Steering pump and reservoir replacment pics included!

[v82fas]

So, myself and new VOA member Carl (And also his friend Earnie?)got our hands very dirty today doing a few maintenance jobs and one particular one. Steering pump and reservoir replacement. We changed front pads for EBC red stuffs, no problems although a tad tough to get in.

Before the storm



Changing pads (no points for spotting the brush holding up the bonnet!)



Can someone tell me EXACTLY which rubber boots I need to replace ALL rubber boot/seals under the wheel arches? Both sides AND rear arches too. Every single piece of rubber that has a job to do is torn/ripped. I know I can get them from here www.balljointboot.co.uk but I need to know sizes and quantities. Can someone give neilsfishing a nudget to help on this? I 'll also need the special spacer which has been ordered. Thanks Mark!

Here are some horrible pictures:





How the hell this car passed it's MOT only months ago is beyond me.

So anyway, the easy jobs, oil and pads are done. Now came the head scratcher. Here is the unit:



The problem:

First issue was the fluid return screw fitting. The problem is, the 97 viper has a standard rubber return pipe which pushes onto a bulbous tipped elbow piece attached to the OEM reservoir. The pipe was then secured with a jubilee clip. The screw fitting that came with the new reservoir was the wrong shape and size. We had to file off the thread in order to try and get it to fit into the rubber pipe. However, this has still not produced enough grip for the rubber pipe to bite (even with jubilee clips). So I've emailed viperparts to sort this issue out. In the mean time Carl is trying to find a part that will hopefully fit.

The second issue, although we cannot test whether or not it will be a problem yet, is the outward pressure screw (screw unit underneath yellow cap, see pic below, highlighted red) is different on this pump than the original. Luckily the old screw unit from old pump fits into the new pump. The new outward pressure screw unit does not fit into the old pump. So again not quite sure if this is going to be a problem.



So now, Carl has a new house mate at the moment as we left it still jacked up. Awaiting answers in the week.

Will report back when we have more progress!

ps, I've missed out the hours of head scatching that was done when trying to take off fittings for the steeting pulley. Blow torches, vices and elbow grease were needed.

Thanks Carl!

[v82fas]

Ok, quick update. Good news is, Carl managed to get the pump working. I think I can say I now have a custom fit gen 3 steering pump and res, fitted to a gen 2. Long story short, all you need to fit one is a workshop full of clever guys with drills:



Also, just pick one of these up from your local hardware store...



Reason being, the high pressure screw fitting caused problems. If you ever order a new pump/reservoir, make sure you ask for gen 2 fittings. We had to tap a new thread for everything to work. Rushing around blackpool at rush hour is fun.

Anyway, it looked like this when installed:




Now the rubber boots. I've ordered a pack of small to medium boots to hopefully take care of the drop link boots, also ordered the spacing tool too. Malcom at balljointboots.co.uk has kindly offered to send me the largest ones availiable to see if they fit the ball joints/wishbone boots. I'll report back on that.

Once the boots are done, onto the oil leak which had me and Carl scratching our heads!

Fun times!!

[v82fas]

Cheers Barry, I have a huge selection of boots and various sizes supplied off malcom, The problem at the moment is finding the right size for the wishbone/control arm boots. malc has sent the biggest ones he has and I'll go from there. Almost every single bit of rubber under the wheel arches have split. Except the steering gaitors. They're fine. lol