Electric Power Steering part 1 — A Simple man with power tools

***Disclaimer: This series of posts will be about modifying the steering in my Mustang to use the EPAS electric power steering system. DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THE MODIFICATIONS YOU READ ABOUT HERE!!!***

Back in October of 2016, just about every automotive forum dealing with American V-8s had a posting to the effect of “$35 Electric Power Steering” by a cat named Waid 302. He had a change up on the Waid theme on a couple of the sites but the information was the same.

Motor Trend ran an article talking about the merits of the conversion so I guess that adds a little bit of legitimacy to the idea.

I read Waids article a few times and he covers the different model of cars that have the fail safe EPAS system. A popular model is the Toyota Prius.

I can tell you right now, the idea of getting an EPAS for $35 is way out dated. It’ll cost nearly a couple hundred dollars to find the parts in a junkyard now, at least in LA it will.

If you want to know what the EPAS is all about, read the article I mentioned above. the one Waid wrote.

I went a slightly different route than what Waid talks about. I decided on an EPAS from a Nissan Rogue as it’s a larger vehicle with a curb weight closer to that of the Mustang.

For a while I didn’t think the Rogue unit was working. All I had read is that the EPAS only needed 12V to the main power leads and a voltage to the ignition lead. I patched it up like that and the unit just lay there. I’d hear a click when the ignition wire was charged but nothing.

I finally saw a video that shows how you’re supposed to do a check and instantly realized how smart I’m not. Here’s a video of me after I figured out how to test the Rogue EPAS.

Yeah, nothing dramatic. It was a tiny bit exciting when I twisted on the steering shaft lightly and the motor started moving the whole unit. It’s a start. Is it enough to make a difference in the car? Hell if I know.

I read the $35 electric PS article and picked a few of the ideas for integrating the Prius EPAS into an old car.

In the end, it was all a waste of time. The Rogue is a completely different animal than the Prius, EPAS that is. The concept is the same and how they work but the mechanical side is completely not the same.

I managed to buy the entire steering column with steering wheel and jointed output shaft on Ebay for a good price. This was before everyone discovered EPAS.

I stripped everything I didn’t think was necessary and wound up with a pile of parts larger than the pile of parts I would use. Thankfully, the seller included the wire connectors I would need to control the EPAS.

The parts I would end up using are: