I am getting ready to order my kit and wondered if anyone had had any success installing either one or both on their GTM? I have done it with other big three vehicles but since the GTM is a combo setup I thought I would ask. Thanks in advance.
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I am getting ready to order my kit and wondered if anyone had had any success installing either one or both on their GTM? I have done it with other big three vehicles but since the GTM is a combo setup I thought I would ask. Thanks in advance.
There are a number of guys who have done electric power steering and I know of one guy in Canada that I bought some parts off of that did have paddle shifters.
So it is possible on both fronts.
I thought so, what I like about the power steering is it's adjustable or you can turn it off and go back to manual steering. The paddle shifters just fit thee car, but I wasn't sure the C5 column would work with the paddles.
My $.02......Yes, we have done a few GTM's here with power steering. I can't say I'm a huge fan. There's virtually no difference that I can feel between the two. And no, you can't turn the pump off and go back to manual steering.....it would be like steering any car with power steering without the engine running. You're not "going back to manual steering".....because you're now using the steering rack as the hydraulic pump and you have to overcome the effort of steering the wheels PLUS the effort of moving hydraulic fluid thru the system, which is going to make it 10x more effort than manual steering. The other issue is that unless you constantly run the PS pump at max volume, you can easily overcome the PS pump by trying to make very fast steering corrections.....so you either run full pump output all the time (overboosted steering/no steering feel) or you risk not being able to steer when you really need to steer because the pump isn't running fast enough to keep up with demand.
As for the paddle shifters, that is another thing I would not recommend. As far as I know, there is no paddle-shift transaxle that will fit into the GTM chassis or could be made to be compatible to operate with an LS engine since the shift logic of these transaxles are designed to work with the engine ECU to control both the engine and the transaxle simultaneously. The only paddle-shift GTMs that I know of use a servo system that electrically shifts a standard H-pattern manual transmission. I don't like to poo-poo on other people's products, but they cost one of my customers a $13,000 transaxle. I think the trans lasted a couple hundred miles before the paddle shift system destroyed it. You know when you go to downshift from...say 4th to 2nd....and it takes a while for the syncros to get the shaft speeds matched so it will go into 2nd?....you either need to double-clutch and rev-match the engine to the new 2nd gear speed so the shaft speeds match, or you have to continue to put pressure trying to go into 2nd until the syncros are able to match the speeds and drop into gear. The servo system could care less if shaft speeds are matched or not......it WILL put your transaxle into 2nd gear whether it likes it or not. The servos have no "feeling". They can't sense when it's ready to go to 2nd....it just forces it into 2nd, ready or not. With the transaxles being the single most expensive component of the whole car....installing a system designed to destroy it does not seem like a good idea to me.
I have installed the GM fully electric power steering in my GTM, it sits in place of the upper steering shaft. There is a switch to turn it in and off plus a dial to control the assist. Have not driven the car yet.
Shane is right, you don't need it on the GTM as delivered. Why? You max out at like 2-3 degrees of caster. So it's (relatively) easy to turn the wheel. I redid my suspension so I'm running about 7.5 degrees of caster so power steering will make things easier on me especially in the parking lot. I plan to switch it off for the track.
Maybe I was misstating what I meant by Electronic Power steering. I found this company from Australia, Ultimate Power Steering that makes an Electric Power Assist Steering Unit that has a Potentiometer that allows you to adjust the amount of assist you need. I plan to go to Mid Ohio Raceway on occasions to stretch the GTM legs so to speak and have this assist unit will work up there. The unit mounts under the dash just like the one Beeman was talking about.
I was researching paddle shifters after I found this company that produces Meneola Trans-axles with heavier duty parts. Weddle Industries makes it with sequential shift transaxle like the Mendeola (it even comes with a Chevy bell housing) which would eliminate the H pattern problems on the up-shifts. Granted it is a little higher price but the differences I feel make it worth the money.
There is sequential shift, and then there is paddle shift. Two different things. If you look on the Mendeola site you will see the SDR and the S5RR transaxles are available direct from Mendeola.Quote:
Originally Posted by BillCaccia
Prototype Development Group helped develop the S5RR many years ago and are still working with Mendeola to make improvements. It works great as is and we have used the S5RR to podium at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill multiple times, but things like no lift shift and paddle shift are things we are working on developing further for the S5RR. They just are not available yet, and it should also be noted that the S5RR is not a transaxle designed for street car use. It is a dog ring box and would be a bit harsh for use on the street. That is why the SDR is offered, which is a synchronized box with much the same architecture as the S5RR. Both boxes handle a lot of HP and are designed from the start to work with the LS engines directly. Take a look...
http://www.mendeolatransaxles.com/transaxles.html