JTRANTHA

I have a C6 I drive on the street (occasionally) but it is mainly my track day car. I am looking for a basic PS cooler. Not sure if I should just order one from Summit or get one for a c6 Z51 car. Not sure what would be easiest and most affordable.

Any suggestions would be appreciated..

Jason

rbl

Odd that you would need one. The OEM one is tiny and I doubt it does much.

If you aren't having issues I'd re-think it. Else, get the Z51 OEM unit so you can use off the shelf parts.

yakisoba

If it's mostly a track car, the pump will have a limited lifespan. Talk to Turn One and see if they will build you a pump. Give em a call. I promise you will learn much about power steering!

Dirk Miller

A couple of years ago, I had troubles with my power steering belching out of the reservoir. Actually, I cracked one and GM replaced it along with the serpentine belt.

I too wondered what to do. I really didn't like the design of the Z51 unit; thinking that it didn't look much different than our 1/4" OD double goose neck design. So a friend of mine had a heat exchanger he never used on a project for the National Ignition Facility and said "use this". Turns out that it fit pretty well right over the sway bar and just behind the fan assembly.

A couple of pictures can be seen by going to: http://s1111.photobucket.com/albums/...with%20hithch/

At the time, I thought this was easier than having to install an under-pully. Two years now with no belching.

redtopz

I just completed over 8 months of power steering issues on my T1 car. Turned out it was due to multiple problems. Not only did my pump and rack go bad, but I had a hidden leak on the hydraulic line under the pump which was covered with plastic loom. No idea how that happened. I had to replace my pump twice, rack twice, and all hydraulic lines to finally fix the problems. If you are having ps problems and have lost a stock pump, then go with a Turn 1 pump and Joe Gibbs fluid. A Z51 type cooler will work fine with that setup.

doveboat

I added a Z51 / C6 Z06 OEM PS Cooler to my 08 F55 car and never had issues after during HPDE's. I used Red Line PS Fluid.

Prior to, I went through 2 pumps, rack, high pressure hose.

About $145 new from the forum vendors if I recall.

Ed

igo380

Turn one pump...only way

Bill Dearborn

I agree the optional stock coolers aren't large enough for continual track use. Another forum member (geerookie) built a cooler for his C5 using the stock base cooler (piece of tubing) and a fairly large aftermarket cooler. Used the ends of the stock tubing to interface with the rest of the power steering system and spliced the cooler between them. Can't remember how he held the cooler in place but it did solve his PS problems. It is at least twice the size of a stock Z51 cooler. You don't need the T1 pump if you can get the fluid cool.

Send him a PM. He should be able to tell you what he used although the car is in quite a few pieces now so I don't know if he can send you any pictures of it installed.

Bill

trackboss

I've used the frame rail type transmission coolers in a few cars. They package well inside the radiator shroud. On my c5 I used all AN-6 fittings to plumb the system. Originally I had the factory cooler, which also works well, but mounting one of these inside the shroud freed up some space in front of the steering rack area.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/?...20cooler&dds=1

JTRANTHA

How hard are to install?

trackboss

The only time consuming part of converting to all AN fittings is removing the power steering pump and getting a wrench into the steering rack servo area. On the pump you need to get the extended AN-6 adapter (for the pressure line). I got mine through turn 1. Keep in mind I replaced all the lines (pressure and return) with AN -6 which means I made my own pressure line so there is never a need to find a corvette specific hose or seals. If you just want to do the cooler you only need to change the outlet fitting from the servo because the cooler is plumbed into the return line. The return line from the cooler attaches to the reservoir with a hose clamp. That is the only spot where there is no option to convert to AN fittings because of the plastic reservoir. The way I mounted the cooler is ultra easy. Just lay down under the car and look up into the shroud. To make mine easy I installed 10-32 threaded inserts so there is no need to have another set of hands above the shroud holding the nuts for the screws. Unfortunately I don't have any photos.

el es tu

there are two types of factory ps coolers, one is just a loop of metal the otehr is like a very small oil cooler. these retail for over 100 bucks. but you can find them for around 20 bucks at auto parts stores and they look the same.

all youd need to do to install is remove the metal loop cooler and insert the barbs of the new ps cooler into the current lines, tighten up clamps and refill your fluid - very easy

as far as mounting goes, you will either have tabs built onto the cooler that you can use, or you can zip tie the cooler to a secure location

trackboss

I took some photos of my installation and I will try my best to explain.
this is the pressure line I made attached to the extended AN adapter at the pump. View from below:
You can just barely see the cooler behind the radiator grill here:
here is where the cooler attaches to the shroud on the passenger side:

Here it is near the driver's side. I offset it toward the passenger side to give me more room to connect the hoses. I drilled two holes through the side of the shroud to pass them through:

This is how I routed them. The radiator support is a custom one I made, but you can similarly route them on your stock car:

Here is where the pressure and return line attach to the servo and where you will need AN adapters. You can see the pressure line in the photo (return line is just barely visible behind it with the red fitting) and, as I mentioned before, you can only do the return line to accomodate the cooler if you choose to keep the factory pressure line:

this is where it all ends up in the reservoir. Basically the return line from the servo is the hot fluid. It goes out to the cooler and from the cooler back into the power steering reservoir:
Hope this helps
-V

trackboss

Didn't realize the photos didn't work when I added them so I just fixed it.