Corsa Column

[GJGB]

Well, I'm going with the Corsa C Column on Chris G-S advice. Rather than redrill the front hubs to speed up the steering ratio (if it turns out to be too slow) I reckon the easy way is a Quafe quick rack / pinion which will give the Sierra rack 2.8 turns lock-to-lock.

From those who have fitted the Corsa column, a couple of questions:

I've seen it said the Rover stalks will fit but mine are 3-4mm too wide to slot into the Vauxhall column fittings. Did you guys just mill a bit off the Rover switches to skinny them up and get them to fit?

Second, the Rover ignition has some hefty cables and feeds power to a number of fuses in the fusebox. The Vauxhall ignition has wires thinner than a five pound note! I guess a couple of 70 amp relays to feed the fusebox with the Corsa ignition providing the relay energising current is the way to go? Any experience?

Cheers, Greg

[EddyP]

Hi Greg,

I've got the quick rack in mine with the corsa column, the important thing is to order the LHD version, as it's an upside down LHD rack on our cars, Rally Design can supply this.

I'd suggest you go with the corsa stalks rather than the rover ones, I did manage to engineer some Rover ones to fit, however they're too far back on the column to be nice to use, you'll notice that the Vauxhall stalks are cranked, this greatly improves things.
If you use stalks from a Corsa B then they're non-can bus so easier to make work, you will need to put a separate headlight switch somewhere though, a VW one is a nice easy mod to the dash if you haven't already trimmed it.

As for the ignition switch, it's possible to do it with relays, you don't need as high as 70A there isn't that much current draw on the Rover switch, I've got a diagram in some of my harness notes that shows what you need to do, I'll try and get a pic of it and post it up for you.

Ed.

[GJGB]

Ed,

Thanks for the response.

Ordered the rack and pinion from Rally Design today. They're a good price at under £100 delivered. Thought getting the rack apart was going to require special tools but mine was absolutely straight forward as pinion is held in by a two-bolt collar.

Thanks for the heads-up on using Corsa B (non-canbus) stalks. I see what you mean about the Corsa stalks being cranked towards the wheel... Hmmm.. rethinks plan to use Rover stalks

I take your point that 70amps may be overkill but a relay certainly looks to be the easy way to get the ignition-switched power to the fuses.

Cheers
Greg

[EddyP]

You'll need three relays to do it, use standard 30A change over relays.
We're away this weekend but next week when I'm back I'll post you the diagram up.