SocalC5Z

I think I've experienced the C5 power steering overheat and pump whine after running a couple day at Spring Mountain on the 4 mile Andretti course. Steering was fine but once into the pits I could hear the pump whining and the reservoir was leaking at the cap, which I've had at other tracks. So...What have others done to address the "overactive" stock P/S pump, which I understand flows too much fluid for race track use. Is the only option a Turn One rebuild or new pump?

froggy47

Turn one & the underdrive pully.

SocalC5Z

Underdrive pulley? From who? Thanks Froggy.

froggy47

Turn one has one, it's skeletonized so you can get to the pump mounting bolts ez. You should review my video.



Or are you paying someone to do it? It's a pretty easy diy.

Ludeaem

Replace the pump with a Turn One rebuild before your rack seals go. I just did both (rack was leaking and pumped was whining) along with the harmonic balancer. Not a fun job but Froggy's videos are VERY helpful. Just make sure to take your time

SocalC5Z

I'll be doing all the work myself. Not sure why I would need the underdrive pulley if Turn One modifies the pump to flow less. I called and talked to Jr at Turn One and he didn't mention anything about the pulley. Hmm...

Ludeaem I know about the balancer...I'm hoping at only 23K miles I can put that off for a while. Mine looks fine, no wobble.

Ludeaem

In regards to the pulley, the general consensus is to replace with the LS2 pulley at the very least. Reasons? #1 you can easily assemble the pump with accessible bolts but also the off chance the plastic OEM pulley ever brakes and makes a grenade with shrapnel

SocalC5Z

Thanks for the info

REVHARD

Turn one has been out of stock of their ls1/ls2 corvette pumps for at least 4 months. They are in Stock now...I just purchased 1 a few days ago...so if you need one you better buy now!

fatbillybob

I have the ls2 pulley on my z06 racecar. The plastic one never brakes and is lighter and robs you of less power especially on and off throttle. The plastic one is just a pita to deal with when you have to get it on and off or access the pump

SocalC5Z

Thanks Carl. I never heard of the original one breaking, however I do know about it being a PITA and in the way of the bolts. I plan to R&R the pump one time so I'll deal with it.

CHJ In Virginia

Do the job once - do it right. Turn One pump and their billet pulley. Their pulley has slots so you can tighten the mounting bolts easily. Their pulley will save lots of time on the reinstall.

froggy47

I bet the billet skeletonized pulley does not weight much more ( I have it) and if you ever need to do the job again you can reuse it. Don't know anyone who has reused a plastic one.

SocalC5Z

Pump removed as well as pulley. Off to Turn One for their rebuild. They are out of stock on the billet pulley, which is just as well. The LS2 pulley 12568997, is $22 and has windows for bolt access, so I'll use that on reassembly. I need to put the funds into a trans/diff cooler...Thanks to everyone for the input.

SouthernSon

I understand others here have had success in removing the original "bakelight" pulley from the pump. Me? no. It shattered immediately as soon as I put just a minimum amount of pressure from the puller. Luckily, I did have the TurnOne pulley. The underdrive crank pulley is a good idea. You save wear and tear on the alternator too from high RPM at the track. But don't get a cheap one. I had one disentergrate. I am now running the ATI. It is great.

Dan H.

Subscribed, I'll be doing this job shortly also.

I already have the pump with the pulley from Turn 1. My next event is mid June, I have to see if there is time to get this done before then.

If I already have the replacement billet pulley, does the ability to destroy the oem pulley change the job at all? It looks like there is little room in there to actually remove the pump. Wondering if destroying the pulley means the alternator or alt bracket no longer need to be removed? I watched Froggys videos and it was super helpful to understand the job in front of me. Seems straightforward to swap it out by the book. Thought i would ask through.

Thanks

SocalC5Z

Fresh from doing the job yesterday...

The Froggy video is pretty good, however I removed the throttle body to get better access to the P/S Alt bracket. The T/B comes off easy and I was due to clean my air filter as well, so off that came to gain easier access to the bracket bolts.

I didn't watch Froggy's video from start to finish, so some of this may have been covered but I'll add some tips as data points:

The P/S reservoir comes off from the bracket by prying the center tab away from the detent, this give better access to both the mounting bolt and the hose clamps. Most people seem to leave it attached to the bracket, which limits access. I removed it as soon as I had it drained.

Remove the pressure hose from the pump AFTER the pump and bracket are removed from the engine block, this makes the entire R & R a top side project. I had the car on my lift anyway to limit my post repair back ache...

As for destroying the plastic pulley to ease removal of the pump, yes that can help, but you risk collateral damage to brake lines, hoses, etc, if done while the pump is still on the engine. If you can split the pulley maybe by drilling a few holes in it so it takes less to break it off may be helpful. I would just deal with it and leave the pulley on until you get the pump and bracket off.

Once the pump and bracket are off the engine you will need a pulley puller to remove the pulley which blocks access to the mounting bolts that hold the pump to the bracket. Destroying the pulley at this point will allow you to remove the pump without the need for a puller. The metal collar will still be on the pump shaft but that won't matter unless you need to use the pump again.

I think that does it...I'll add to this post if I think of anything else

Dan H.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll reference this when i start the project. Sounds like a longer one day project, possibly two at the pace I work. Not sure I'll have that available prior to my WGI trip.

Ludeaem

^ i'll help you out with the PS if you help me out with the delrin bushings haha. Its actually not too bad at all. Watch Froggys video to help get oriented and conservatively i would say you can accomplish this in 5-6 hours. If i were to do it now I would take an hr maybe?

SocalC5Z

I have a good hour into the removal. It's not that bad...get the car at a comfortable height and watch Froggy's video and then follow my pointers and it's pretty fast. The worst part is the limited access to the mounting bolts for the bracket, a short 15mm open end wrench would be helpful but I managed fine with my full size wrenches. Add in some cleanup time and I think with a new pump in hand ready to go and it shouldn't take more than 3 hours, maybe 4 if you work slow.