Powersteering cooler

[cool 84]

I'm wondering if anyone has done this. I've noticed a lot of new cars have powersteering coolers. I have the hydroboost brakes so my pump does double duty. The hard metal lines get too hot to touch very quickly. I have an extra B&M stacked plate cooler that could easily be plumbed into the low pressure side. Anyone think it's worth it, any benefits of cooler fluid?

 

[Glen]

Yes, just mount it in the air flow.

 

[turbofish38]

If you get a chance you might look at the set up on the 98-02 F-bodies. They use a liquid to liquid set up instead of a liquid/air and I have been thinking about using this set up on my GN. It sets in the coolant inlet line(upper radiator hose on a TR) and you should be able to plumb it into the return side of the pump. BTW every time I take my GN to an open track event it takes about a month for my PS pump to quiet down so yes excess heat is a problem on our cars.

Eric Fisher

 

[cool 84]

Thanks for the replies. My mind is made up, my cooler will be on today. One question though. On the hydroboost system, there are two low pressure lines. One is the return from the steering box which I know I could plumb into no problem. The other low pressure line is from the brake booster. There are two high pressure lines going to this unit and I'm ASSuming the small low pressure is for "left over" fluid and sees little volume. The only reason I ask is it would look much cleaner if I ran the cooler from the brake booster line.

For those not familiar with the 84 system, it's like the 87 except the pump feeds the brakes first, then to the steering.

My car seems like it's becoming one big cooler lol. I have a huge FM intercooler, two tranny coolers, an external oil cooler, and now a powersteering pump cooler. I'm starting to run out of room.

 

[turbofish38]

I have the same set up on the Rivs. Lets see that goes pump to booster to gearbox back to pump. If it was me I would do it on the return line before the pump because it would be less likely to leak unless you had some pressure hoses made. Logic dictates that it should also go here because the fluid picks up heat after it leaves the pump. Eric

 

[cool 84]

Just finished the install. You can't tell there's a cooler there at all. The extra lines are hidden. I chose the return from the steering box instead of the low pressure return from the brakes since I didn't know how much volume there was. Too bad there's no motor so I could try it out.