The steering on the soft top was getting a bit too heavy to park quickly, and I was spending quite some time looking for parking spots I could get in and out of without having to use full lock. The Easysteer lads had been putting there electric steering kits in Mk2 Escorts and Fiestas for a while now. So I enquired if they could do a Mk1, and they had a kit.
The system fits in the same place as the original column, it retains all the stock switch gear ignition lock and column shrouds and appears untouched. The whole thing can be fitted with basic know-how in a few hours.
There is not much to the kit, a modified steering column, the steering ECU and the electric motor
The Easysteer crew have put together a video on an installation in a Mk1 Golf cabriolet Easysteer Golf Mk1 Cabriolet It fits perfectly under the dash 👇
A standard variable controller is hard-wired with a discreet adjusting knob. It sends signals to the steering ECU (normally sent from the car's sensors). This adjusts the steering and gives the driver complete control of the level of assistance via the adjuster.
The default levels on the controller when it gets a signal from the engine are below. However, as the Golf has no electronic speed pulse you can tap into, the variable adjuster is used to set it to one of the switch points below.
I have set this to the high switch point, which is the low power assistance level, as not much assistance is needed to move the wheels while the car is stationary. In this setting, the steering wheel auto centres and the steering is just a little lighter than a standard Golf Mk1.
The kit is from a Corsa B steering column; the standard Golf column and the pedal box are modified, and the Corsa B motor and sensors are sandwiched in between. The electronics are fairly straightforward to install. There is plenty of space under the dash on the right side to fix the steering rack control box.
The most challenging part of the installation is removing the breakaway or shear bolts that hold the rack in place. I had to drill these out to get the rack off the car.
This modification is worth the installation hassle. It makes parking the car with the 16" Porsche wheels effortless. The wheel can be turned lock to lock when the vehicle is stationary with just a little effort, not quite one-finger effort, but definitely one hand at a time, rather than two hands when stationary.
