• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Electric PS pump... do, or do not?

BeaverMeat

BeaverMeat

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Location
Vancouver Island
A continuation of my previous "de-power power steering"...

What the consensus on electric Ps pump?

The main reason I'm considering this is there must be an operating pressure difference between the Volvo rack and the Ford pump. Enough so that the cap on the pump reservoir pops off when I turn the wheels with the engine off. It's starting to get messy.
 
BeaverMeat said:
The main reason I'm considering this is there must be an operating pressure difference between the Volvo rack and the Ford pump. Enough so that the cap on the pump reservoir pops off when I turn the wheels with the engine off. It's starting to get messy.
Click to expand...

They actually have a similar peak pressure, and a slightly different volume. What you're experiencing is called a ford PS pump. Throw it in the garbage and put a saginaw pump on it.
 
I put an electric pump on my 242 from an R53 BMW Mini. Steering effort is a bit higher than before but it doesn't really bother me at all. I mostly did it for packaging reasons but it was also a nice side benefit that it decluttered the engine bay a bit. The Mini pump is nice because it uses a remote reservoir so I mounted the pump in the passenger side wheel well, right behind the bumper and ran a hose through a grommet to a BMW reservoir.
 
As you can see the pully rides against the Contour rad fan motor…

That’s problem #3

#2 is leaking hoses
#1 it’s a Foord!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3681.jpeg
    IMG_3681.jpeg
    67.9 KB · Views: 23
A controller would help, so that it is not always just running full blast. If its a race car who cares, but for a DD it would be nice
 
From what I've gathered on these, bypassing CAN input puts the pump at 40-60% capacity. For a lot of folks that's fine and gets the job done. The thing with the drifters(from listening to their comments, no personal experience) is that they need 100% output at times, so a controller allows for that. Depending on your end goal uses a controller may not be necessary. It may be that you install it with the CAN bypassed and if you start running into issues you install the controller so you can add/subtract output as needed.
 
This was also one of the reasons I went with an R53 Mini pump; no external controller required. The pump has an internal brain box that connects to the alternator exciter wire to detect when the engine is running. The pump always runs at a constant low speed, when you turn the wheel it senses the pressure drop and ramps up the pump to keep pace with demand.
 
Alex Buchka said:
This was also one of the reasons I went with an R53 Mini pump; no external controller required. The pump has an internal brain box that connects to the alternator exciter wire to detect when the engine is running. The pump always runs at a constant low speed, when you turn the wheel it senses the pressure drop and ramps up the pump to keep pace with demand.
Click to expand...
Good to know.

I will look further into this to see if I have any space for it. The engine bay is crowded as it is with all the Fird stuff
 
Alex Buchka said:
This was also one of the reasons I went with an R53 Mini pump; no external controller required. The pump has an internal brain box that connects to the alternator exciter wire to detect when the engine is running. The pump always runs at a constant low speed, when you turn the wheel it senses the pressure drop and ramps up the pump to keep pace with demand.
Click to expand...

Do you run a power steering cooler with the r53 setup? I'm in the "final 10% stage" of my turbo l33 build and still thinking about going to electric PS because the packaging of everything is getting a bit tight. I have one extra high amp circuit on the Haltech.
 
mopar318 said:
Do you run a power steering cooler with the r53 setup? I'm in the "final 10% stage" of my turbo l33 build and still thinking about going to electric PS because the packaging of everything is getting a bit tight. I have one extra high amp circuit on the Haltech.
Click to expand...
similar concern… how do you feed it?

The ol’ basic power wire from the starter relay (with an inline fuse obviously) to the pump?

The old man said should run an extra batt for some reason.
 
Alex Buchka said:
This was also one of the reasons I went with an R53 Mini pump; no external controller required. The pump has an internal brain box that connects to the alternator exciter wire to detect when the engine is running. The pump always runs at a constant low speed, when you turn the wheel it senses the pressure drop and ramps up the pump to keep pace with demand.
Click to expand...
That should be a pressure increase when the spool valve closes.
*edit: thanks for the info about it sensing, I might look for one of those. I was only going to try the S40 pump because it appeared for free when I was cleaning out the boat shop.
 
mopar318 said:
Do you run a power steering cooler with the r53 setup? I'm in the "final 10% stage" of my turbo l33 build and still thinking about going to electric PS because the packaging of everything is getting a bit tight. I have one extra high amp circuit on the Haltech.
Click to expand...
Any cooler should be in the return line, so it shouldn't be different from a belt pump.
 
mikep said:
Any cooler should be in the return line, so it shouldn't be different from a belt pump.
Click to expand...

I should have been more specific. Mini's have a cooling fan for the pump itself. I assume it's due to the tight packaging, so not sure if it is required in a more exposed area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top