I'm about to take a deep plunge into the ecomodding arena, but I'm not quite ready to reveal my big surprise
You'll have to wait a week for that.
What I am ready to do is brain storm a bit! I was considering a bunch of mods, and wanted to leave myself open to going EV within 2 years so I'm considering mods that I dont have to "undo" if I go EV. I've heard about how much a typical hydraulic PS system steals from a car, I've heard everything from 5.5hp to 8 - 10 hp. One big problem I keep seeing is people using electric motors to power traditional hydraulic setups. Well one step in the right direction, but why not something like a servo or stepper motor hooked up to the lower half of the steering system and a position sensor (uhmm potentiometer seems perfect)? I've been doing a lot of googleing and ebay searches trying to see if that's something that's done in other cars and the only thing I can find are some pictures of what might be what I'm talking about.
ELECTRIC POWER STEERING COLUMN GM HOT RAT STREET ROD:eBay Motors (item 160364539271 end time Sep-29-09 19:24:35 PDT)
or
2008 Pontiac G6 Electric Power Steering Assy:eBay Motors (item 230376727997 end time Oct-11-09 10:00:08 PDT)
I work at a driveshaft shop and we do make steering linkages (that's the right term correct?) for firetrucks and ambulances. I'm sure as long as it's close I could have the guys in the shop weld up my current system with something like that.
Anyone have any knowledge to share on a direct electric (drive by wire) systems and/or knowledge about what I'm looking at in those pics?
Thanks in advance, and I promise you'll all be excited in a week!