Power steering hoses?

[gbeaird]

We are finally taking time in the schedule to swap out the rack and front springs on the SVO. We're taking time off after New Year, and it's on the list of shop work.

I thought that it might be nice to go ahead and replace the pressure and return line off the pump, so we can get a nice new start on those parts. I'm looking around, and it does not look promising. I have found a pressure line for a Fox, but it says 'exc. SVO'. Nowhere else have I been able to find that hose. Am I SOL?

[FinnSVO]

Just did same research few weeks back. Ended up buying pressure hose for 87-> V8 fox w/ac. Compared it at store to the one that was in my car earlier and all seems to match. Both connectors are the same and hose length is at least close enough. There seemed to be some different part numbers by years and ac / non- ac cars, but as far as I found out, only difference was hose length. The one that I bought was ACdelco (I know, GM part, forgive me...) part# 36-358900, Gates seems to have same #

Don't know if this info is correct for 84s with original TRW rack, mine has replacement Ford rack, same as later SVO and GTs

[gbeaird]

Thanks, Lauri, I'll start there. It looks like the Gates number is different, and my local parts house listing doesn't differentiate between A/C, and non-A/C cars. I'll still try to go easy on the existing pressure line, just in case.

[FinnSVO]

Accordig to Rockauto catalog Gates number for same product is 358900. Rockauto also listed two inch difference between ac/ non-ac. Should make no difference in our cars

[gbeaird]

Picked up the hoses today. We'll see how it goes next week.

[gbeaird]

We got the rack out, and the hoses DO look different, both the pressure and return. So we'll be reusing what we have. I pulled the hoses off the old rack, and they look like they had some sort of teflon tape, or gasket on them. The new rack has those holes plugged with plugs that are sealed with an o-ring. Can I just use those o-rings, or does it require something different? I'm about to climb into the service manual to see if it has the answers, but I'll take whatever you have here. Thanks.

[gbeaird]

We got it in, hooked up and filled. In order to save us a trip to the parts house, we opted to use the new hoses we had. The pressure line, although it is routed a little differently hooked up with no apparent problems. The hose does contact the battery tray. I readjusted the clamp that secures the hose to the overfill bottle mount, which moved it off the tray, and added some plastic conduit to prevent chaffing of the hose against the tray in driving.

The metal line on the return hose is also just a bit different in orientation. It turns a bit more down the centerline of the car, instead of off to the left side of the car like the OEM part. Because of this, the hose to the cooling line was just about too short. While I got it clamped, it is only about 3/4" on the metal line. I may go back and replace it later, but we really wanted to get everything hooked up.

We were pretty beat after all that, so the car is still on jack stands. We also need to do the alignment. Clean up and alignment will happen another day. Here's the new rack:

New steering rack.jpg
You may notice the fluid dripping off some parts. We used a circle-track fluid that's not supposed to foam, or slosh. After filling the reservoir and turning the wheel to get the air out, I turned the engine off. When getting under the car to take the picture, I noticed the fluid dripping from the lines and bellows. That whiz-bang fluid had FOAMED and spewed out the reservoir cap!! Since I have significantly-more cleaning to do, I just wiped things down for now. >sigh<

Now that we have the rack back on we can get the car out of the shop for a proper degreasing. All these years as an autocross whore has left it's mark on the underside of the car. Time to clean!!

But man, was it nice to start the car after such a long time.

[svono50]

Congrats on a job well done Gene! If anything went 'easy' it wouldn't be fun, now would it? BTW, your undercarriage is likely cleaner than 90% of the SVO's out there, certainly looks better than my undersides.

[gbeaird]

Oh, up close and personal, it's nasty. Now that we can get the car back on all fours, and without PSF puking out the rack bellows, I'll be moving it outside to give it a proper cleaning. We want to eventually show this car at the Houston Autorama (I used to do that with my 72 Trans Am), so it needs to look better than it does now. It'll still be a driver, but the caked on stuff needs to go.

[gbeaird]

Necro-post! My co-driver didn't have any cases today, so is 'WFH'. She helped me drop the old rack and start getting set up to install the new one. I noticed that the plastic 'washers' look kind of narly, so figured I'd replace them before discovering that they were leaking after I got everything cleaned up and installed. Not having a lot of luck locating them. Does anyone have a lead on them, or what can be subbed in? Thanks.

[gbeaird]

Took some deeper digging, but I found them. They appear to be Doorman MTM 82540, although word on the street is that they're plastic, NOT PTFE. But as far as Doorman is concerned, as long as they look the same it'll do? Grrrrrrrrr.

Maximum Motorsports also claims to have them under part number 'Service-9'. They say they're PTFE, so I went ahead and ordered a set. Shipping was more than the parts. FML!!

[gbeaird]

Managed to get the Dorman pieces on the hoses. Used the cap of a paint bottle to stretch the plastic enough to get the gasket started. It had a gentle slope to it, so after 2-3 pushes on the cap, and getting the gasket to thread was a non-issue.

[gbeaird]

I didn't get any replies to my query in my project thread, so I'll hijack this one, since it's started by me to ask:

How is the clutch cable oriented between/around the rack and K-member? Mine currently appears to be kind of pinched between the two. The clutch still seems to feel fine, but I don't want to have to address this down the road. The FSM doesn't seem to have any decent views of it, and my picture above from 2016 isn't that clear. Thank you.

[gbeaird]

After closer look, the clutch cable is NOT pinched between the K-member and the rack, but snakes between the two. I was able to move the cable around, so am confident that the current arrangement will work. I filled the pump with fluid, and moved the wheel left and right to bleed things. It took two fills. After running the rack back and forth with the engine running, and then turning it off, it seems the froth blew through the weep hole and poured down the sides of the pump, dripping to the floor and messing a LOT of stuff up! I wiped off about all I could, and then plan to let it set a day or two, and clean it off again. It seems no matter how much I try to keep the car clean, it fights me all the way!

Bolted the tires on but will wait until everything is back on the ground to torque things down. We still need to do an alignment, and REALLY need to replace the tires, as the fronts are still flat-spotted from the last autocross we ran in it.