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Volvo Electric power steering conversion (Full write up)

129K views 174 replies 43 participants last post by  BB93 
#1 · (Edited)
Disclaimer: This write-up is for information purposes only. This is a detailed description of the way I installed the Volvo electric power steering pump on my 88 Mustang GT. This is only one way to do this conversion, and I do not claim to be an expert on Fox mustang steering, suspension, or on the Volvo electric power steering pump. Use this information at your own risk.

What I used (parts list)
Cardone 22-2200 03/04 cobra power steering rack. Actual Terminator power steering racks are pretty hard to come by now so a rebuilt rack is pretty much the only option I was willing to go with. It’s fairly common knowledge that any SN95 rack is better than any Fox power steering rack.

03-08 Volvo S60 electric power steering pump. These can fairly easily be found at local pick and pull salvage yards or purchased online. If you go to a salvage yard to get one, they are located behind the right side headlight and can be removed within 15 minutes with basic hand tools. Don’t forget the wiring, there is two wire harnesses that plug into the pump. One is the power harness with two larger gauge wires, the other has 3 small gauge wires.
Maximum Motorsports hybrid steering shaft. This is not a requirement as the rack can be reclocked, but my time is worth more than what I could save by doing it so I got the hybrid shaft. It’s a nice piece, and I highly recommend it if you’re not a highly skilled welder.

Maximum Motorsports power steering rack fittings part number ST-73. These fittings, while on the pricey side, are the correct size and thread pitch needed for the SN95 steering rack. MM Power Steering Fitting Kit, Mustang steering rack to AN hose, 1979-2004

FYI, contrary to internet wisdom, neither the Fox nor the SN95 rack have metric ports for the pressure and return lines. 16mm and 14mm fittings can be screwed in and many people have used them with success. The rack design was from the late 70’s and although the internals were upgraded throughout the years, ford had no reason to change the rack itself.

Fuse holder with 40 AMP MAX fuse. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C46HD9L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Power steering fluid. This is what is in the Volvo owner’s manual, so it’s what I used. I’ve heard some have used regular power steering fluid with no issues. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JMAPSGK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Earl's AT991954ERL 14mm to -6 AN fitting. This is used on the pressure side coming off the pump.
Amazon.com: Earls AT991954ERL Ano-Tuff Adapter: Automotive After seeing more of these pumps, It looks like some come with 14mm, and others come with 16mm pressure ports. You'll have to measure and order the correct size fitting.

Earls 159106ERL 90 degree -6 AN hose end. These are made specifically for power steering hose. You need at least two of these (the two attaching to the rack) the other can be straight, or 45 degrees. I got a 90 because I didn’t want to deal with unknown interference issues behind the bumper. Amazon.com: Earl's Performance 159106ERL 90 Deg. Power Steering Hose End Hose Size: -6 JIC Thread Size: 9/16-18 in. Femlae Black Chromate Steel 90 Deg. Power Steering Hose End: Automotive

Earl’s power steering hose 150006ERL. This comes in Black, or blue. I purchased 7 feet and had at least 2 feet left over. Measure once cut twice. Amazon.com: Earl's Performance 150006ERL Power Steering Hose Hose Size -6 Black Max Pressure 5000 PSI Sold By The Foot In Continuous Length Up To 50 ft. Power Steering Hose: Automotive the lines are easily made with regular wrenches and a vice. Earl’s performance has a good video on making power steering hoses.

Now to get to the work.
First things, disconnect the battery. You’ll need to do a little wiring, so make sure your power is off.
Remove the front bumper cover. If you haven’t done it before, there are some videos on YT that can show you. LMR has a good one.

Next is the fabrication of the brackets: all brackets were fabricated with 3/16 thick, 1 inch wide steel stock. All measurements are inches.

The front bracket (picture #1) that mounts to the bumper was 3 pieces. The vertical piece that attaches to the lower left bumper mounting bolt was 3 ¼ long with the hole drilled ½ inch from the end. The horizontal piece that runs front to rear is 2 ¼ long. The piece that attaches to the front mounting hole on the pump is 3 7/8 long, with the mounting hole drilled ½ inch from the end.

