Steering Part 2 - Power (Steering) Struggles

So my power steering issues still need to be fully resolved...

With my pump issues sorted (See Engine & Gearbox Installation - Part 6) all I needed was to connect up the pump reservoir and hoses and all would be good.

Haha...

Having bought the billet ancillaries bracket from Kyle at LSX Performance I knew that I wouldn't be able to use the standard LS Power Steering reservoir which, as I understand it, slots into the standard Chevy ancillary bracketry.  Kyle did supply me with an alloy tank to suit the kit he had provided, but in the end, I decided there were a couple of issues with it.  

Firstly, the low-pressure spigot on the tank was far too small for the AK-supplied hose and I was worried that I would not be able to get a tight enough seal with a jubilee clip (the AK hose is also braided which restricts the ability of the hose to crush down small enough).

The second issue was that with my shiny header tank and washer tank, the alloy version just didn't really meet my required "bling" standards.

It's good - but not good enough...

This led me to design my own version of the reservoir which utilised some AN-style fittings that would match the size of the low-pressure hose and the inlet port on my power steering pump.

CAD Design for new reservoir...

...using -AN weld-on fittings

I rang around a couple of companies to get a quote for making up my design in polished stainless steel.  I ended up going to XCS Designs, perhaps better known for their own Cobra kits, who are just up the road from me.  Scott, their Workshop Manager, gave me a pretty reasonable quote on the basis that I provided the AN fittings and a weld-on filler neck (which I obtained from that well-known auction site).

My only real issue with that decision was that XCS was going through a particularly busy period (which is good for them) and I had to wait several weeks before my reservoir was ready.  But I think it was well worth the wait!

New shiny reservoir!

Once I had picked up the tank and was ready to install it, I realised that sometimes it pays to just take a little more time planning and thinking things through fully...

The first issue was that on my original tank, the output spigot at the rear was installed right at the bottom of the tank.  In my new design, with the weld-on -10AN fitting, it now sat slightly higher up on the rear of the tank.  This meant that the collar of the AN fitting just clashed with the billet ancillary bracket and prevented the tank from sitting flush against the bracket...

Original tank outlet - at very bottom of the tank...

With weld-on AN fitting, the outlet sits higher on the rear of the tank...

...resulting in the collar of the weld-on fitting clashing with the ancillary bracket

The second issue was that, despite measuring several times, the holes on the new tank did not quite align with the bolt holes on the ancillary bracket.  Comparing the hole positions with the original tank showed them to be quite a way off.  Again, a stark reminder to plan properly and keep checking everything several times and then check again...

The second issue was actually relatively easy to resolve simply by drilling out the mounting holes on the new tank from 10mm to 12mm diameter with a hole drill.  This gave enough wriggle room to get the bolts through the mounting tabs and into the holes on the ancillary bracket.  The added bonus was that by allowing the position of the tank to shift slightly, also solved the first issue above, and the tank now could sit flush against the ancillary bracket.

However, the third issue then identified itself.  I bought a 90-degree -10AN fitting to attach to the rear of the tank and then connect to the -10AN fitting on the inlet of the power steering pump.  However I had failed to consider the dimensions of the -10AN fitting on the back of the tank, and with this installed, there was insufficient space between the front and rear of the ancillary bracket to allow the tank to sit flush as intended.

AN fitting hard against the bracket preventing the tank from sitting flush

This was not a major deal (although it was annoying) as I was able to turn up a couple of 12mm thick spacers from some 20mm diameter aluminium bar with a 10mm diameter hole drilled through the middle.  I also had to buy a couple of slightly longer 10mm diameter bolts to account for the additional thickness of the spacers.

Finally, I could get the tank mounted and the -10AN fitting and braided line routed down towards the pump inlet fitting.

Spacers provide clearance for the rear -10AN fitting

Tank in place and in need of a polish!

I used a 150 degree -10AN fitting to connect the hose to the steering pump inlet.  I originally bought a 180-degree fitting, but the -10 braided hose is not very flexible and I couldn't get the hose to align with the fitting.

