Has anyone considered running an Electronic Hydraulic Power Steering Pump? I'm considering this because I want one less thing connected to the engine for removals and replacements (because race car).

I guess the SW20 had one but its kinda pricey used (if you can find one).

Ive lightly thought of and looked into it.
It wouldnt be a bad idea to do it.

The reservoir is on top of the pumps for the SW20 right?


When you do it (because I know you probably will) Make 2 mounting brackets....so that I can have one and do it too

Tought about it and scrapped it. You need the sensor that is located on steering wheel to tell the pump what to do. Total cost 700 all parts from ebay😜. Unless you get a 700 junk car and scrap the rest.

So the pump needs input from both the steering wheel and the speed Signal?

This post has been edited by Tigawoods: Jun 10, 2015 - 11:47 AM

I read it was just the speed signal. No need for any steering sensor. I looked into it and found plenty of writeups that make no mention of a steering wheel sensor

You can bypass the sensor. But if you want constant pressure. The steering wheel sensor gives feedback to the ecu that in turn feeds the pump. You can ghetto right the pump with a flip switch as well and forget the ecu. There are so many ways to do it. But if you want to do it right, do it the way toyota did it to prevent premature pump failure

Well... it wouldn't be ghetto rigged if you use an embedded development board (think Rasberry Pi or Audrino) and PWM the pump like you are supposed... basically you don't want the pump hammering against a closed valve or running full nuts when it doesn't have to... Keep in mind that the MR2 one is from 1994... so you can bet your ass it is late 1980s computer technology so the control loop is going to be stupid simple....

I need to look into this more.

I just downloaded the SW20 EWD - There is a Power Steering "Driver" and "ECU". The system does in fact reference the steering wheel position AND vehicle speed


It looks like the system is speed based... looks like it goes to a low power (3-5 Volts) over 40 MPH and full power (11-12 Volts) below that....


The steering wheel sensor looks like it uses a pair of photo transistors which you could use to detect the speed and direction of the wheel turning. It doesn't look like there is a mechanism or system in place to try to count the these blips of light to know exact steering wheel position.. Reading the service manual I can't see any explicit test where they make sure the steering wheel sensor affects voltage to the power steering pump..

-Mike

This post has been edited by qatar11: Jun 11, 2015 - 7:56 AM

I'm using the 00' mr2 spyder powersteering pump in my corolla with the 2gr conversion. The pump works great, its an all in one pump (it has its own control unit). The steering feel is nice because the assist is just enough so you know you have powersteering but not butter soft like most belt driven pumps. It is relatively easy to wire too, and it will work without a VSS signal, although it does help. Pump cost me $200. If it sits idle to long the pump will shut off, but with a turn of the steering wheel the pump sense fluid again and turns right back on. The mk3 mr2 version also uses a lot less juice than the mk2 mr2 pumps.



This post has been edited by rdyzz: Jun 16, 2015 - 10:35 AM

Sorry to revive an old post, but im thinkin about doin this so heres some pretty good technical info about the spyder pump and its observed operation in a custom application:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums#/topics/19505?page=1

Heres a general how-to with diagrams:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/enderw88.wordp...connection/amp/

Im about 99% done my conversion. those sites as well as the site on the nicoclub forum (IIRC) were very helpful