69 Corvette Road Race Build

[grendel]

How are you bleeding the system?

[Neil B]

Originally Posted by grendel

How are you bleeding the system?

I am slowing refilling the reservoir. Then I am slowly turning the wheels lock to lock about 25 times with engine off. Then I start the engine for about 2 seconds and shut it off. Top off the reservoir as needed. Then I start the engine and slowly cycle the steering lock to lock. This is all with wheels off the ground. The reservoir is the highest point in the system. This process has always worked fine on other cars. Thanks.

[grendel]

Originally Posted by Neil B

I am slowing refilling the reservoir. Then I am slowly turning the wheels lock to lock about 25 times with engine off. Then I start the engine for about 2 seconds and shut it off. Top off the reservoir as needed. Then I start the engine and slowly cycle the steering lock to lock. This is all with wheels off the ground. The reservoir is the highest point in the system. This process has always worked fine on other cars. Thanks.

Yep, that's how I do it... sounds odd that you still have air in the system to allow the cavitation. I agree with you that you're heating the system... can you wrap the headers?

I use a vented reservoir on everything... both lines are well below the fluid line, mounted as high as I can get it, with as straight a line into the pump as I can get... Bleed the way you do, and almost never have issues.

[Juicypop]

What a awesome build!

[Neil B]

Originally Posted by Dr G

You could be right, a cooler might be a good thing. I did have a cooler installed both with and without the groaning in my system. I did not personally seem to notice any correlation with heat. So my problem may have been different. Here are some pics of my system:
http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/1...d-Thread/page2

Wow, your truck is killer! Thanks for the tips. I got my PS cooler bracket fabbed up tonight.

[Neil B]

Originally Posted by Juicypop

What a awesome build!

Thank you!

[Neil B]

I think I've finally got my power steering woes resolved. I started by taking a baseline temp reading. On jackstands, I brought the car up to temp and cycled the steering with no load. As the engine warmed up, I noticed the steering pump just starting to groan at about 150 degrees. Hot, but not THAT hot. I brought the car fully up to temp until the radiator fans kicked on at 180 degrees. I took another steering fluid temp reading and the fluid was 167 degrees. The pump was groaning with no load when I cycled the steering.



I came to the conclusion that the fluid temp was not the culprit for the groaning because the fluid was simply not hot enough. However, I felt the temps were too high for a no load test (especially since I will be tracking the car). So, I went ahead and bought a cooler. I went with a 13x5" stacked plate style cooler and made a bracket out of 3/16" 6061 aluminum.





I used the nylon braided hose with AN hose fittings for the low pressure cooler lines. I love the nylon hose. It is so easy to use and doesn't mar up paint like the stainless braided hose. Here is the final config with the Chase Bays baffled reservoir.



Since I didn't think the temps were causing the groan, I swapped fluids from the Royal Purple synthetic to good old GM power steering fluid. I ran the same test again and the peak temp was only 118 degrees. That's a 50 degree difference with no load on the system! The pump is now also whisper quiet.

[Neil B]

I took my wife out today to put the first mile on the odometer. She took a couple videos...

Warm up/first mile:

https://youtu.be/3GL3l_42O0M

A little throttle:

https://youtu.be/KIt4_nGcDuU

Run through the gears:

https://youtu.be/18CMZxgTp8s

[Neil B]

I got the door panels installed. I went with stock-style C3 standard trim panels, but I like how it works with the rest of the interior. I think I will probably end up powder coating the inside door handles all black or restore them to black/chrome.

[Neil B]

I went with some buddies to a couple of Cars and Coffee events this morning, so I guess it's officially a car at this point!