C3 Power Steering (Electric Pump)

[Tyler Townsley]

68 Electric Power Steering Conversion.

I have a 68 convertible that I am doing my way. I got it with a built like
street L88. IE a detuned L88 crate motor, better street cam (Solid) and lower compression pistons.
I added a richmond 6 speed with 3:08 rear, c5 seats, and 95 chrome 5 spoke wheels on VBP adapters.

After driving it awhile I decided power steering was a must so I added a modified 605 box from corvette steering and a Toyota MRII electric pump.

The Toyota was the only electric box I could find and its in 91-95 MRIIs. It is computer driven. It uses sensors to control the voltage to the pump in order to adjust the feel. I worried about this for awhile until I realized the 605 box has its own pressure valving built in so all I needed was a pump.

A friend found all the right MRII parts in a yard for nothing yet and sent them to me. Here is a link to what I used.

http://www.sirgalahad.org//tyler/misc/psparts.jpg

The modified box bolts directly to the arm and will fit 63-82 Vetts. Top view of box.

http://www.sirgalahad.org//tyler/misc/ps1.jpg

The pump is mounted on the frame below the brake booster. View through drivers side gill.

http://www.sirgalahad.org//tyler/misc/ps2.jpg

View from bottom, not too good will take another picture showing the bracket I made to bolt the motor to the frame.

http://www.sirgalahad.org//tyler/misc/ps3.jpg

The only down side is the pump is noisey so am looking to use some sound deading material. It has sightly more effort than the steering
on my ZR1 so I am pretty pleased with it. Since it will draw 30 amps you need to upgrade your alternator, what you see in the picture is
a stock unit upgraded internally to a 100 amp unit.

I also changed the radiator to a dual spall unit and removed the regular fan.

http://www.sirgalahad.org//tyler/misc/68rad.jpg

Next project is to convert an old hilborn which I have to a computer
controlled efi setup.

Tyler

 

[Robin7TFour]

tyler, i like the change you made. if you get near olrando, i'd like to take a closer look at your mods. i hate the C-3 p/s system. and really don't want to have to rebuild it. lazy! i have been looking for something like this.
what was the total parts cost?

Robin

 

[Tyler Townsley]

I live south of Lakeland and do get over that way sometimes. Bought the box from Corvette Steering for $675. Got the pump free but street price is about $150. It does have as good a feel as my zr1. You have to tap up the 'collapsable' part of the steering shaft (which I did not know until I called the vender) to get the box to fit. I like the box better than the piston setup used on the stock systems.

Tyler

 

[Jack]

That's an unusual idea ... kinda cool ... if you have power (vacuum) brakes maybe you could convert them to hydroboost (hydraulic) and drive the hb with your MR2 pump? I think I saw something in a Doug Herbert catalog ... offering efi for either hilborn or enderle.
JACK:gap

 

[chevy50]

605 power steering

I was thinking about this swap and was wondering if you could use the pump thats on the car and swap in a 605 sector and then add the link in ,like it came with manual steering.The pump pressurizes the steering box sector like on a full size Chevy,only promblem if there is a big difference in line pressure for the two types.I think this would be a great swap if possible.