Hi folks,

greetings from Germany .

Got myself a 1980 C3 from Tampa in April and brought it over. Now I need to restore the Power steering pump and disassembled it today. Everything worked fine until I tabbed on the drive shaft (pulley off) to get it out of the housing. It came out and with it bits and pieces of very thin metal (aluminum?). The bushing (not the oil seal) that sits in the top part of the housing (towards pulley) was busted and came - partly - out in pieces.

How do I get the rest of the bushing out? Where do I get a new bushing from and how is it fitted in? Eckler´s, Corvette America, Rik and the rest of the dealers don´t offer this online. I found grooves in the bushing, what are these for? And, finally, there´s a groove in the lower part of the driveshaft as well, what is that used for? I didn´t find any part (ring or the like) to fit in there.

Would be grateful for any advice!

Regards

Alex

 

I'm a bit confused, first off I assume this is the shaft that you're talking about? The one he has in his left hand?




Are the parts that you're referring to underneath the pressure plate? This is a picture of the back half of the pump.

 

The groove in the driveshaft bushing is to carry oil around the shaft and lubricate it. I think that you should purchase a new or rebuilt pump instead of trying to salvage your original.

Here is why: The original bushing was pressed into the pump housing with the spiral oil groove located so that the most oil flowed to the opposite side of the driveshaft from the pulley and belt loading. This provided the maximum durability. Now I think that there are some pump rebuilding kits available with a bushing included. Hopefully, the kit instructions will tell you how to orient and insert the bushing. If the kit instructions do not mention orienting the bushing. I would be very suspect about the rest of the kit as well.

Here is the next reason; after the bushing was oriented and installed, the bushing was honed with respect to some dowel pin holes on the opposite side of the pump housing. This made the pump driveshaft central to the rest of the "guts" of the pump. It provides for the pump being quiet in operation. So even if you were to obtain a new bushing, you will be unable to centralize it.

Now in all honesty, unless you obtain a pump from Saginaw, I doubt that any of the remanufacturers are honing the bushing. But that is just a guess.

I think that the grooves were for manufacturing identification purposes. I don't believe that anything goes in them.

Jim

 

Let me check on Monday when the engineers at Delphi Saginaw are back to work. Maybe there is a pump housing with a bushing installed that is sold as a service part.

Jim

 

@ Frank:

this is the bushing I´m talking about: http://www.up-pic.de/show.php?id=271812625543595.JPG

@ Jim:

great pump overhaul description at corvettefaq.com! Thanks for that!

I exchanged the complete pump/reservoir unit at first and wound up finding the pump non-working and making noise, that´s why I decided to restore my old one.

I fear you will be right about the bushing, it appears to be pressed into the housing at production since the bushing is not even listed in the blow-up drawing. Guess I will need to order another pump then. Any "service part" from Saginaw would be highly welcome, though.

Regards

Alex

 

I talked with a service engineer at Saginaw and he told me that Saginaw only services full pump assemblies. They do not service just a housing with a bushing. So your best bet is to purchase a full pump assembly. I looked up at the Zip Store and they seem to sell only full pumps with reservoirs. Here is a link to the power steering pump at the Zip Store.
http://www.zip-products.com/Corvette...AECBD79C2847DA

Jim

 

Dear Jim,

thanks for your efforts. I got an ACDelco remanufactured pump in the Frankfurt area today, apparently for a 75-79, so I´ll have to change the pressure line fitting. Cost me 230$, just to give you an idea of pricing over here. Hopefully will have the vette back on the street by Sunday.

The only seal/gasket in that area is the O-ring on the fitting in the groove above the bypass, right?

Thanks and regards

Alex

 

update: after having changed the stuts from metric to inch I wound up finding the pump being bust! After running the engine for 3-4 minutes the steering fluid got that hot that it melted off the dip stick! Can you believe this? The melted plastic was all over in the can.

We then assembled one running pump out of three old ones and had it working after all. Now the vette has gone to sleep until March...

Bye for now,

Alex