I was wondering what people thought of venting the PS pulley for air. Would this help it run cooler? I could either drill a series of balanced holes or cut sections out. It would need to stay somewhat balanced though, thoughts?

Also, my PS has started to be very jerky on cold starts. Possibly sucking in air (noticed slight leaks around the hose fittings), or pump going bad (bearing?), it needs some help. Thoughts?

My PS pump has been pretty abused with road racing so I am thinking of sending it to Turn One for a track rebuild. I'm also thinking of moving the reservoir to the side of the radiator, where the charcoal canister was, so hot radiator air doesn't blow on it. Can I use hose barb fittings on the reservoir? Thoughts?

 

rack and pinion is going bad, sorry for bad news

 

turn 1 built me a great pump.

 

It's called "morning sickness".

I replaced mine years ago. The good part is you end up replacing the inner tie rods (and can include the outers) at the same time. A rebuilt rack will have a steel liner, were as the OE rack piston ran in aluminum and thus (20yrs later) wore out.

 

As to your original question: I don't know if a ventilated pulley would make any/enough difference.

Does (your) Z52 option include a power steering fluid cooler? My Z51 has one, although all it really is a extra long tube loop. I've thought about adding a real (tube & fin) cooler....

 

Can I still jump the tracks with a new rack?

My year Z52 sounds like your year Z51. There is a loop of fluid line on the front cross member of the engine tray but no actual cooler. I have thought of taking my trans cooler and using it as a PS cooler and getting a better trans cooler. My PS has been howling LOUD at the track for a few years now. Some things dieing soon! It has 102K and really has been loud on track, that lessened after the under drive pulleys.

The stock pulley on there is really huge, heavy, and obstructing to airflow.

 

You could buy an aftermarket cooler similar in dimension to the OEM ps cooler that came on later cars and mount it in the OEM location.

My pump was built by TurnOne. Great pump, great company to do business with.

As far as drilling the pulley....I'd be concerned about keeping it balanced. If it's not balanced, you'll start going thru ps pump seals and shaft bearings. The pulley on my '96 sounds like what you're after. Not sure of the dimensions of the ps shaft on your car, but perhaps a '96 pulley would work. I bet TurnOne would know. You'll probably have to use a different length serp belt as well.

 

I'm not familiar with the difference between early C4 pulleys and your '96. Can you post a picture sometime?
Thanks.

 

 

I share a 94 at HPDEs so it has very little down time. Our first event the pump was groaning and we were puking PS fluid. I had Turn One rebuild the pump and it is fantastic. We never worry about PS at an event since. We recently ran 13 20 minute sessions in a day with no issues.

Even if you need a new rack I highly recommend the Turn One rebuild if you track your car.

 

Courtesy of Schram


Aardwolf, what is the diameter of the pulley on the '88?

Have you looked back through the claims made here for Lucas P/S
Stop Leak fluid?

Perhaps explain more about what you intend to do with the hose
barbs and the reservoir. The reservoir inlet (side) and outlet (bottom)
are low/no pressure lines.

.

 

Ack, GM stole my idea! I like that vented pulley! I'll either vent mine like that or if I find one cheap buy it. Thanks for the tip!

I was thinking to move the reservoir so the hoses would need to be a little longer. I could splice them or run new hoses. Maybe an aluminum reservoir would help shead heat too.

RickF, did you add a cooler with that PS pump too? I've read people using coolers and some that don't. I'd rather not add one if it's not needed with the better Turn One pump.

FYI found pix of pulleys on Ebay.

Listed 94-96


ZR1 got holes to! 90-95


05-07 really got cut away!


Slalom4me, I'll check the pulley dia later this aft. Any thoughts on balancing a home vented pulley?

 

There is something vaguely unsettling about the pattern of the
holes in the pulley shown in the first image.

March offers an aluminum 6-rib serpentine pulley as P/N #610.
This one is 6-3/8" in dia. It is unclear what the offset is and
whether it is a suitable replacement for an '88 L98.

Perhaps the cut-outs contribute to pump & fluid cooling - it
would be interesting to learn by how much.

Pressure takes work and this creates heat. If TurnOne's
modifications involve reducing the operating pressure of the
pump then this should reduce fluid temperatures materially.

Rebalancing a modified pulley statically might be done by mounting
it on a mandrel, setting the assembly in v-blocks or bearings of
some kind and then relieving material until the pulley remains
stationary - no matter where it is positioned within 360º of rotation.

Balancing the pulley dynamically might be achieved through the help
of an engine shop or an electric motor winding facility.

Either path seems more frought with issues than locating a suitable
replacement.

My vote is that barbed fittings (with sufficient bore dia) and worm
clamps will be adequate for relocating the reservoir. Give thought
to whether vertical placement needs to be a consideration.

.

 

No, I did not add a cooler.
I should add that we are running 255 street tires (GS D3s) up front. We are moving up to R compounds next year and definitely wider (295 max). Not sure if that will make a significant difference.

IIRC the Turn One pump works like an underdrive pulley so it flows less fluid. I don't remember how much less. They told me this could affect low rpm turns (such as parking lots) but I haven't had any issues.

I also have the DRM PS hose but that has nothing to do with cooling.

 

OK, thanks for the help!

What exactly goes wrong in the rack when it starts having morning sickness? Is there a rebuild kit for that? I wonder if Turn One would fix that too.

 

My understanding is the is the piston wears against the bore/aluminum housing. No longer makes and effective seal especially when cold (morning). Rebuilt units are bored and sleeved.

 

A club member here has moved his battery to the rear, and installed a small PS radiator/cooler with a fan beside the gills where the battery used to be. He's said that it works very well, however about 75% of the events he runs are autocross (limited air flow). I don't know what he's changed up front on his '85.

 

I ended up just making a pattern of holes so the pump can just be easily changed.

 

Sorry if this is a HIJACK Andrew, but I am installing the same one, and I was wondering if I can just hook it in to the small return reservoir line?

Where did you hook your's in?

Thanks

 

I hooked it up the same way it was stock. I just added a cooler instead of that loop of tubing in front of the rack.