been watchin alot of youtube lately and peoples builds. got to talkin to a buddy about electric power steering kits. while we were talkin about it i thought about our 3rd gens baiscally the only kind of "rack" setup is a non powered pinto rack. so i got to thinking that basically if you got one of these electric power steering columns and one of the tubular k-members with the pinto rack technically you can have a modern steering setup. i would love to ty this myself but i already got a tubular k and all new front suspension. was throwing this out there for someone maybe thinking of something new to try. the generic column kits are a little pricey but i know theres some technical people that could probably make something from a junkyard work.
just some generic photos to give you guys an idea of what im talking about.
There was a thread on this subject a year or two ago. Dont think it went much of anywhere, tech talk mostly, but i lost track of it so who knows. Id like to try it too, but as you said, its pricey.
it seems that it would work out. i found a ittle bit cheaper options on ebay using a saturn vue electric steering column. theres was also some people that made controllers for those columns too.
There was a guy that looked into this sometime in the last year. He narrowed things down to Toyota and Nissan donors if I remember right. But I think it was predicted it would overheat in a racing environment.
Well, I'll throw my 2 cents in, since I've done one of these conversions. I will say, I did the conversion on my Mustang. The vintage hydraulic power steering was very "vague" and always leaked. My honest goal was to have it feel more like my IROC steering.
Cost: I spent $200 for the Vue EPAS unit from eBay. You might be able to get one cheaper if you pull it yourself from a junkyard. I also needed to get the (adjustable) controller from eBay, and that was about $60. Some cutting and welding was required to modify the column to make this work.
Function: The steering unit works great, and you can get full power steering even without the car running (key to ON position). No hydraulics to leak, and one less thing mounted to the engine. Return to center isn't quite as strong, but that may be rear-steer specific. The controllers that have a **** let you dial in the amount of steering assist you want. Most people leave it alone after finding their sweet spot. I don't have a lot of miles on the setup at this point, but my first impressions are that it's better than the OE Mustang setup, and better than the manual setup I also had on there.
How to: This link is the message board I used for info. Lots of good stuff, but it's mustang specific. I'm convinced every install would be unique depending on your setup. The meat of the install starts on page 5 https://www.vintage-mustang.com/thre....787114/page-5
I like it for my Mustang, but not for my Camaro. But that's only because I'm pretty happy with the stock steering box on the Camaro. Maybe with that Pinto setup like you suggested it might be more practical.