The rear bracket (picture #2) was also constructed from 3 pieces. The long vertical piece is 8 7/8 long. The two pieces that attach to the pump are 4 9/16 long (side piece) and 3 3/16 long (back piece) with the back piece cut at a 20 degree angle. Mounting holes in these pieces are also drilled ½ inch from the end. Both brackets were painted flat black to inhibit corrosion.

Wiring is pretty straight forward. Constant power was routed from the solenoid with a 40 AMP MAX fuse holder to the 8 gauge red power wire on the pump harness. The black wire in the harness is constant ground and was attached to my horn mounting point for a good chassis ground. The last wire needed is the remote switching wire that turns the pump on. This wire is the one closest to the corner of the pump (see pic). The other wires are not needed or used. I used an accessory wire that I already had in the engine bay to turn my pump on. It should be noted, that you don’t want to use an ignition wire for this because you don’t want the pump operating while the engine is cranking. It is possible to use a standalone engine management system aux output to turn on the pump only when the engine is running (after stat sync).

The power steering hoses (picture #3) were constructed from the Earl’s performance hose and fittings. I didn’t measure them, but they’re about 2 feet each. The length will be specific to your install and you will need to check the length needed with rope, wire, or whatever you like to check power steering hose length with.

All other pictures were taken throughout the fabrication process, and many test fits were done to come to the measurements I used to complete the install.
I am by no means a welder as you can tell by the welds on my brackets, but I know they’re strong enough to get the job done. I used a small 120VAC welder from Harbor Freight for all fabrication.

Feel free to ask questions as I learned a lot during this conversion.

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#5 ·
Nice job!
Have you driven it yet? How does it feel?
Feels good. I haven’t had power steering in almost 15 years and it’s a little weird.

Looking on rockauto I can't find an electric pump for a S60 in those years. Do you have a part number?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Sorry, I meant to type S40. I’ll edit the post later on.
Here is a link to he pump. 2007 VOLVO S40 Parts | RockAuto

I have 3 of the remote reservoir style pumps for sale.
 
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#6 · (Edited)
Well done write up thank you! Any info on your new belt routing by chance as well?

We perhaps also might be interested in your total ballpark cost estimate in the conversion as well. Was it worth the time and effort (& $$?) in your opinion? Why did you go down this route in the first place?
 
#8 ·
I've got about $700 into the project right now, but I'm selling my Flaming River manual rack and steering shaft to offset the cost. I purchased a rebuilt rack and the Maximum Motorsports hybrid steering shaft though, so that was over $500 of the cost. If you already have a SN95 rack you can avoid the core charge, and the SN95 rack can be re-clocked so the hybrid shaft wouldn't be required. You can also use the Mustang power steering hoses too. I didn't want to deal with extra hose or trying to figure out how to route them, so I just built my own. Once the power steering pump is removed a shorter belt can be routed like normal just going from the crank up to the AC compressor. I used a UPR smog pump eliminator pulley installed where the factory power steering pump goes due to my D1SC procharger brackets being there and needing to route the belt as if a power steering pump was still there.
I stumbled across the Volvo steering pump conversion on the Coyote Swapped Foxbody group on Facebook. I thought it might be pretty cool to do, so I started doing the research, and found a pump at the salvage yard pretty easily. I got rid of my power steering almost 15 yeas ago and wanted it back. I didn't have any of the original power steering equipment, so I figured, why not try something different and interesting.
As for worth the time and effort, some may say no, but I like doing the work, and I love having power steering back.
 
#10 ·
UPR smog pump pulley I used.
 
#14 ·
That sucks. The u-pull-it yards near me have their pricing posted online, so it would be pretty hard for them to pull that sort of BS.
 
#20 ·
I didn't want to put the stock power steering pump back on the car. It interferes a bit with the Procharger, and would probably be in the way when I switch over to a turbo.
It also seemed like a pretty cool departure from the norm. Something that not a lot of people have. I like the challenge and the fabrication aspect too. I had just gotten my welder and was looking for an excuse to use it.
 
