So I tried a quick search and didnt come up with much. I came across this product kmiata sells to convert na and nb to electronic power steering. I figured this would be a cool conversion into a fd. I recently depowered my rack. (had my personal reasons) I'm curious how far off is the fd steering column compared to a earlier miata? I'm sure with some fabrication skills this component could be implemented Into the fd. This module also consists of a control to change the feedback so its adjustable for feel. I do not run an air bag for those that are concerned of this. Just throwing this out there for what others thoughts on this are?

I daily an frs and prefer the way the car handle over the fd.

https://kmiata.com/products/electric-power-steering-kit

 

all the splines and stuff will match up, but the lengths of all the shafts is probably different. then where are you going to put that big tumor of a motor?

you might look at like a Mazda 3, which had a hydraulic rack with an electric pump

 

Someone put an electric mr2 pump in the fd storage bins one time.

 

I'm more interested in going full electric. No hydro conversion or anything like that. I took a peek under my dash last night and saw the collapsible tube that houses the spline. It has 2 mounts. One near the wheel on the underside of the dash and one near the firewall. My guess I would have to try one of those spots. It would be awesome if they designed a unit that would replace the "quill" shaft into the rack to adapt this.

 

Reading about that Kmiata rack it looks like the electric motor goes under the dash. There's probably as much room under the dash in the Miata as there is in the FD so it possibly would fit.

Hard to say if it would be beneficial or not, it's a lot of cost and labor for sure.

Also I would hazard that this would likely add weight over the stock PS system.

But, if someone wants to guinea-pig this by all means!

Dale

 

look at the 2016+ miata rack

 

Seems like the reason they do that for those miatas is due to packaging issues with the swap, not sure what the gain is for the fd

 

Tunable steering is one. another is keeping the engine bay clean. My old ps system leaked and always made a mess. I deleted it with the last swap and completely depowered the rack. It feels fine when I drive normal but under corners it can get heavy and thinking of the endurance side of things the car would wear me out. Almost should have kept it but I'm not racing it atm. When I swap cars to my 86 I enjoy the car even though it's under power, but the way the thing feels is amazing. Kinda like a go cart. Rigid enough for feedback in the seat and it responds when I make my movements. Very predictable. I'm after getting the fd in that level now.

 

There's been at least one conversion here to epas, using a toyota system on a race car locally - probably some spendy DC electronics systems too! It didn't use the brake pedal box as the lower support of the steering column....floor mounted dual master in this case, stock dash support wasn't there either, because most of the dash was gone.

Definitely a weight saver over the hydraulic pump, mount and tensioner.

 

That's a cool looking set up. I like the idea of this option, because it could also be used in swapped cars where factory PS isn't always simple. There are also tons of racks that are permanently converted to manual steering, and useable power steering racks for sale are becoming rare and expensive. Maybe this company could design a kit for the FD...

 

Good News!!!!
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati.../#post12421099

 

Well nobody stepped up to the plate so I'm now planning a road trip with my fresh build to use my car as a prototype for this mod. Ken at epowersteering.com is planning to build a jig to produce kits for our vehicles. Hopefully this could make some sort of impact to our community.

 

Nice, I've thought about an electric conversion after first doing a depowered rack swap, then putting a rebuilt powered rack back in just to have it start leaking 500 miles later and having to pull it and get it rebuilt yet again. I'll be interested in this kit should it ever materalize.

 

I'm in San Diego and have a de-powered rack; unfortunately my car is not running at the moment
Interested to see where this goes though.

On a separate but related topic, did you keep your A/C? If so did you add an idler pulley where the P/S pump used to be? I searched, but couldn't find any info on people that remove P/S but keep A/C

 

Would also like to know this

 

I do not run ac. I mounted my aem smart coils there. If I ever use ac again it will be a custom job.

 

I actually used the stock idler pulley and just found a shorter length of belt at banzai-racing i believe to run. I will probably find a idler pulley that has the ribs in order to not have the chance of the belt accidentally slipping off one of these days, but not as worried as if that belt slips/breaks its only connected to AC. You can check my build thread for pictures.

I also am looking forward to this, hopefully this turns into a group buy or at least something we can buy from a store.

 

It will be store based on his marketing the way I see it. A group buy is an awesome idea just the shortage of columns. Hopefully people like rx7store and banzai could sell the product like how kmiata sells it. The only downside is the abundance of steering columns available. If he can start with 10 of them then he can do 1 for ones. As soon as people keep their cores things will get hairy.

 

Did anything ever progress with this?

 

Ken did modify my car and its now fully electric (in column). We didn't have the time to build a custom made bracket to mount the control module. I managed to make something work well and I provided Ken with pics to produce it. He never contacted me back as I think he lost interest in the project. Another issue I believe but cant confirm is the lack of available steering columns out there. The miata is a very abundant car that shares parts across generations. How it would work is he would have several units modded ready to ship and would charge a core fee until he receives your old unit. If you have access to a welder and can make straight cuts in metal the universal kit is a viable option. All the wiring fit that was provided. So if someone has a stash of them to get going that would seem to be the way.

 

That is great that you got it to work. How is it working for you so far?

Do you mind sharing what exactly needed to be modified and what kit your modified system is made from?

 

If you could confirm that there is no interest from EPS in building the bracket, showing the pictures publicly would inspire me to drop the cash on their universal kit and weld together my own bracket. I'm very interested in this solution as I really do not like the OEM powersteering.

 

I talked to Ken at Epowersteering. Seems like a nice guy. He said he has sold a few of these kits to RX7 owners already. He currently has 1 FD system in stock, and like stated earlier he needs a core steering column to continue production. I plan on doing this conversion in December.

 

If this is true then awesome. I'm glad he pulled something off. We were talking for a bit b4 and after we did my car. Then it just went quiet.

Those intrested in doing this, if coming from no power steering this is a dramatic difference. I can now fling my fd around with a few fingers. I can't tell you if it's a massive improvement over the stock system though as I dont have any recollection of what the car was like when I had it. I also have yet to track my car. It does however keep my engine bay cleaner and less cluttered and I am very pleased with nonetheless.

Your suspension and wheel/tire size will make a different experience from others.

Having the ability to tune the assistance is nice but after playing around you will probably find that it being on the lowest it can without turning off is a good spot. For me at least. I like a tad bit of resistance. If you max it out just breathing on the wheel and it turns. I would get sketched out going highway speeds in that setting.