Anyone done the EPAS conversion and regretted it?

[Braveheart]

Going to have my engine out of my 172 Cup in a few days time to do a few jobs and wondered about doing the EPAS conversion at the same time. Have seen the other threads so not looking to discuss what needs to be done technically but wondered if anyone has done it and regretted it, in terms of how the car drives afterwards or any other reasons. From what I've read seems a good thing to do but just want to make sure I'm not missing anything before I take the plunge. So any reasons not to do it or should I just get it done?

 

[glenn_adam_doble]

Speaking for a dedicated track car, one of the best mods I have done, having the adjustability makes it more fun and can dial it in just how I like it,

Could be helpful on the road as you could have nice light steering round town and add some weight when giving it some,

Tbh I can’t really find any draw backs, and defiantly none to make it regrettable

I had my hydraulic pas let go on the Nurburgring, which could of got expensive, also the parts to fix the issue where twice the price of just going Epas

 

[Braveheart]

Cheers pal, all sounds good then, aye she's pretty much a dedicated track car as well, thought about just keeping existing rack and blanking off PAS but opinion appears divided on that one, some say fine and some say shite so thought maybe EPAS the way to go...

 

[Braveheart]

Hopefully someone that's done this job before will be able to help me here, I'm half way through doing this and following Graham's guide which mentions you need to swap over both inner tie rods from the 172 rack to the new DCI rack. Why do you need to do that, will the 172 TRE's not fit onto the DCI rack? The threads look to be the same from a quick look but haven't measured them. Maybe I'm missing something obvious here?

 

[STEVE.M]

Hopefully someone that's done this job before will be able to help me here, I'm half way through doing this and following Graham's guide which mentions you need to swap over both inner tie rods from the 172 rack to the new DCI rack. Why do you need to do that, will the 172 TRE's not fit onto the DCI rack? The threads look to be the same from a quick look but haven't measured them. Maybe I'm missing something obvious here?

The DCI inners are too short.

 

[JamesBryan]

Yeah, different length rods.

 

[Braveheart]

Cheers Steve & James.
I see what you mean, not much in it but the 172 inners are longer.
Oh well, that's the next step then.
Chuffed I managed to get the original rack out without dropping subframe although engine out and access to 2 post ramp helps

 

[STEVE.M]

Cheers Steve & James.
I see what you mean, not much in it but the 172 inners are longer.
Oh well, that's the next step then.
Chuffed I managed to get the original rack out without dropping subframe although engine out and access to 2 post ramp helps

On offer if your old ones are a bit tired, and they come with proper boots.
https://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk/parts/special-offer/clio-172-182-track-rod-inner-kit/

 

[Braveheart]

On offer if your old ones are a bit tired, and they come with proper boots.
https://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk/parts/special-offer/clio-172-182-track-rod-inner-kit/

Cheers pal, I'll have a good look at them before refitting, car only done 50K so hopefully okay

 

[Braveheart]

On offer if your old ones are a bit tired, and they come with proper boots.
https://www.renaultpartsdirect.co.uk/parts/special-offer/clio-172-182-track-rod-inner-kit/

Just to check when you said these come with "proper boots" that'll be the boots for the 172 and not the DCI rack because the steering rack end of the boots on the 172 are quite a bit bigger than the DCI ones so presumably I need to swap both DCI boots onto the 172 inner rods?

 

[Danith]

As an EP owner it baffles me to see folk going from hydraulic to EPAS, but then I've seen a couple of cars catch fire from leaky hydraulic steering so it kinda makes sense
Think the EP just has the worst EPAS known to man though to be fair as the Fn and Megane are fine.

 

[STEVE.M]

Just to check when you said these come with "proper boots" that'll be the boots for the 172 and not the DCI rack because the steering rack end of the boots on the 172 are quite a bit bigger than the DCI ones so presumably I need to swap both DCI boots onto the 172 inner rods?

You may be right as I had not considered that.
Ebay listings suggest that the 172 has an I/D of 39mm, if that will not grip the DCI rack, then you will have to do as you suggested.
By "proper boots" I meant ones that would last without splitting.

 

[Braveheart]

Well I finally got this job done and had the car out on the road today for a test run into work. The ECU for the power steering is constantly clicking on/off and hence the power steering is on/off, on/off. That was undriveable so I turned the adjuster knob completely off and made do with no power steering. That's a PITA as roll cage to come out again to get access to take dash off to check wiring connections/earth points. If anyone has had a similar issue or can suggest any fault finding techniques/process for me to follow, that would be much appreciated, I ain't no electrician! Strange thing was when I was pushing the car about my garage last night with the ignition/power steering on, it was all fine, the on/off issue just happened as I pulled out of the driveway this morning.