Offroad-Express

on a 96 vzn185 3.4 V6. just wondering if I need this that I have drawn around. its on back of power steering pump. ignore squashed return hose, need to make new pipes between pump & 80 series steering box.
last photo one hose circled goes to the thing we are talking about, other hose goes into plastic box to the left of the arrow out of photo.

be nice if i can remove it, bit close to steering box.

It is a vacuum switch to increse idle speed to compensate for power steering load

ok. will need that aye?

whats this on top left of 80 series steering box where wire is hanging down?
the 2 hoses from steering pump can be seen directly to the left of it, and they head north.

The solenoid on the steering box will give you two levels of power assistance. One for driving mode and one for carpark mode. It should be switched by a speed sensitive relay in the original setup but you can just wire it up to a switch and power it up when you want fingertip steering. ( It's horrible at speed!)
You could remove the pressure switch in the pump if you don't have the box in easy mode all the time, I would

diogenese wrote:but you can just wire it up to a switch and power it up when you want fingertip steering. ( It's horrible at speed!)

so you would switch into this mode when offroad? does it give you lighter steering? or less turning of steering wheel to turn steering?

diogenese wrote:You could remove the pressure switch in the pump if you don't have the box in easy mode all the time, I would

so in normal onroad mode would the revs rise if wheel was turned when idling? without the pressure switch on pump.

is 'fingertip steering' and 'easy mode' your referring to the same thing?

I'd only switch it on if you wanted the steering to be lighter, like doing a multi point turn, or bashing over boulders!
It won't change how many turns lock to lock.
I'm not 100% on this but if you don't have the pressure switch in the first picture fitted then the pump might not make enough pressure or flow to cope with the demands of the box but only a idle, if you have any revs on at all it will make no difference.

thanks for that. I will try and make room for the switch, would be good if it didn't stall turning at idle. and also wire the solenoid to a switch.

If you loosen the bolt on the banjo fitting on the bottom of the pump can you turn it to get clearance?

yeah hopefully should be able to turn banjo fitting enough to clear it. won't be much room. still got to get new hose made up to go from that banjo fitting to steering box anyway. and the return.

The return is not under any pressure so you can just use fuel hose and hose clips, it does not have to be hydraulic hose.

should have some short bits taken off for the return. its the other one i'll have to get made.

diogenese wrote:It should be switched by a speed sensitive relay in the original setup but you can just wire it up to a switch and power it up when you want fingertip steering.

just use a normal on/off rocker switch?

Yes

that makes it easy, cheers