Any experiences or guesses? Oh by the way the length of the bypass belt with March underdrives is 78 inches, or a 780K6 belt from autozone. So anyone know what I can expect at the 1/4 mile next weekend besides a hrd to steer car? I saw an LS1 car lose 3 tenths, will I??

 

no.

 

can you just disconnect the lines and run them together without the pump? I have seen a guy just remove the power steering lines and drive the car around with nothing hooked up, but i didn't ask how long it's been going like that or if it would burn out the gearbox.

 

FWIW, in MY case with the switch to electric water pump and manual steering went from 13.60's to 13.00's consistent, then later ran a best of 12.74 in the fall.

 

IHI that's a pretty good drop in times. i'd say it was WELL worth it for you then. maybe i'll rethink my power steering since it's a friday night fun car/saturday track car then.

 

If somebody would have told me that before I did it, I'd a laughed till I cried. After the first 3 slips were in hand, we were all shell shocked and needless to say S-10 manual boxes and either full electric pumps or the over drive external mounts were flying off the shelf the next day
Not saying this will be everybodies gain in ET, just mine. But the steering is not that difficult even in parking lots and that cheap azz proform electric pump worked every bit as good as my old factory belt driven one, plus I can cool in between rounds with the motor off 2 seasons on the cheap proform roller rockers and they are still going strong and one full season on the cheap proform pump with parades, cruises, and track time every weekend all summer long, not to mention almost zero babying time on this car-never a burp!

 

i think it'd be a dumb move, you'd have a car that's very hard to steer, harder than manual. if you got crossed up it may make a differance. you'd stand a very good chance of having leaks from the lines. if you want to gain HP convert to manual.

 

If you have a tilt steering column you'd also be likely to wear out the pivot assembly... I wouldn't trust a stock steering column assembly for long durations of non power steering operation like in a street car...

 

So, does the power loss of using power steering come from the pump itself or the pump having to push fluid thru the steering box?

On some serpentine setups, it looks impossible to bypass the pump.

Could bypassing the steering box (routing the pressure line directly to the return line) and installing a manual box yield the same results?

I know there is a wt savings by removing the pump and lines, and the manual box is slightly lighter, but really how much total wt loss is there?

 

You'd be really amazed at how much the TOTAL ps system actually weighs, hard to describe until you literally pull off ALL the hardware involved-never weighed it, but it was a tank. Not saying that the weight alone is going to yeild any ET difference whatsoever, it's the power needed to turn the hydraulic pump itself that robs hp. Think of it like a PTO system, when an attachment is first started up it puts a strain on the motor since it needs this power to turn the pump and make the thing work, bascially the same with a ps pump. By just removing the belt/pump you will notice more power, but just bypassing a ps unit that is left in place makes for really hard steering and like stated above could pose a safety issue, a manual box is obviously gear reduced internally to make this feat manageable. Just think how hard it is to trun your wheel with the car not running and there you go-with a manual box and a sbc if I picked my nose more often I could almost go lock to lock with a single finger like with a ps unit.

 

Here's the flip side ...

I ran an electric water pump and an S10 manual box. I later swapped back to the stock power steering and a high flow mechanical water pump. After having experienced both setups I can honestly say that I like the stock type setup with Power Steering so much better. Everybody can say whatever they want about an S10 box but I had one ... and am happy that I don't have it anymore. Not only is the S10 box difficult to steer when not moving ... but it makes the car totally unresponsive. The stock box is like 2.5 turns full left to full right. The S10 box was more than DOUBLE that. Talk about not having any response from the steering. It sucked. With the stock box back in place my car is soooooo much more fun to drive. The electric water pump is a fine choice ... however, what I didn't like about it is that whenever the pump does decide to fail ... you are screwed. You can't just walk into a parts store and get a new one. They are more expensive to replace and it sucks to have to replace one ... especially if you are on a road trip.

Is it really worth it to run an electric water pump and an S10 box? If the car is a street car that will see ANY kind of cornering then no ... absolutely not. The S10 box just isn't responsive enough. If the car takes the road 1/4 mile at a time then go for it. Otherwise - you're better off with the stock PS and a mechanical water pump. I ran 11.6's @ 117 AFTER swapping back to the stock power steering and going back to a mechanical water pump. Yes, I probably could have run faster with the S10 box and an electric water pump ... but who cares? I know I don't. The fact that my car can corner on a dime AND the fact that I have the ability to replace my water pump far from home makes it all worth it.

Sorry for the long comments ... I just wanted to explain my thoughts after having had both setups.

Tim

 

I was considering the electric water pump route, but not having the ability to get a replacement locally keeps that idea at bay.

I've looked at my truck and have yet found a way to reroute the belt to bypass the ps pump.

Also, I have been unable to locate a manual box for my truck. Plus, my truck came with the sport suspension package/quick ratio box and wouldn't want to give that up.

I've been told that power boxes can be successfully converted to manual, and will work as well as an original manual box.

Could the ps pump be converted to just an idller pulley?

 

screw it. I'm putting a 5hp gokart eng. where my batt was and running that for all my accessories

 

NO NO NO, you guys are getting it all mixed up. I don't mean unhook the lines and by pass the box I mean the pump on the serpentine drive. I can run a shorter belt at the track and go back to stock in like 5 minutes for the street. I want to know the gain by having the engine not turning the pump. like this....

 

No power steering in a power steering car is very very very hard to drive. I threw my belts once and had to drive a mile with the pump not turning. My arms were burning from trying to turn the steering wheel. It's 20x harder than a regular manual box. There's no way you could turn the wheel quick enough if you get out of shape.

 

Your probably right. I tried my short belt the other night from a gas station that is like 5 miles from my house and it was hard, yes, but steerable and not as bad as I thought. It's just an emergency tactic for the straight line run at the track in case my friend gets a tenth faster than me at the track. Then I will have to use this tactic to get another tenth or two to get keep the lower ET.