scout man
April 6th, 2010, 09:06 PM
It isnt finished yet, but I figured I would start a writeup on the process, mostly because I cant beleive how cheap this mod can actually be. My goal when I started out today was to buy a Hydrobooster from a Chevy Astro van, along with the matching Master Cylinder, proportioning valve, power steering cooler, and all hoses I could snatch up with it.
I started at Pull and Pay in Aurora, and I am not sure I will ever go back there again jsut because they pissed me off. When they drained the fluids from the vehicles they tossed all the caps to all the reservoirs. Not a single vehicle in the GM/Chevy section had a cap of any sort on any reservoir. I asked if they just had a pile somewhere, and no, they dont. I told them that was rediculous and I would spend my money elsewhere.
Drove across town to Western Auto Recycling where I had much better luck. They only had about 3 astro vans on the lot, and all were vacuum booster, but I finally found one lone hydro unit on a chevy silverado (late 80s?). I pulled this one, although it was not easy to release the linkage. Had to remove the steering column and tear out a significant portion of the dash to get to it. I also claimed the reservoir and the proportioning valve from this truck. Then I grabbed a cooler off of a Bronco II. Total price? $36!!!!! The rest of the money was spent on 2 hose couplers (should only need one), hose clamps, and 4 bolts.
In order to make this new booster fit there is some significant mods that need to be done. First of all, the push rod on the new booster is about 8 inches longer than the stock scout one. I had to shorten this a bit, as well as add a spacer onto the mounting bracket. I had to cut this anyways, as the eyelet on the new push rod was significantly larger than what I needed, and it would introduce slack into my brakes. Cut the new rod to length, and welded on the eyelet from the old booster. I realize some people will turn there nose up at this, but there is just no way around it. It is welded solid and it is a straight line force that will be applied anyways.
Next, there was an issue of the new hose fittings having an o-ring style fitting, while the scout parts have flare fittings. Solution, cut the o-ring fitting off, flare the metal tube, and recycle the old fittings from the original scout lines. Only two ends needed switched over. This was no problem and both ends re-attached with no problems.
I will have pictures at some point, but my hands were just way too greasy to touch anything. The way this works is the pressure line comes out of the pump, into the booster. There is then a high pressure line that comes out of the booster and passes onto the steering box. The low pressure returns from both pieces will T together (T was already on the line from the silverado), then enter the cooler, then back into the pump reservoir. And that is really all there is to it! I will finish it tomorrow and see how it actually works.
Notes: I decided not to replace the proportioning valve for now, as the new one seemed to be the same as what I have already, and I think the brake lines are going to round off when I try to remove them, so I will avoid this if I can. Also, as of now I am not increasing the pressure in my PS pump. If I do not receive enough power, then this is always something I can do in the future. I will post some pics tomorrow and the finished results.
I started at Pull and Pay in Aurora, and I am not sure I will ever go back there again jsut because they pissed me off. When they drained the fluids from the vehicles they tossed all the caps to all the reservoirs. Not a single vehicle in the GM/Chevy section had a cap of any sort on any reservoir. I asked if they just had a pile somewhere, and no, they dont. I told them that was rediculous and I would spend my money elsewhere.
Drove across town to Western Auto Recycling where I had much better luck. They only had about 3 astro vans on the lot, and all were vacuum booster, but I finally found one lone hydro unit on a chevy silverado (late 80s?). I pulled this one, although it was not easy to release the linkage. Had to remove the steering column and tear out a significant portion of the dash to get to it. I also claimed the reservoir and the proportioning valve from this truck. Then I grabbed a cooler off of a Bronco II. Total price? $36!!!!! The rest of the money was spent on 2 hose couplers (should only need one), hose clamps, and 4 bolts.
In order to make this new booster fit there is some significant mods that need to be done. First of all, the push rod on the new booster is about 8 inches longer than the stock scout one. I had to shorten this a bit, as well as add a spacer onto the mounting bracket. I had to cut this anyways, as the eyelet on the new push rod was significantly larger than what I needed, and it would introduce slack into my brakes. Cut the new rod to length, and welded on the eyelet from the old booster. I realize some people will turn there nose up at this, but there is just no way around it. It is welded solid and it is a straight line force that will be applied anyways.
Next, there was an issue of the new hose fittings having an o-ring style fitting, while the scout parts have flare fittings. Solution, cut the o-ring fitting off, flare the metal tube, and recycle the old fittings from the original scout lines. Only two ends needed switched over. This was no problem and both ends re-attached with no problems.
I will have pictures at some point, but my hands were just way too greasy to touch anything. The way this works is the pressure line comes out of the pump, into the booster. There is then a high pressure line that comes out of the booster and passes onto the steering box. The low pressure returns from both pieces will T together (T was already on the line from the silverado), then enter the cooler, then back into the pump reservoir. And that is really all there is to it! I will finish it tomorrow and see how it actually works.
Notes: I decided not to replace the proportioning valve for now, as the new one seemed to be the same as what I have already, and I think the brake lines are going to round off when I try to remove them, so I will avoid this if I can. Also, as of now I am not increasing the pressure in my PS pump. If I do not receive enough power, then this is always something I can do in the future. I will post some pics tomorrow and the finished results.