Table of Contents
List of EcoBoost Equipped Vehicles
Popular Transmission Options
Engine Mounting
Power Steering/HVAC
Driver Display
Oiling/Cooling
PCV Systems
All of the Ecoboost equipped vehicles one would be sourcing an engine from are fitted with electric power steering racks. In their stock form this is fine, in swap applications this becomes an issue as the engine doesn't have a designated place for a hydraulic power steering pump. In our eyes there are two main solutions for this, remove the Ecoboost AC compressor and fit a power steering pump in its place or leave the AC compressor and install an electric power steering pump. Each option has its own pros and cons which we'll discuss below.
The first option with an Ecoboost swap to get hydraulic power steering would be to remove the Ecoboost AC compressor and install a hydraulic pump in its place. We developed a kit in order to accomplish this utilizing a BMW LF 30 power steering pump. The bracket and pump bolt to the passenger side of the engine and the belt is ran from the pump pulley to the crankshaft pulley. This has worked as intended with many hours logged both on and off the track. The biggest downside to this of course is no AC. While we have kicked the idea around to integrate both, there are other readily available products on the market in order to facilitate this in a much better way. There are many options to fit an electric AC compressor somwhere in the swap vehicle and route it like normal. One example of this is the Four Seasons electric compressor. Another option if you are more of a DIY person would be to source an AC compressor from an electric vehicle and retrofit to suit your application. These compressors from electric vehicles are already designed to be ran free from the belt drive of an engine because there simply isn't one.
The other option if you want to retain AC and integrate hydraulic power steering in your Ecoboost swap would be to leave the stock compressor in place and move to an electric power steering pump. This has a host of benefits but the main one being that if configured you have the ability to control the assist level of the pump with voltage increase or decrease. This is usually controlled via a potentiometer but could even be controlled by a standalone ECU based on wheel speed. Kits are also readily available for electric power steering pumps such as Alaria's SW20 Kit. If the DIY bug still lives deep in your veins, there is a growing community surrounding Stellantis electric power steering pumps with companies also selling the controller kit to manipulate your power steering assist on the fly.
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