Hey there

does anyone has experimented with some sort of device that could allow revnig down the power steering pump when cruising? I was thinking either fabbing some kind of clutch OR making the pump engine independent (by using an electric motor)

willing to hear opinions

What is your objective? Do you want to lessen the parasitic load of the pump or increase steering feedback at highway speeds?

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

I just wanna have constant resistance on the wheel... I mean, having the pump reving at constanst fixed speed. I find that while driving in town the steering is just fine but when i step on the gas and the engine starts reving up on the higer end (above 2500 or so) the steering turns a li'l bit too soft... AND maybe I can free some ponies, but that ain't my main goal to achieve, as I said, I'd like some steady steering resistance at any speed. Wha'da you think?

Try www.firmfeel.com They sell firm feel (duh) boxes like used in the Diplomat/Gran Fury M body police cars.

I highly suggest the phase 2 unit.
feels much like a new volvo or BMW.
Also keep in mind that tire size and alignment specs all have a direct input on how the steering feels.

-JYH
69 Backarudda, FF #2
64 Dart, 16:1 manual-- check out these forearms baby!
SoCal

So am I understanding this right? You can make you power steering not need to have a belt to the engine? Does that mean it's electric or what.... I always thought that rack and pinion steering was the best for good driveability and no pony draw.

_________________
My car may be slow to sixty, but at least it's been reliably slow to sixty for more than thirty years.

No, theyve just fiddled with the reaction springs and such to reduce the power assist. It's a modified steering box. I might look into it. I suppose you could also mess with pulley ratios to reduce the pump speed. Others have mentioned as well that increasing positive caster to the maximum adjustment will also greatly improve road feel at high road speeds. Do a search, someone once mentioned mods you could make to give you as much as 6 degrees, Im sure of it.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Are you sure the pump (and pulley)you have on your car is correct? It could be too large. If it's putting out too much flow it would create too much assist. Adjusting your relief valve won't help in this matter; the relief valve only blows off when you hold the wheel to the lock. Perhaps as I mentioned you could reduce one of the pulley sizes to underdrive it, but Im not sure what you could do to the box; Ive never done much to boxes other than adjusting the sector shaft screw. Sorry.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Great suggestions there, pals

My pump is rigth... is blowing even to both sides, not overblowing or reving high due to oversized pulley. turns out that I was wondering how could I have the same feel at any speed. Even with all the power steering tuned right, those old engine parasit units have this lack of consistency on high engine RPM range... and makes perfect sense, since it works along with the engine. You can perfectly expect overblow on the high end...

as far as caster is concerned, i have it at 6° already. great feel on road and town. I definitely would recommend anyone to set caster at 6°. It runs a helluva lot better than factory 1° or so...

So I guess that I may fiddle around with pulley size (never tried that before) and maybe I find the courage to go electric power steering... wouldn't be nice to have 2 rmp range for the pump? maybe some kinda 1300 or so rpm for town and 600 for cruising (or maybe less, like 400) I'm getting a li'l bit ambicious?

Erp, careful, the larger the pulley the slower the shaft will turn and the less assist you'd get, so in this case the pulley may be too small if anything.

Running the pump off an dc electric motor may be tougher then you think, you are going to need a fairly hefty motor to turn the pump (I would guess what, 1-2 hp?) which is probably going to be about the size of the pump itself so mounting may be an issue. If you don't have AC, you could use the AC brackets and fashion something to mount there. You would also need to consider an alternator upgrade because you are going to be drawing a good 20+ amps I would imagine as well with the aditional load of the motor.

got a custom larger pump pulley. gonna see what happens. it's about 3/4" larger in diameter, so I think that may be right for what I'm looking for. Tried to adapt an electric engine, but turned out that I need a large engine, as someone said. So i decided to get that larger pulley. I'll be finishing all the mounting next week, I'll post my results on that one. I have to finish assy of my rebuilt /6, then all new hoses, bolts, etc and after the bolt up I'll tell.

Thanks. Juan.

Correct.

_________________
I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

don't worry stepon...

I got it right way, thought you was suggesting a small pulley for the crank, not for the pump. I guessed that it would be easier to find a new pulley for the pump...

will see what happens!