Power Steering Pump, Cooling & Prop Shaft

Power Steering Pump

Power Steering Pump - Several tasks ticked off the list in the last couple of weeks. Now that the engine was in I could fit the power steering pump. On the face of it a simple task, but as always there was a catch. There are two mounting points, one is an adjustable bracket that bolts to the cylinder head - no problem, the other is a long bolt that passes through the water pump allowing the PS pump to pivot for adjustment. The hole in the water pump has been drilled and tapped with a 3/8" thread and won't take the 10mm bolt supplied with the PS pump. On advice from the factory I drilled out the water pump to accept the 10mm bolt but as the pump sits in front of one of the chassis members I couldn't get a drill square on and had to remove the water pump. There are two pipes supplied that connect the pump to the rack, the fittings on the rack have different threads so they can't be mixed up.

Cooling System

Cooling System - Next job was to complete the plumbing. I started with the header tank, drilling & tapping a couple of holes in the top front chassis member. The radiator is mounted with a couple of brackets supplied by the factory, the only challenge was to find a couple of rubber plugs to fit onto the pegs at the bottom of the radiator. I tried some grommets but they weren't good enough. But by accident I found the rubber bungs, supplied on the pipes for the heater matrix, were perfect - job done. I decided on black silicon hoses, I wanted a neutral color in the engine. I may put steel braid on these later - I'll see how I feel as the build develops. By the way I was looking for a good way to get a near perfect finish when cutting the pipes. I found the best way was to use an O-ring, just tight enough to grip the pipe and then use this as a guide for a sharp knife. This gives a good finish and a square cut. You have to rotate the O-ring 180 deg half way through to avoid the screw.

Prop shaft - The prop shaft arrived PDQ from Bailey Morris, they gave a great service and were very helpful on the phone. This fitted exactly as I had hoped. I had to remove the bung that sits on the output shaft of the gearbox, it's on very tight and you have to be careful not to damage the oil seal that sites outside the shaft.

Prop Shaft Fitted