EPAS Means Electric Power Steering!

We’re all familiar with our steering operated with hydraulic assist systems that (like most cars) use a pump, fluid, and belts driven by the radiator fan. That works just fine but when the system gets older or worn out, it has a problem of slipping and giving us less power assist, flipping belts, and other problems, such as spilled fluid (which makes a real mess). That has made it common to dream of an electrical-assist of some type like so many new cars come with, even though those setups are not commonly available. But we found one at the SEMA Show that showed promise a while back, and it says it has universal application and a lot of adjustment, so we wanted to check it out.

Geoff Mason is the guy that figured out how to put it together and he worked with ididit, the manufacturer of tilt steering columns, to bring it to the musclecar market to fit a variety of cars and with a variety of column options, so we looked into it. Geoff formed EPAS and took it to its first SEMA Show in 2013 and it looked like such a cool unit that we wanted to know more about it, hence the purpose of this story.

EPAS and ididit are separate companies but work so close in developing the kits that they can be seen as one, when they are indeed two; EPAS sells the power kit and ididit sells the steering column that the kit works on. EPAS makes the power unit, which normally fits on a shortened steering column that fits entirely under the dash, with the EPAS unit too, and offers a small unobtrusive part.

The first EPAS unit was “bulletproof” according to Mason, and works with easy to find parts to make it work. The first developed kit was for an early Mustang, but now they have the EPAS kits for most applications, even early Studebakers, and all of them offer a 5-year warranty “unless it’s underwater” and are sold at Summit, Jeg’s, and a lot of places in collapsible column applications and by the time story is published, you may be able to customize the application and design of the system. The price for the common system (like the early Mustang setup) is $1,550 plus $700 for the column.

But the coolest thing that we see with this system is its adjustability in the assist it provides. It comes with a potentiator that comes with 5 adjustment inputs where at full power it feels the same way, whether 10 or 100 mph or at 57mph, the potentiometer shuts itself off so you lose all power steering, but then…