150 degree -10AN fitting to align with hose orientation

I needed to angle the hose ends to align with the fitting orientations

Bottom fitting installed

The final fitting of the hose was a bit of a wrestling match.  The short -10 hose had zero flexibility and the only way I could get both ends onto the fittings was to take the reservoir off again, fit the hose to the reservoir and then try and connect the bottom fitting.  Once the hose was secured at both ends, I needed three hands to try and wiggle the reservoir back into place and get the fixing bolts and spacers installed.  It was a great relief when everything was finally in place and all bolts and fittings tightened!

The final connection to the reservoir was the low-pressure line return line from the steering rack.  This is another braided line supplied by AK.  It is installed to the steering rack with a banjo fitting and then routed up to the reservoir.  I used a 60-degree -8AN fitting to connect the hose to the reservoir.

Low-pressure return line from Steering Rack completed

Now all I need to do is get a new high-pressure hose made up with a -6AN fitting on the pump end and this job will finally be done!!!

Engine & Gearbox Installation - Part 6 - Ancillaries

With the engine in the car, the last job to complete the installation was to attach the alternator and the power steering pump and fit the serpentine drive belt.

When I bought the engine, Kyle supplied a nice billet aluminium bracket set-up, which once I worked out which holes on the engine it was all supposed to bolt up to, went on quite easily.  There is a smaller bracket which supports the rear of the alternator which sits directly against the cylinder head, the larger front bracket is then set off from the engine block with a number of spacers.

Initial Fit of Ancillary Bracket

Somewhat oddly, despite it being listed as a part of the bracket kit, I didn't seem to have the lower idler pulley with my kit; it was all blister packed and there didn't seem to be a "missing" spot for it.  That created a short delay in proceedings as I had to order a new idler pulley from Summit Racing in the States (I did this to be sure I got the right one, which needed to be for a Z06 Corvette).  Once it arrived it just needed to be fitted with the 110mm M10 bolt supplied with the bracket kit through the pulley and a couple of spacers and screwed into a hole in the engine block.

"Replacement" Lower Idler Pulley

The alternator could then be fitted into place between the front and rear parts of the bracket and held in place with two M10x80 bolts.

The alternator is fixed in place

Then it was 'just' a matter of fixing the Power Steering Pump in place with the three M8x25 bolts supplied.  And with that, a five-minute job turned into a several weeks job...

The first problem was that the Power Steering pump that I had been supplied with the engine, which was a standard GM / AC Delco unit, did not have threaded mounting holes.  The fixings were meant to be much longer bolts that passed through the whole unit and were secured with nuts at the rear.  OK, so I could have bought some longer bolts, but the pump unit is a snug fit between the front and rear parts of the ancillary bracket which would have made it impossible to get any nuts on the bolts in any case.

Another AK builder, who had also got his engine from Kyle, and with who I had been in contact previously, had purchased a new pump from Summit and he had previously given me the details of this.  Figuring he might have encountered the same problems that I was having, I blindly went and ordered the same pump; a performance pump with AN fittings from Tuff Stuff.  This was a long-lead item from Summit and I had to wait several weeks for it to arrive.  Once it arrived, I was relieved to find out that it did have threaded mounting holes and managed to fix it in place on the bracket.

Tuff Stuff 6170ALB-2 Power Steering Pump...

...installed in place

At this point, I noticed my next problem.  The pump that I ordered has the outlet port on the bottom.  This is the high-pressure line and while I knew that I would need to get a new hose made up with an AN fitting to suit, it was pretty obvious that there was going to be insufficient room between the port and the bracket to accommodate an AN fitting and sufficient clearance to form a 90-degree bend (similar to the brake pipe in the picture above, you can not form a bend immediately behind the fittings; there will need to a certain straight length needed to allow the pipe bender to do its thing...).  This was confirmed in my discussions with Adam at Earls, who I had contacted to request a quote for a new high-pressure pipe.

I had two solutions.  Grind away part of the bracket to give clearance for the fitting or find another pump.  I went with the latter option but this time did a bit more research before pressing the order button. I thought a pump was a pump, but reading through the Tuff Stuff catalogue online, there are loads of configurations.  So this time I bought a pump with a top outlet and with threaded mounting holes and with AN fittings.  Summit was showing out of stock so I ordered via Ebay.com but that still took another 8 weeks to arrive!

