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Jedi Hopeful
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Though I don't think I need to spend the money, I would like to do the rack and pinion conversion on my TR3.
What I can't help thinking about is electric power steering. there are some small cars out there, like the "smart car" that have electric power steering.
I just don't have the engineering wherewithall to do a project like that. Has anyone else given it a try?
Dave
 
Given what a try?? The rack and pinion steering, or the electric power steering??

The current state of EPS is quite sophisticated as well as power hungry. It's takes anywhere betwee 500-1000 watts to turn the electric motor. That's between 40-80 amps...two to four times what your generator in the TR3 is capable of putting out. The reason they went to EPS, is that the power is only used when neccessary, as opposed to a hydraulic pump constantly running. Most manufacturers have seen an increase of about a 1 mpg using EPS in their lighter cars.

If you're looking to decrease the steering effort in your TR3, first consider re-doing the current system, as great gains can be made by renewing some of those forty year old parts. Rack & pinion conversions are supposed to tranform the steering in a TR3, but I have never driven one with it. Although, I do have one installed in my current restoration. When it finally gets on the road (within a couple of months, hopefully), I'll be better able to let you know how it worked out.
 
martx-5 said:
If you're looking to decrease the steering effort in your TR3, first consider re-doing the current system, as great gains can be made by renewing some of those forty year old parts.
Click to expand...
I'll heartily second that ! The difference after I finally bit the bullet and rebuilt my old steering box was amazing. Afterwards, it steered as easy as any manual steering car I've ever driven (and a lot easier than my R&P Stag with the PS pump on the blink). You'd still never mistake it for power steering of course, but I'm talking literally parallel parking with one hand. Not bad considering I was also running 205/55 tires.
 
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