#21 ·
The only negative thing I’ve heard is that it may not be the best for like auto cross. Something about the rapid change in direction. However the individual who made the video that stated that said t would be perfectly fine for a daily driver/street car. Also in videos they seem super loud since there is usually no variable voltage to control pressure like the newer cars.
 
#23 ·
I can verify that turning force does increase if you're rapidly changing directions. This car isn't an autocross or drift car, so it's not an issue for me. In the video I have, the pump does seem loud, standing next to the car, it really isn't loud at all. With the engine running it's inaudible.
 
#24 ·
An excellent write-up, and I'll likely be doing something similar with an upcoming Coyote swap, but I'm fairly certain one detail is wrong:
03-08 Volvo S60 electric power steering pump. These can fairly easily be found at local pick and pull salvage yards or purchased online.
Those S60s have a conventional belt-driven PS pump. Just this weekend I removed a PS reservoir from 2 different mid-'00s S60s in the u-pull-it yard, and the pump is mounted on the engine on those. That is confirmed by good ol' Rock Auto's parts database.

According to Rock Auto,the vehicles you want are:
'06-08 C70
'05-09 S40
'05-09 V50
 
#25 ·
An excellent write-up, and I'll likely be doing something similar with an upcoming Coyote swap, but I'm fairly certain one detail is wrong:

Those S60s have a conventional belt-driven PS pump. Just this weekend I removed a PS reservoir from 2 different mid-'00s S60s in the u-pull-it yard, and the pump is mounted on the engine on those. That is confirmed by good ol' Rock Auto's parts database.

According to Rock Auto,the vehicles you want are:
'06-08 C70
'05-09 S40
'05-09 V50
Yup, good catch. I think my fat fingers are to blame. I'll have to go change it in all the places I posted. Thanks.
 
#26 ·
I bought an '05 S40 pump this past weekend at the JY, it's the one with a remote reservoir so I have hide the pump completely in the fender. As a side note, I ordered the 14mm pump outlet fitting specified in the original post and it IS NOT the correct one for that style pump. It's too small, so I'm assuming the port on mine is 16mm. I'm gonna have to take it up to the parts house and figure it out.
 
#27 ·
Yeah, after taking a look at a few of these pumps, some are 14mm, and others are 16mm. I don't know what dictates what size fitting it has.
Sorry about that. I didn't know at the time I made the post, so I'll update it. Hope you get it up and running and enjoy.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Thank you for posting on what fitting that goes in the pressure out on the pump, Ive been searching all over to do a -6an out of there, ordering that earls fitting now.

edit1.

Im going to mount the pump in the trunk use SS braided PTFE lines, al -6an, with a cooler and ive been thinking about adding an inline filter as well.
 
#31 ·
The pump in failsafe mode runs at about 70%. If/when the CAN BUS code is broken we will be able to adjust the duty cycle making HPDE and auto-x shortfalls a thing of the past.
 
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#33 ·
Not quite so simple. It's CANbus controlled, so you would need to use a microcontroller to send a signal to the unit. You could use a Arduino or such. The issue is cracking the canbus "code" which would be easy if someone who was motivated had a working Volvo that one of these pumps was used on to filter out the code a bit. You could easily wire up a VSS variable reluctor signal to the Arduino and have it output the desired signal to the pump based on input from the VSS.

The issue is deciphering and writing the code. There have been folks working on it, but unsure if they ever figured it out.

 
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#34 ·
Hello,
I have this pump (4N513K514) and I'm looking at installing it in my 1969 Mercury Cougar to free up a belt.
I (Mistakenly) bought the pump without the wire harness and the harness I got on ebay had 2 cables, a larger gauge 2 wire one and a small gauge 3 wire one.
The issue I have is the color of the wires does not help me much in determining the correct way to wire it up.
The larger gauge wires are red and white ( I would have assumed it would have had a red (+12) and Black (Ground) wire) and the small gauge wires have the two end colors the same and the middle wire black.
Could someone please indicate, by position, the correct wires to hook up?
Also, the pump I have has a small toggle switch next to the large gauge plug. Does anyone know what that is for?
Thx,
Jay
 
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