Re: [AMC-List] Power Steering

[Mark Price <markprice242@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew is right, The bar is the nest way to gain road feel.
You can help by dropping the pressure. I really need to source who makes the kit to do this, but you can drop the line pressure in the saginaw pumps easily and this will help. If your only looking for a little better feel.
  In a nutshell what you do is take the high pressure line off, take out the big nut that is the seat for it. Under the nut you will find a valve and spring, Take them out, look at the valve, on one end is a small nut, under it one or more washers. What you need to do is remove this nut and add washers to drop pressure. One of the co's that  deals in P/S stuff sells a kit to do this and it comes with a tool to hold the valve to get the nut off. If you don't get this kit you have to be super careful not to damage the valves machined surfaces and it is tough to get this nut off. Washers come in the kit, Or take them from another pumps valve.
   I did this with my American, I put so many in that it just barely assisted the steering, I liked it, but I'm not sure how this would effect box life if driven a lot.
   You can also get reduced pump pressure by using a valve from another car type.
For instance on the late model Jeep line, the Wranglers put out aroun 800-900 PSI and the XJ's put out around 1,000-1,100 psi. So when I put the accesories on my American I had a New XJ pump and a used 91 Wrangler pump, I put the Wrangler valve in the XJ pump.
   On Fords, the Mustang GT's had less boost pressure than standard Fords. As far as I have been able to tell the Saginaw pumps to be way universal and shared across many makes and models. I would try and source a pump speced for a 78 or so Transam, In 79 IIRC They switched over to O-ring seals on the Lines, stay away from that if your using the whole pump. the valve alone will be about the same.
  Someday I will pull the valve from my spare used late model pump and lay it beside the early square reservoired pump to see if they are really the same or not, I believe they are, but
  Your mileage may vary!
--
Mark Price
markprice242ATadelphia.net
Morgantown, WV


---- Sandwich Maker <adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> " From: Don Johnson <donjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> " 
> " Some time ago, I added power steering to my 70 AMX, primarily, so my
> " wife could park it.
> " I got the pump, steering box and all the other parts and pieces from a
> " 70 Javelin and the system works well, however, I've never been very
> " happy with the "feel" of the steering. It seems over boosted, if that
> " is the correct term.
> " >From reading the list, I decided to change the pump, and bought a
> " setup from a later model. This one has the smaller pump and supposedly,
> " better road feel.
> 
> changing the pump won't do anything for feel if it doesn't change
> pressure.  even if it does also change your pressure it will have only
> a small effect on feel.  much more important is a torsion bar in the
> valve assembly on the steering gear ittself.  thick bar, more feel;
> thin bar, less feel.  bars range from 0.165" dia - which is probably
> what you have - to 0.210" in police and iroc packages, in mostly
> 0.010" steps.
> 
> see http://www.chevelles.com/techref/shea_1.html and
> http://www.chevelles.com/techref/shea_3.html for some ideas and info.
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
> internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
> adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                       and think what none thought
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