Power steering in an FD, take 6... A new idea?

[wickedrx7]

I have been driving my swapped FD for about 7 years now. I have tried many different renditions of power steering and finally manual steering on my FD and have never been satisfied.  I have tried the spring mod, adjustable valve and then finally went fully converted manual rack.  All the PS options gave too much assist IMO.  I have been running fully converted manual rack for about 3 years and while it isn’t bad, it still annoys me in some situations.  I had no complaints about the stock FD steering so my goal here is to get that feel back!

The FD has what is called “Speed Sensitive Power steering”.  Simply put the FD gives you more assist at lower speed/RPM and less at higher.

My idea is to mount the FD power steering pump on the LS1.  I have done some preliminary test fitting and it looks like it will fit were the LS1 pump goes but I will need to relocate the fluid reservoir.  .  The bracket should be pretty simple to fabricate, I plan on doing a mock-up shortly.   I was concerned that the LS1 belt would not run on the FD pulley but it looks to be pretty good. 

Does anyone have any experience doing this? Any thoughts?

[HXMan]

I would like to see this done.

[ncaudio]

My '94 LS car came w/o PS and did not come with a LS PS pump so I'd like to see it too, please document your bracket build/reservoir relocate so it would be easier for someone else (like me) to duplicate, I'd like to have stock FD PS in the car, so it would have a similar feel to a stock rotary FD.

[Jordan Innovations]

You never tried the Turn One fitting or KRC pump with adjustable assist?

[wickedrx7]

I've tried the adjustable valve and still didn't really care for it. I thought about going turn one but seems like a decent amount of cash outlay to not know if it is going to give me the feel I want. I liked the fd steering and it will be a lot less money for me to do this than the turn one option.

[Jordan Innovations]

I've tried the adjustable valve and still didn't really care for it. I thought about going turn one but seems like a decent amount of cash outlay to not know if it is going to give me the feel I want. I liked the fd steering and it will be a lot less money for me to do this than the turn one option.

Adjustable valve?  That's not the same at all.  What you're describing is the problem with adjusting the size of the orifice of the high-pressure line, which is not what you want to do - you want to adjust the amount of flow inside the pump.

Putting the FD pump on there will definitely give the right amount of flow, but just throwing the Turn One fitting on the F-body power steering pump (which is not the same as a reduced orifice fitting, or an adjustable valve on the high pressure line) will do the same thing for $25.  HIGHLY recommend you try that first.

[wickedrx7]

I've tried the adjustable valve and still didn't really care for it. I thought about going turn one but seems like a decent amount of cash outlay to not know if it is going to give me the feel I want. I liked the fd steering and it will be a lot less money for me to do this than the turn one option.

Adjustable valve?  That's not the same at all.  What you're describing is the problem with adjusting the size of the orifice of the high-pressure line, which is not what you want to do - you want to adjust the amount of flow inside the pump.

Putting the FD pump on there will definitely give the right amount of flow, but just throwing the Turn One fitting on the F-body power steering pump (which is not the same as a reduced orifice fitting, or an adjustable valve on the high pressure line) will do the same thing for $25.  HIGHLY recommend you try that first.

The issue isn't getting the ls1 pump to the correct pressure, it is that the fd pump reduces the amount of pressure at speed/rpm and that is what I want.  The gm pump even at the correct pressure is give more assistance than the fd pump does. Hence the reason I want the fd pump.

[Bowtie7]

Have you tried the Turn One fitting? The Heidts valve and spring cut methods are simply wrong in my opinion but the Turn One is as close to stock feeling as I have gotten. Even at 165 mph on the banking at Daytona the car felt solid and without any tendency towards feeling "exploromatic".

I like your idea but it seems like a bunch of work if you have not tried a 25.00 option.

[Jordan Innovations]

Nowhere did I say pressure.

Flow is the issue. 

TurnOne fitting, believe me.  Just call Jeff @ Turn One. 

[BlinD]

Have you tried the Turn One fitting? The Heidts valve and spring cut methods are simply wrong in my opinion but the Turn One is as close to stock feeling as I have gotten. Even at 165 mph on the banking at Daytona the car felt solid and without any tendency towards feeling "exploromatic".

I like your idea but it seems like a bunch of work if you have not tried a 25.00 option.

This. When I did the valve it was a night and day difference. The LS1 pump overdrives the stock FD steering rack by a decent amount.

Here is a pic of the stock vs Turn One's fitting (MFG@TUR11 with .093 orifice):

[wickedrx7]

Against more resistance than a rotorhead going LSX, I am continuing with my goal!  I fabbed up the bracket tonight, was very easy. 



The conduit spacers will be replaced with machined aluminum ones. The stock FD line will work perfectly, the only thing I will need to buy in a new reservoir.  I plan on going with a canton unit, which will be around $100.  Can't wait to test this out!

[RX7what]

Wow, looks simple and easy. Wonder why no one else has done this over the years.

[ncaudio]

Against more resistance than a rotorhead going LSX, I am continuing with my goal!  I fabbed up the bracket tonight, was very easy. 



The conduit spacers will be replaced with machined aluminum ones. The stock FD line will work perfectly, the only thing I will need to buy in a new reservoir.  I plan on going with a canton unit, which will be around $100.  Can't wait to test this out!

Looks good, looking forward to a test drive report. Since my car didn't come with a LS PS pump this looks really interesting, please document, this could become a good sticky DIY project.

You know if you hadn't put in that goofy V8 motor you would not have to go through this work and could have been devoting all your time to engine rebulding  instead   

[Tbkonwso]

i use a krc adjustable one, works great

[Exidous]

I use a turn one pump that has been modified by turn one. When I talked to them and explained what I had and wanted he said he knew exactly how to set the pump up. He was right. It is heavier than the stock LS pump but not so heavy that it's not enjoyable.

The ONLY issue I run into is that while autoxing I will sometimes hit the flow cap and the pump cannot keep up with how fast I'm turning the wheel.

That limit is damn near as fast as I can turn the wheel so it's not really an issue. Happened to me 3-4 times total. On the street or road course it would never happen.