Power Steering.
Turbo Mini Forums

Well for those that have been interested recently, i have got my mitts on a Corsa electric power steering column.

in its standard form it weighs 14KG.



of course i looked at what i thought could possibly be removed, altered, or lightweighted:



Height altering linkage.....pffftttt i dont think so!!!



Hefty ass UJ's. Custom lighter set-up could be made as you would have to change the bottom UJ to use it with the mini rack anyways.


Mount. Aluminium? Its going to be custom for you to fit the column anyways.

Then i took it apart


This is the bare coloumn including the Motor, according to my scales (which i dont trust!!) it weighs 7KG's. I will do my best to get this on the scales orginally used for a proper comparison.


This is the ECU that controls the senstivity of the coloumn, you have to run it along with a box that tricks it into thinking its getting a speed signal.

But check the mount that it has underneath it to hold it in place!!!:




Relocate the ECU and get rid of the mounting plate and the lugs for it on the column.

There is alot of alluminium casing around the motor. it looks like there is a few grams that could possibly be shaved off that too.


So, there it is for those who are interested.

Edited by James_H on 7th Mar, 2009.

Thats quite interesting - how much do those things go for?

i got mine from work for £60. thats what my boss payed for it when he needed something from it, so thats what i got it for.

havent paid for it yet though. lol.

power steering is for girls!

Weed

i hate new cars i love the driving feel of the mini i have a mondeo and A6 at mo and it utter bordum too much leccy bull

garlic bread

never said i was going to fit it

there was a call for info on these things, about weight and how light they can be.....thats when the bat symbol went up in my town and i came to the rescue

if i can get it light enough i will fit it.

I will be doing all i can to prevent torque steer with the info i can find on here about suspension, etc but this should help to control anything that is left.

you sin the suspention setup on the new focus rs then thats supose to help torque steer

garlic bread

nope i will have a look.

Ive read on here, rose joint/rod end joint (or what ever the fuck it is that Carl uses! lol) everything! helps alot apparently.

well had a play with camber on me n/a mini as im new too a turbo mini didnt find much help as my n/a mini was very torque'y but i found best way was all down to the diff get a good lsd an your sorted

garlic bread

Nice one James! Ive still been weaving all over the road... not even on full bost yet! lol

Im trying some different wheels first with a larger offset to see if that helps. 7kgs isn't bad at all!

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

Its 8kg according to the original scales. so close to the original one i said.

i dont mind, 8KG, but it depends on the mounts etc that are needed to fit it.

shouldnt be much more than i will need to fit a custom column to suit my driving posistion i wouldnt have thought so.

oh and the control boxes can now be bought off ebay for a whoping £17!!

bargain!

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

Great stuff James,

However - you haven't got into the real guts yet! I would be interested to see what can be done to this lump:



As I can see, it looks like everything to the left of the alloy housing could be swapped out for something lighter / simpler.
Also, I would be very surprised if you pulled off the motor and didn't see some major lightening potential in there, say be through-drillind shafts - or even in the motor itself...

loose the barrel and steering lock for one.

Dave is correct, all the left hand side stuff goes and you can put the end of the mini column etc on there.
Extend the wiring and relocate the ecu.
I've left the heatsink on for now.
The two ecu retaining tabs on the bottom can come off, and only a small section of the uj assembly is needed.

Here for the craic..

Supercharged Arden powered

Exactly as i was thinking Rich.

I did have a quick look at unbolting the top half of the column but it was getting late on and when unbolted it didnt want to shift so i called it a night.

i will take it to work with me and see if i can strip it further with the better tools that i have there.

i will also do as you say dave and get some pics of the guts of the thing.

hopefully, this will see some further scope!

5KG would be nice....

looking good mate, im following your progress see how you get on, might be doing this conversion if our lass gets a mini,

are you using this part? if not where would i get it, thats exactly what i need :)

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

it wont be operational for a while i wouldnt have thought.

i will be hanging onto that part incase i need to use the UJ that connects to the column to make the custom one to suit the mini rack.

you will be able to pick one up from your local Vaux parts dealer. I doubt you could get one from a motorfactors. Probably not a common faulty part.

Or a scrappy. Any Corsa C/ same shape Combo van will have one fitted.

I'll pm you mate! Think I know the problem!

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

Got it down to 6kg.

if i had a lathe or a mill, i could take more off.

where i have drilled it this part isnt taking any load yet it very thick, lots could be taken from here to reduce weight.

if a new motor could be sourced then quite alot of weight could be saved there aswell. The motor alone weighs ina t 3kg.

the main gear housing, could have a few area's shaved off of it further with the right equiptment, but the motor is quite torquey when first flicking over.







with the right equiptment and possibly some time spent researching the possiblities of a lighter motor i think this could drop to 5kg (even lighter if the motor was swapped).

For me, this will do i think.

when it comes to fitment i will build it up with all of the mounts and steering wheel etc on it, then weigh it again.

so i will have a weight of it as fitted to the car. I am hoping to keep it under 10kg, 8KG will be my aim but the right materials/design will be key there.

Edited by James_H on 11th Mar, 2009.

Good job James And fair play for publishing all that info. I actually thought they would be alot heavier

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse