Steel Grey 205 V6 - Ongoing Project

[Goliath 94]

Would you believe it, an update!

 

I have largely left this alone over the past year mostly due to being busy and moving house etc, although I have kept it MOT'd and have done the odd drive in it. Today I finally managed to make some good progress on it.

 

One of the reasons I haven't driven it much is, as silly as it sounds, I found the steering so heavy that I always preferred to drive one of the other cars as a daily. Unfortunately there is no room in my engine bay to fit a saxo/106 PAS setup, nor is there enough room by the steering rack for a PAS rack. So after looking into electric power steering options I decided to send my column off to Roger Hicks, and boy am I glad I did, the quality of this setup is incredible and IMO well worth the £475 price tag, not least because I will actually be able to enjoy driving the car! The deal was that I sent him my column and he would return it as a near enough plug and play installation.

 

I'll let the pictures do the talking for a bit...

 

Firstly, some pictures from when it arrived:

20160502_181747 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_181836 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_181759 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_181806 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_181845 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_181852 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_182032 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

The kit comes complete with ECU and controller, all the wiring sorted too, just 4 wires for me to connect up!

20160502_182134 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

20160502_182143 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

 

So, onto the fitting of it which happened today. Firstly I had to cut out part of the bracket that holds the column for the motor to fit so I made a cardboard template:

20160506_125041 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

Then offered it up to the bracket, quite a chunk had to come out:

20160506_125121 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

And marked it up, a very simple cut!

20160506_125359 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

The got busy with the grinder and a slitting disc:

20160506_125959 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

And the other side, I did the same with a cardboard template:

20160506_131732 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

It fits!

20160506_144117 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

I made a very simple bracket to hold the control box/ecu thingy which will be nicely hidden up there:

20160506_160043 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

I connected up all the wires; which was 1 permanent live, 1 switched live and 2 earths. I got a bit cable tie happy trying to keep all the wiring out of the way. I'll order some cable clips and do it properly to make it tidier:

20160506_185915 by Goliath -, on Flickr

 

I haven't yet put my xsara vts rack on, I am planning on taking the car down to 'ramp it up' (a ramp rental place) in bristol and doing it one day soon as I don't fancy doing it on the driveway here. (EDIT in 2017 - funny story, Ramp it up's bristol branch closed down and my wife and I ended up buying the business, should have the branch open again soon!)

Edited November 14, 2017 by Goliath

[welshpug 1,657]

drive it down here and use the ramp

[Anthony 1,003]

How does that e-PAS setup fair in terms of steering feedback, as that's always been my concern with those setups given how lacking most modern cars with similar setups are?

[Goliath 94]

I've only driven it about a mile so can't comment on feedback yet. It is very adjustable though with 10 settings from completely off to finger light steering, so i' sure you'd find a sweet spot

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

Looks a fantastic quality kit!

[jorg 11]

Wish I remembered to phone Roger Hicks back now as that looks great.

[Goliath 94]

Another small bit of progress today, I finally fitted my green check door cards which came from Austria!

I think it improves the interior look massively.

I need some new screws for my door pockets though.

20160507_153350 by Goliath -, on Flickr

Edited November 14, 2017 by Goliath

[johniban 59 1 Cars]

Looks lovely that collumn

[Goliath 94]

Some more progress, no pics though!

 

I finally got round to fitting the xsara vts steering rack I had in the shed, fitted with all new track rods, track rod ends and boots so it should be good for a few years. It improves the feel of the car massively, I'm so glad I have finally got round to doing it.

 

I also picked up some citroen BX clocks at pugfest and Ade_4wd made me a new wiring loom which locates the ecu under the dash where it should be as well as a few other upgrades. I'll try and get them both fitted in the near future.

 

Next step for power upgrades is to design and make an inlet manifold to take my ITB's....

[welshpug 1,657]

doesn't it already have a bx tacho in there? im sure we fitted one about 2 years ago

[Goliath 94]

doesn't it already have a bx tacho in there? im sure we fitted one about 2 years ago

 

3 years ago now! I thought it was a ZX tacho, but who knows! Either way the BX clocks should work without any mods, if needed I can swap over my bx/zx tacho into the new bx clocks but I doubt that will be needed.

[blandy 29]

How are you finding the steering set up? I take it the motor sits up tight out of the way?

[Goliath 94]

How are you finding the steering set up? I take it the motor sits up tight out of the way?

 

I love it, it is great in my opinion. There is still some feedback through the wheel but cornering is much more confident now. Also many additional benefits which suit a road car like no tramlining on lorry tracks on the motorway, no pulling on the wheel when you hit a pot hole, bump or puddle.

 

It is all nicely hidden out of the way, the way I have mounted my steering ecu means I will need to cut out a very small section from the storage bin on the plastic trim by your right knee, but if you made a different bracket then you could mount it high enough to not need any modifications to the dash plastics. I may still do this as I will be relocating my engine ECU to the same location so I will probably mount the 2 ECU's together on a bracket.

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

I'm fancying doing it on mine, looks a nice conversion. Any idea what sort of ampage they draw George?

[blandy 29]

That's great thanks. I have a different dash so plastics are not a issue just thinking of a little assistance with plate diff etc and this seems logical choice with the ability to adjust.

[blandy 29]

 

And marked it up, a very simple cut!

 

The got busy with the grinder and a slitting disc:

 

And the other side, I did the same with a cardboard template:

 

 

Just started to fit mine this afternoon. Did you do anything to add any strength to the bracket once chopped? Part of me thinks it would be a good idea as isn't much left strength wise but then it's all bolted up with the lump of a motor there so shouldn't have to much stress?