Tom does great work.
I had him do some pump work for the Camaro back in 2003. The problem was fluid overheating on track days. Somewhere there is a photo of the reservoir where the neck is held on by bailing wire and silicone. It got so hot it de-soldered and dumped all the fluid on the track.
Tom's suggestion was to make the P-pump dry and make some internal modifications. Just like a fuel pump, pumping an excessive volume of steering fluid just makes heat and is of no useful purpose. Hence, the pump liner size was reduced to match the use of the car and a heavy duty input shaft installed. The output was set to 1450 psi @ 3gpm. At idle the system would occasionally groan and stutter when making a turn since the volume was reduced. When I say occasionally, maybe one out of 20 times the car was driven. On stock cars that do not see track duty the volume is higher in order to give good idle/parking performance. The tradeoff is heat.
In addition to the pump a KSE remote reservoir/filter was used as well as a cooler in the return line. Though the car has been through many changes, these two parts remain. The KSE part is outstanding.
Problem solved. At every track event since with PT-type cars there is usually a car using a standard P-pump/reservoir that fails, even ones that have a cooler. The integral reservoir is fine for a street car but for extended track use, it leave much to be desired.
One additional thing that Tom recommended, and it cured several problems, is using genuine GM power steering fluid. Hands down it de-aerates the fastest and operates the quietest.
