Electric Power Steering

[hybrid]

Ok, I guess it's time to do something new since it's been a bit quiet around here.
I'm going to look at doing EPS on my car.

First thing will be to disable the power steering valve. You could also switch to the manual drag link and associated parts.
I'm going to use this kit:


It essentially removes the valve and holds the ball joint solid in the PS drag link.

I have also bought this steering column from a 2012-2018 corolla.



The important thing here is that the chosen column works in a failsafe mode without any CAN or speed sensor input and that the control box is included. Mine does use a speed sensor that I could try tapping into if need be.

[Dwayne]

Looking forward to seeing this come together. Do you need engineering certificate and lane change testing over in NSW?

[hybrid]

It would need engineering. Not sure about lane change. I might ask around. Not sure I'm that keen

[Pinto-Pete]

What was that worth hybrid, if you don't mind me being nosy and did you get the collapsible portion of the column as well..?

[Pinto-Pete]

And do you want to sell the wheel and clock spring...?

[rkmiller73]

EPS is great, I did it on the Burgundy fastback in 2017. I think you will like it.

[hybrid]

What was that worth hybrid, if you don't mind me being nosy and did you get the collapsible portion of the column as well..?

It was a couple of hundred bucks. I planned to use the existing collapsible column (I put a 68 collapsible in mine).
I'm planning to strip it right down to just the motor and controller and adapt it to the mustang bits. And do you mean bits from the toyota?
I actually I thought I might have bought it from you when I saw the name of the seller (toyrolla). It just arrived and it's only the column itself - none of the other bits.
It's actually kind of got a collapsible part built into it because it has a really long spline that can slide in and out at least a few inches. So you could potentially use that to provide some collapse function. I might see if I can adapt the original brackets too so the wheel can slide in and out. I doubt I will be able to use the tilt because I doubt there will be room for the motor to move around.

The EPS controller is missing too. I should have been more careful with that. Do you have an EPS controller Pete?


rkmiller73: did you use a kit, or develop it yourself?

[Pinto-Pete]

Yes I do have those pm me if you want although it will attract buying off the opposition tax [mucho peso]

[hybrid]

Actually it looks as though the ECU for this unit is actually part of it (The square box on top). But aside from the obvious massive power and GND, I'm not sure of the rest of the wiring. Most people seem to be doing this with earlier EPS models (2007 ish).

There's a smaller red wire that I could guess is the ign in wire. And I'm guessing others are probably CAN wires in later models. As long as this has the failsafe mode, I may not need any other wires anyway. I have seen someone use an arduino to generate a CAN signal to control the output of the EPS.

[Dwayne]

Actually it looks as though the ECU for this unit is actually part of it (The square box on top). But aside from the obvious massive power and GND, I'm not sure of the rest of the wiring. Most people seem to be doing this with earlier EPS models (2007 ish).

There's a smaller red wire that I could guess is the ign in wire. And I'm guessing others are probably CAN wires in later models. As long as this has the failsafe mode, I may not need any other wires anyway. I have seen someone use an arduino to generate a CAN signal to control the output of the EPS.

Would the CAN signal just reduce the amount of assist as the car moves faster?

[hybrid]

Yes I believe so, but can also do other things like provide a buffer against backlash in the wheel when you hit potholes etc. Depends on the capabilities of the unit though.

[hybrid]

Here's my guess on the wiring here.
Obviously the massive wires are supply power and ground.

Then the smaller plug:



I think red will be ign in, green gnd.
Blue/orange will be CAN input.
Not sure about purple yet.

[Dwayne]

Can you enable CAN coming out of your Megasquirt (pins 3 & 4) and try to replicate some of the factory Toyota signal?

[Pinto-Pete]

Will be watching this with interest as l already have a column put aside and the R&D just got easier...

Thanks Hybrid..

[hybrid]

Can you enable CAN coming out of your Megasquirt (pins 3 & 4) and try to replicate some of the factory Toyota signal?

I already have CAN being sent to an internal IO extender module. I might be able to tap into that and send RPM, but I wouldn't have speed.