do a ps pressure bypass valve but I’m thinking the electric pump would be running flat out the whole time with this fitted, IDK, I’m just spit balling atm , thanks for your input though

I looked into this a few months ago. There are two Astra pumps: the earlier one (TRW I) puts out about 100 bar (1450psi) whereas the later (TRW II) is around 80 bar (1160 psi). Furthermore the earlier TRW II pumps are pressure controlled (or actually electrical load sensed) and the later ones require an ECU input. You have to look for an early TRW II pump. These pumps came in a variety of different models not only in Astra models.
The benefit of these pumps is speed sensitive power steering (high speed --> low steering input --> low electrical load --> low PS assist)!


btw. if the pressure is still too high you can buy this little device that allows you to adjust the pressure: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Heidts-PS-101-Adjustable-Power-Steering-Valve,14895.html

Have a close look at the connectors (the old pump has just one connection - the newer pump has several). This is the pump you want:



That's the newer pump you should avoid:



btw. have you looked at Mercedes pumps? W168 pumps (A 168 466 04 01) are 71 bar (1030 psi) and W414 (A 414 466 00 01) pumps are 81 bar (1175 psi).

After this was brought up it got me to thinking. I'm planning on AC in my Barracuda convertible and would like to mount the compressor down low on the driver side and I WILL be running power steering. So a little research indicated that all of these have electric pumps:
05-10 Cobalt
06-11 HHR
02-08 Mini
MR2
Subaru XT6
Echo
Yaris
TDi Sportwagen

Some of those are in my local Pick-N-Pull. Anything to avoid, specs, etc.? What does the signal look like to control pressure on those controlled by the ECM? Oh, and Pick-N-Pull is about $40 for ANY power steering pump.

Basically all ECU controlled units should be avoided as you would need a computer and several sensors to control the pump. Signal to the pumps is most likely a PWM (pulse width modulated) signal.

IMO the easiest solution for invisible A/C would be a low mount compressor on the passenger side and an electric fuel pump.

I've had enough trouble with electric fuel pumps that, unless I go to injection, I will avoid. I have read where some guys have used Arduino processors programmed to handle the signal. If I go that route I'll just need to learn about them. The problem is that I have yet to find a site that has all the technical info necessary...

Did figure out one thing. I'd need a bigger alternator. The Mini Cooper pump has a 100A fuse. That doesn't mean it draws close to that, but I'd need more than I have...

DGS, this is all good information thank you, I haven’t had a lot of time to delve into it further however I’m sure it’s not such a bad plan and a worthy option if it can be made work, the original Mopar pumps from memory run 900-1300 psi, and are non load sensored obviously. The guys out here with the GM Astra/Opel pumps simply wire the signal wire to 12V and give it full signal. I have one of those bypass regs laying about.
I really like the idea, and apparently the Late model Mini pump can be regulated, they are just expensive out here and for those who need front engine space or to clean up an engine bay it’s the go to, just need someone with smarts and time to work it out

I'm going to look into the programming of an Arduino or Raspberry Pi (my nephew has some experience with the Raspberry). Could also program the computer to track/monitor/control other things as well (not sure what yet, but...).

Would be a great idea to incorporate speed signal as input to make it speed sensitive (lots of OEMs have speed sensitive steering): low speed, high assist, high speed, low assist.

IMO, about the only simple ways to get to read the speed on an older car without CAN stuff is to feed off the transmission's governor oil-pressure, or install a combined cable and electric pulse sender on the transmission's speedo-connector.

Like this one from an 89 D150?

That would be the plan. Right now my job is to get the car running so I'll probably just mount the mechanical pump and pick up an electric pump later and play around with it.