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55 replies

Electric Power Steering

H hockeydudeMember
Well, I went and did it. Grafted electric power steering into the Pantera. I'm going to be running 295s up front, reset the castor to 6.5' and have a pretty wicked backspace with my wheels, so figured I'd probably need some help steering.

This was quite an ugly mod, lots of cutting and fabbing, and new panels, and all the work was in some very tight spaces. Motor was too bulky even after I cut it down to fit in the passenger compartment, so it's nestled in the front subframe. I had already made an access panel into the front truck, ends up it was 100% required for this mod to see whats going on. Still have some work to do, need to finish and clean up the wiring and then pot all the connections, but other than that its done.

EPS unit is a solid shaft, so if power/motor dies you still have steering. The gearbox does take some force to turn though without power assist, but nothing crazy. Unit has variable power assist and the sensitivity of the torque sensor is adjustable as well.

So far so good regarding the system. Car is on a dolly so not sure how it acts with the wheels, but on the bench test with a breaker bar attached the motor pulled itself out of the vice.

I do have an issue with the system shutting off when you're turning the wheel extremely quickly and then jerk it back the other direction. Think its due to the fact I'm running it on a 10 amp power supply and it needs ~40-50 amps based on the fusing, need to pull a car battery and see (motor is the size of a starter, and my multimeter doesn't have a recall feature so guessing here)

Even if I don't like it, I can replace the motor with just a straight section of DD shaft and I'm right back to standard manual steering.

Dave

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goodrocgoodrocMember
Hi Hockeydude nice work. I am not sure if you know but EZ-Power Steering makes a kit that requires substantially less metal work to "bolt on" ? I got one my self and I am very happy with it. It is looking at your speed and fades to zero assist when above 30-50kph. Should say that I had to exchange the Needle Bearing at the Steering Column for a Bronze Bushing due anoying play at the very top of the Column.

There should be a Thread somewhere on the Forum were I posted some Photos earlier.

Jan
peterhpeterhMember
EZ Electric supplies a kit specific to the Pantera, and it includes modification of the column, a new u-joint and a new inner middle section. You ship your column to them in Holland and they modify it and send it back to you. David from Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada installed this system after exhaustive research on all the alternatives. Although I do not think his Pantera has been road-tested with this modification yet, I believe he found the installation straightforward with a minimum of cutting involved.

This is what he has written before on the POCA email list:

"You ship them the upper portion of your steering column and they ship it back to you with the power steering motor and control unit installed. The power steering unit is quite compact and is installed behind the cowling, so the turn signal lever and steering lock/ignition are unaffected. The middle section of the Pantera's steering column (part # 03017A) is made of two pieces; an upper male section and a lower female section. EZ Electric
supplies a new upper male section that connects to the electric power steering motor. The sheet metal that needs to be removed is isolated to the bracket that the steering column bolts to. A few minutes with a cut-off wheel should do it and the material removal doesn't really weaken the steering column mounting. It's designed to be "do able" without removing the dashboard but it would sure be a lot easier with the dash removed. You also need to mount the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) between the angle drive on your ZF and the speedo cable, run wires from the VSS to the control unit and power/ground to the power steering motor."

David posts here as David_Nunn so you can PM him for more info., or perhaps he will see this post and respond here himself.
goodrocgoodrocMember
Hi Guys, I did not sent my Steering Column. EZ Powersteering provides everything required to do the mod. I road tested it for nearly 9000Km and I am totally satisfied. (apart from replacing the Needle bearing with a Bronze Bushing which was very easy as the top part of the Column is detachable and is held on with only one Screw)

Now with the strong US dollar it is more desirable for you guys on the west side of the Ocean EZ being a company dealing in Euros ;-)
Last edited by goodroc
davidnunndavidnunnMember
Only the first few customers were asked to send their upper columns to EZ Electric. Now, they just send you a replacement upper column. If they haven't done any GT5-S's yet, the first couple of owners will be asked to send their upper columns to EZ, as the GT5-S has a different steering column than earlier Panteras.

The USA distributor is American Powertrain but I'm not sure if they have an exclusive arrangement with EZ or not. I believe the Great Lakes POCA chapter has arranged some "group buys" through American Powertrain.
Last edited by davidnunn
panteradougpanteradougMember
Perfect. Pictures tell it all. Now isn't this interesting? Hum?

Great idea! The ONLY concern I would have is how much room it takes up. The motor seems to hang down a bit and I need that room for my left knee.

The Pantera cabin is very tight in that respect.

After driving the Porsche with the PK I'm thinking that the manual transmission with a clutch pedal is finally obsolete? How do I adapt a PK to my Pantera?
peterhpeterhMember
You are right, Ron. Sorry about that; I did not mean to hijack the thread and I am sure the other people who posted did not either. Dave's work is very impressive and I do appreciate and admire it. However, Dave did write this:

"This was quite an ugly mod, lots of cutting and fabbing, and new panels, and all the work was in some very tight spaces. "

I was aware of a possibly easier solution that I thought should be mentioned in case anyone else reading the thread was considering the same project and wanted an "off-the-shelf" solution. I did not mean to take anything away from Dave's custom effort, and I agree we should get back on that topic. Thanks for the reminder, and my apologies to Dave.
panteradougpanteradougMember
Me sorry too. Didn't mean to be self depreciating again? Even so, the entire thread turns out to be a comparison of where to install the booster unit.

Both show great work and thought and as such turns out to be much more valuable to the entire Pantera community.

It didn't EXACTLY get hi-jacked. It's more that it took a pertinent scenic side trip?

It certainly has me thinking...I don't know if that's good or bad, only time will tell?
Just DON'T say Niagara Falls? Roll Eyes


@ Dave (HockeyDude). By some strange chance of fate, are those splines on those shafts the same as on the Pantera, particularly on the steering wheel side?

It looks like everyone is using the u-joint knuckles that come with the power steering unit rather that those already on the Pantera?
Last edited by panteradoug
garth66garth66"When speed is the only thing that counts"
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by Rger:
Here is some additional information:
http://www.ezpowersteering.nl/..._Tomaso_Pantera.html

Cheers
Rutger

This one cuts nothing. It's a bolt in...almost.


Not exactly. There is cutting, but it's under the dash. Read about an install here:
http://www.greatlakespantera.c...ering%20unedited.pdf

Anyway, great work Dave! I keep thinking that I might someday entertain one of these conversions, but would love to drive one first. Thanks for sharing!
panteradougpanteradougMember
quote:
Originally posted by garth66:
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by Rger:
Here is some additional information:
http://www.ezpowersteering.nl/..._Tomaso_Pantera.html

Cheers
Rutger

This one cuts nothing. It's a bolt in...almost.


Not exactly. There is cutting, but it's under the dash. Read about an install here:
http://www.greatlakespantera.c...ering%20unedited.pdf

Anyway, great work Dave! I keep thinking that I might someday entertain one of these conversions, but would love to drive one first. Thanks for sharing!


I said "almost". It's like being just a little pregnant. Smiler
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