lowdown dirty rat wrote:

well got the small litle jobs done underneath today and took it for a test drive, wow.... its responsive, very light,no wandering at all, steering returns fully after cornering, everything i expected and better really, as for turning round and parking its a plesure..... so the parts used are

astra mk3 pas rack £50 ebay
pug 106 pump £35 ebay
braided pipe with m18 and m16 ends £40 bgc motorsport
20mm pillar block self centreing bearing free from work!
mk1 golf steering uj £20 ebay
t25 bevel box £30 ebay
20x20 box, 10mm flat bar, ect ect £10

so £185 and a couple of days work and i have a split with power steering with thanks to steve ( 686busboy) for his welding, here,s a few more photos of it

this is awesome, massive thanks for posting this up. i have been looking into this for a while now (alot better then the creative setup) but now is clearly speeled out for us, cheers.
just a couple of questions
do you have caster on your beam? or is the new rack responsible for the "steering returns fully after cornering"?
how is the astra rack connected to the beam/bus?

might give you and steve a call nearer the time im ready to fit if thats cool.

i have not changed the castor on the beam as there was no need, the self centreing seemed to take care of its self, although if you had your uj's at a slightly obscure angle causing them to lock slightly then this would cause trouble, if you look on page 2 there are pics of the mounting brackets...

BBBCVW wrote:do you reckon its worth useing power assisted steering or will normal rack be ok

i was going to go with normal rack but now im wondering shold i go for power assisted
does it adjust and get stiffer as you go faster

to be honnest it probally dos,nt really need power steering but as i were fitting a rack anyway and thought what the hell, but parking it and turning round in my drive is now a real pleasure , as you will notice in my picture i have a banjo steering wheel which is slightly smaller the the og wheel so this really helps me, also i just wanted to say my bus has power steering as it sounds better than its got a steering rack!!

Back on line now, thanks for the photo's.

any chance of showing how the astra rack is connected to the beam/bus?

cheers

from page 2

althesparky wrote:well had a good day on the bus today, got the brackets made, rack mounted and the tie rods shortened, all is working well with a good lock left and right, next job hook up the electric pas pump...here's a few pics

the brackets







and with the rack on

any rason why the particular parts are used?
ie
astra rack ?
106 pump?

couldnt you use the parts off one doner car? -pump and rack off a 106?
or a saxo?
and would any 12v pump work with any rack?
think VAG use 12v pumps now?

The VX racks are good because of the central track rod ends giving you minimal change to the arm angles. If you used a conventional rack you'd struggle to get all the ackermann angles right etc.

The Pug is pretty much the only vehicle with elctric driven hydraulic PAS. The new VWs all have EPAS which is direct electrical drive and electronically interfaced to the ECU.

If you were installing in a Bay etc. then the EPAS systems would be really neat, just in a split it would look ugly and be in the way of your knees.

I saw a new Corsa EPAS motor earlier and its huge. I was also looking at a BMW 1 Series rack (EPAS built onto the rack) and it was really neat, but you'd have to loose the front beam and go double wishbone I think.

The system shown above really has to be the neatest way of doing it, tempted myself now!

It will be interesting to see if there are any new EPAS setups at Autosport this year.

bobley wrote:The system shown above really has to be the neatest way of doing it, tempted myself now!

Yep, going to build one for myself for one of the buses...

iv been looking at the corsa epas for a while
needs a £100 plus box of tricks to mimick the brain of the doner car, and it will give you adjustable assistance so you can add more when slow or less when fast driving

Even the old Corsa motor is a fair beastie. Where are you planning on fitting it?

just to clarify, there is no way this system would work on a airbeam, right?

Very doubtful. Dave Palmer used to run this system but when he started using air beams he developed the kit which Creative are now selling. Thats the main reason the Creative setup is how it is.

just looking at other peoples steering conversions on the internet to see how others are doing things and ive found this thread, i have done a manual asta rack and pinion on my mates RHD 66 11 window and im soon to be on with my own power steering astra rack conversion on my own LHD 13 window over winter a few questions for althesparky, do you have any problems with the difference in lock to lock from side to side do you really notice? as i see you have mounted the steering rack 100mm off centre from straight ahead position as the rack bar centre is not central between the 2 mounting clamps, the pinion end of the rack has to be mounted on the outer edge of the chassis not the inner to centralise it. why didnt you use a LHD rack keep the steering shaft straighter? how does it drive on the motorway? that the main reason for me getting rid of the steering box i have a big motor/gearbox and disks all round but 70mph is frightening ! round town is ok but long journeys are a bind