Does what it says on the box...

...only this one has a top-facing outlet port!

The power steering pulley needs to be installed onto the pump using a special tool.  It's a press-fit but should not be attempted using a hydraulic press as that could damage the pump.  I bought a cheap tool from Amazon; this is basically a threaded bolt that screws into a thread at the end of the pump drive shaft with a nut/flange arrangement threaded onto the bolt.  The flange sits on the face of the pulley and then by holding the main bolt with one spanner and winding the nut down with another spanner, this presses the pulley onto the shaft.  The pulley is installed until the end of the shaft is flush with the front face of the pulley.

It's probably obvious, but the pulley needs to be installed with the grooved flange to the front; this is to allow a puller to grip onto the pulley in the event that it needs to be removed.  If you install it the wrong way around, you will need to take it to your local helpful mechanic to get it removed while he laughs at you; ask me how I know this...

Holley Power Steering Pulley - note which way round it goes...

Pressing the pulley into place...

...until the face end of the shaft is flush with the front of the pulley

I could then install the pump back onto the ancillary bracket; it needed a bit of wriggling to get the pump with the pulley into place with the tubular bracing of the AK Gen III chassis.  I could then get the bolts into place and tighten them to 15ft-lbs / 20Nm.

Finally, the pump is in place!

(Actually, I did have to take the pump out again as I had forgotten to torque up the bracket mounting bolt that is cunningly obscured by the pulley once the pump is in place.  I torqued all the bracket bolts to 25ft-lbs / 34Nm.)

Finally, I could get the serpentine belt looped onto the alternator, power steering pump, water pump, idler and crank, and using a spanner to pull the belt tensioner forward, slipped the belt fully into place and released the tensioner.

The serpentine belt looped into place...

...and over belt tensioner.

With all the faffing around with power steering pumps, that little job only took the best part of five months!!!

Steering Part 1 - Installing Steering Rack

The next task I tackled was the installation of the new AK power steering rack.

Again this should have been fairly straightforward - offer rack up to chassis, install nuts and bolts (M10 by 70 bolts, M10 washers and M10 Nylocs - not supplied by AK) and job done!?

AK make the point in the build manual to check that the pipes on the new rack do not foul on the chassis.  I was already aware from Richard's build progress that he had run into problems with this and I therefore was betting I would have the same issue.

True enough when I did the initial trial fit, one of the the two pipes on the rack was touching on the end of the off-side chassis rail.

Initial Trial Fit of Steering Rack....

....showed fouling of pipe on end of chassis rail

Another consultation with AK followed - Jon didn't see this to be an issue as the rack is solidly fixed to the chassis and can't move.  While this may be true I was still concerned that while the rack and chassis might not move relative to one another, vibrations transmitted through the chassis might still cause some slight rubbing of the pipe on the edge of the chassis rail which could eventually lead to failure of the pipe.  So I decided to try and get some suitable clearance between pipe and chassis.

I tried loosening the offending pipe to see if it could be moved slightly forward to provide some clearance - but that didn't work.  I also removed the pipe entirely to see if I could alter the bend slightly to provide clearance.  While this did look possible I was concerned that this might alter the length between the pipe unions and put some stress on the bends at each end.

In the end my fix was rather simple.  I wrapped a piece of spare 3mm steel strip in a towel to protect chassis and pipe, placed it on the end of the offending chassis rail, placed the rack into position and then fully tightened up the bolts.  The act of tightening the bolts, caused the steel spacer to push the pipe back out of way and provided a suitable amount of clearance.

Clearance granted!

I then did a final installation of the M10 securing bolts, with some thread lock on the nut end for good measure.

The ball joints are then screwed onto each end of the rack - the AK Build Manual recommends 14 full rotations of each ball joint as an initial setting.  You then need to measure between the centre of each of the ball joint studs and make adjustments as necessary (making sure to adjust both ball joints the same amount) to achieve a measurement of 47.5" between studs.

The ball joints are then secured to the uprights with M14 Nyloc Nuts (supplied) although I have not fully tightening these at present a) because I think I will add an M14 washer under the nut and b) I will leave final tightening until I have checked and set toe angles at some point in the future.

Steering Rack Installed