Borrowed Mr. SBC's DIY Writeup for a Power Steering Cooler install & ended up w/ this
 

I finally had some time to work on the car again, so I went ahead and began installing my Nismo 380RS Front Damper. As expected, there are some issues since I have an ARC Oil Cooler and a relocated Nismo PS cooler. The ARC Oil cooler's brackets get in the way of the driver side of the 380RS front damper since it is the fatter side and the Nismo PS cooler was directly in line with where the damper will sit.

I did a quick search and stumbled across Chebosto's ("Mr. SBC") DIY PS cooler install and quickly went to work. Since the PS system is a low pressure system, I went with Cheston's advice to try and find the biggest tranny cooler that I could find to shove behind the bumper lol. I went to Kragen and Autozone and picked up the Hayden #401 and upon my second trip I came across the Hayden #516, which is much larger. The difference between the "Ultra cool" and "High performance" models that Hayden produces is that the "Ultra cool" models comes non-powder coated and has push-on hose fittings. The "High Performance" comes powder coated black and threaded fittings with push-on hose fitting adapters, so I will probably upgrade the lines later.

The measurements for each are as follows:

401:

-Thickness: 3/4"
-Height: 5"
-Length: 12 3/4"
-Core: 9 3/4"

516:

-Thickness: 3/4"
-Height: 10"
-Length: 15 1/2"
-Core: 12"

Hayden products can be found at the following link:

http://www.haydenauto.com/ROOT-Home/Content.aspx

Unfortunately, I could not take pictures of the entire process since my hands were covered with power steering fluid. However, I did my best by providing pictures that may aid others with installing something similar. :)

I removed the factory aluminum PS lines and just directly hooked up the 3/8" hose like Cheston did to clean things up since the cooler would be relocated anyways. I highly suggest wearing some gloves because my arms and hands got pretty messed up pulling off the hoses.

Top Views of the direct lines in place:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/001-4.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/002-5.jpg

Side view of PS lines directly being run:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/004-6.jpg

Front view of PS lines running out of the radiator support:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/007-4.jpg

Close-up shot of the PS lines running out of the radiator support:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/006-4.jpg

I ran one of the lines through where my hood latch used to be (I have hood pins of course lol). Front shot:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/008-3.jpg

Shot of the new PS cooler:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/010-2.jpg

Side view of the PS cooler:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/011-2.jpg

I had to bend and hammer the factory bracket to make this work. With some tinkering I figured out a way to get it to work with factory holes in the metal support and also give me enough clearance to work on my front damper and arc oil cooler if needed.

Closeup of bent OEM bracket:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/013-1.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/014-1.jpg

Comparison of the Hayden vs. Nismo PS cooler:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...202009/017.jpg

Most of the items I removed:

-OEM PS lines
-Nismo PS Cooler
-Driver side front bumper bracket (Not necessary to make the bumper work lol)
-Misc. hosing

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/021-1.jpg

-Side shot to show how tight it is in there lol:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...202009/022.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...202009/023.jpg

Some bloody knuckles and the "emo wrist" look was all worth it in the end:

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/032-1.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2009/033-1.jpg

Now I just have to wait for my new front bumper to arrive so I can dremel that thing up to make everything fit. :)

Nice write up. Thanks for sharing.

Take pics with the bumper back on, I bet it looks sick with all the new goodies.

Love your work!

Gonna be doing this myself in the next week or so. One possible thing I would recommend is, to wrap your hoses with some rubber (old radiator hose works well) where you passed it through the radiator support (see pic below). It will help prevent the hoses rubbing on the outer edge of the hole and eventually (yeah i know it will take a long time to do) rubbing through. I've been caught out with this on a previous car, mid corner on the track and its not pretty.

Shane.

:thumbup:

LOL, the OEM bumper covers the PS cooler. I'm going to pick-up a different front bumper with big openings :)

Thanks for the suggestion Shane. I may just have to do that, but I will probably end up upgrading the lines and I hardly drive my car so i'm not too worried about it at the moment. :)

wow good work

Wow, thats a huge core.........

looks great.........congrats..
-J

Nice write-up Rick! Keep them pictures coming...:thumbup2:

Are you putting the plastic wheel well covers back in?

Since you went to all this trouble to cool your fluid, you should go the next step and install a decent filter. The two things that kill a hydraulic system are heat and contaminated fluid. You've solved the heat problem. The screen in the reservoir is a joke. A filter is easy to add with everything taken apart like that.

You'll also want to work in a thermostat with a cooler that big...

Asterix

Thanks.

LOL

:thumbup: An order of chips and queso coming right up.:p

I have a brand new set of inner fender liners sitting on the garage floor, but I don't think I will be running them since I like having access to work on the car easier. I hate working on other Z's sometimes since I forget how much easier it is to work on mine since so many things are removed already lol.

Asterix,

I truly appreciate the suggestions. I will definitely look in to that. :thumbup: However, will the PS over cool? I know Oil, water, and the differential can be over cooled.

Here's one option. I just went with a standard remote filter base and a Purolator PL30001 filter. It's bigger than the Magnefine, but there are other filters for that base that are smaller if you're pressed for space.

I suspect the power steering system was designed to run best with warm oil and it may not last as long with oil that's too cold. If you drive your car in the winter much (even in So Cal), I think a thermostat is in order. I know here in Virginia when it gets cold the PS is sluggish until it warms up a bit. It's not a big thing, so you probably can do without for a while and see how it goes.

Asterix

"Emo Wrist" that's hella funny :icon17:

Thanks for the link! I may have to just go ahead and install an inline filter before I fill up the PS fluid. :)

I don't drive my car much, so I will ride it out and see if I really need to run a thermostat. CA weather is pretty mild in comparison to most places in the world :)

:thumbup:

On the whole "oil not getting up to temp with such a large power steering cooler" thing. I have been thinking lately of cutting the loop on the end of the stock cooler, and putting a couple of 'T' pieces, with taps, on just after the cuts. Join those 2 'T' pieces up and the fluid will run as per the factory. But then on the so far unused side of the 'T' run a couple hoses out to a much larger cooler. Come track day, switch the taps round and run it through the big one. Close the taps back off for general driving duties, and it will be exactly the same as running the OEM setup.

Thoughts?

Unless you leave your P/S fluid in there for 100k miles or leave the cap off while driving I highly doubt you should ever have a contaminent problem. Better to be safe then sorry I suppose.

I wonder how leaving the wheel wells off will affect aerodynamics? You know these crazy engineers designed them in such a way to help.

Thanks, this will my next project!

Damn that thing is massive.

How much room is there between the condenser and the Nismo 380RS Front Damper?

After 30,000 miles, my fluid was most definitely brown and quite cloudy. It should be bright red and clear. A decent filter keeps the fluid clear just like new for a very long time.

When I installed my filter I didn't bother to flush the system, so probably more than half of the original oil is in there. After refilling and purging the air I introduced, the fluid is clear like new even though the old stuff is still in there. The filter cleaned the fluid completely.

I think it's worth the effort. If you don't intend to keep your car forever, don't bother.

Asterix