British Electric Power Steering for Tiger

[at the beach]

As I mentioned a few weeks ago in a post about our recent trip to the Rootes Archive, I was quite impressed with the Electric Power Steering (EPS) units I saw installed on several Tigers during our UK trip to the Rootes Archives.

It is not hydraulic. It is entirely electric and hides between the dash and the firewall. The engine compartment looks very stock.

Alpine owner Jim Ovens engineered a batch of power steering units for Alpines and Tigers. He made a very sweet product by combining Alpine steering columns and the EPS unit out of a Vauxhall Corsa B or C. The Tiger's column is removed and put on a shelf, unmolested.Corsas were sold in Europe in both LHD and RHD versions. His units use the EPS from RHD Corsas for RHD Tigers and LHD Corsa units work in LHD Tigers.

Corsas have been used for so many EPS conversions in Europe that there are commercially developed aftermarket "black boxes" available there that fool the electronics in the Corsa steering column into thinking it's still hooked up to a Corsa ECU. These boxes are even equipped with a pot that allows a driver to dial in the amount of assist that he likes. They cost around $75.

I've heard Jim used to sell his completed units, including the "black box", for 800 pounds. I don't know if he has any plans to make any more.

bt,
at the beach

 

[Duke Mk1a]

Next will be an auto tranny, electric windows and seats and a power chair to get you to the Tiger.

 

[Socorob]

In the hot rod world there's several. You can get flaming river and Ididit columns with it built in.

 

[66TigerMK1A]

Buck... thanks for posting the pics and additional info...

Next will be an auto tranny, electric windows and seats and a power chair to get you to the Tiger.

Well... one of the 'protos' had an auto as do several others electric windows... seen that

How about A.C. ...? check! 5 speed?... check! stroker?... check! blower...? check! twin turbo...? check! custom front suspension...? check! rear discs...? check! etc. etc. ...

Geez, there must be some new frontier where no ones dared to go yet???



Jim
B382000446

 

[michael-king]

Jim,

you forgot the couple of different routes that guys ave gone down for IRS both USA and Uk (not ot mention the factory did a de-dion prototype IRS)

i guess evetnualy someone will doa folding hardtop?

Duke.. I have less of an issue with someone engineering up a decent power steering system than working out the best way to add cup holders! at least they are doing something to assist with driving!

 

[65beam]

power

michael,
i know of several tigers and alpines that have well engineered drink holders that look like something the factory would have done. when you finally get around to buying a regular car,you'll find drink holders to be standard equipment.

 

[Duke Mk1a]

Geez, there must be some new frontier where no ones dared to go yet???

Horn hole covers with spring loaded flap doors

http://catmbr.org/VB_forum/showthread.php?t=1601

 

[at the beach]

In the hot rod world there's several. You can get flaming river and Ididit columns with it built in.

I've seen some of those after market steering columns at SEMA in past years, but I guess the sticker shock tempered my interest. I asked two friends to check out this year's show for new developments. I hope to hear something this week.

Unisteer has a column that's less than a thousand while some of the others are quite a bit more. Dale has one in his shop that I assume will be played with in the future.

However I've never seen any hot rod columns that come close to the stock look that Jim Ovens has achieved using Alpine donor columns.

Duke makes a good general point about. However I've seen my wife wrestling her Tiger into parking places. I think she'd really benefit from a nice power steering installation.

bt

 

[the_tool_man]

I have no problem if someone wants to develop stuff for our cars. Perhaps I am the only one, but the cost of some of these "mods" are so big that I'll more likely do my own version rather than buy a ready-made solution. I have the luxury of not caring about originality in the slightest, however.

Of course, my first milestone will be to have a running car.

 

[Tomaselli]

I have the wee electric motor unit fitted on the Tiger, useful to show pics as the car (in the UK at least) has the steering wheel on the wrong side

Pictures to give you an idea of the unit;


Actual complete unit from a Vauxhall Corsa

After the mods and grafting in the Alpine column to the top of the unit (Tiger unit safely stored)

Custom lower shaft;

 

[Tomaselli]

Box of tricks;

Before and after....

In situ...

Showing the adjustment for the power steering load.

 

[Tomaselli]

Nearly finished.

Finished article,

Feedback: Useful conversion and an absolute breeze when parking, nimble for maneuvering around town, or applying opposite lock as quickly as you want

However, a dpwnside for me that unlike a hydraulic system the electric power steering unit gives very poor steering feedback at low to mid speeds.

 

[at the beach]

Thanks for sharing those great pictures. They show the quality of Jim's kit.
Here's a question: If the unit fails or a fuse blows, what is the resulting steering effort when compared to a stock Tiger?

thanks,
bt

 

[hottigr]

Well done and well documented!

 

[Seabrook]

14 posts and no jokes about the wisdom of electric steering in a British car.

Admirable restraint!

 

[Tomaselli]

Yes indeed, the quality of Jim's engineering genius is something to really appreciate close up. The fit is spot on and lines up beautifully. Fitting time is a couple of hours.

Forgot to mention, that I have the power steering fitted to the MG Midget quick rack setup.

If needed, I can help Jim with any enquiries from the US, as mine needed a LHD power steering rack from the Corsa. So to find suitable donor units I imagine that we would need to source them from Europe where Vauxhall marketed the car as 'Opel'

So be careful RHD kits from the UK will not fit your cars in the US.

 

[Tiger2Dan]

Just saw this post on the EPS.....

I developed an EPS for the Sunbeam that is functional for the Alpine and the Tiger. My intent was to retain all of the original functions Rootes had for our SUnbeams. A very difficult tassk.

I was able to design working components so that the telescoping option can be retained. And if your Sunbeam does not have the telescoping option, it can be modified for that option utilizing my EPS.

Check out what I have done at: http://danr.mhartman.net/