frozencaveman

Hi all,

My 72 VC sprung a leak over last winter on the power steering pump - the large outside seal between the pump and the reservoir. It got to the point where the reservoir would completely drain over a weekend. I finally got around to getting it out of the car, got the pulley off, and now I've got two problems that I'm hoping someone can help with.

My local NAPA store doesn't seem to carry a kit for rebuilding a 1972 VC power steering pump. They have a shaft seal, but that's it. Can I go with a kit from the same year Cutlass? NAPA sells a rebuilt pump, but then I'm still stuck looking for a gasket kit.

Secondly, I haven't figured out how to separate the reservoir from the pump. I've got the 1" nut on the pressure fitting and an 11/16" nut with a stud for mounting to the rear bracket. Do I need to remove both of these to extract the pump? They're on there pretty good and I haven't had any luck yet in loosening them. I may take them to a local shop and ask them to remove them with air tools, but I want to make sure I'm on the right track. I've seen a video for a Chevelle PS pump that shows the guy removing similar nuts and then threading in a couple of 3/8 thread bolts and tapping on them with a rubber mallet to loosen the pump from the reservoir. Does this sound right?

Thanks for the help,

JP

70sgeek

Is your preference really to retain that particular pump as opposed to just buying a reman unit? They're pretty common and fairly cheap - probably cheaper in the long run than chasing down a repair kit and shop assist to disassemble it.

68442

Yes Napa sells a seal kit for your pump, comes with a bunch of seals and o rings inc the large one that seals the pump to the housing. I have bought many in the past.
Yes all those fittings/bolts need to be removed to remove the housing from the pump. The seal between the pump and housing can be a PITA tight. Careful when prying you don't damage the sheet metal

frozencaveman

I'm on the fence with this one. My local store wanted a $15 surcharge on the pump+reservoir because it was coming from out of state. And although I'm a regular customer, they wanted me to come into the store and pre-pay because it was a special order. Ordinarily, they order stuff for me with just a phone call. So out of principal, I want to avoid that and rebuild it. We're talking about $70 for the reman and $20 for the kit. If it was just the money and my time, it clearly wouldn't be worth it for me to do the rebuild. But as the guy in the Chevelle youtube video says, even though remans are cheap, everyone should know how to rebuild a PS pump.

Secondarily, I just like fixing things instead of replacing them. But if this takes too much of my time, I'll probably end up placing an order for the reman unit.

frozencaveman

Thanks - if you have a minute, I'd appreciate it if you could come up with a part number. All I can find anywhere is the pump shaft seal. So there must be some crossover between kits.

-John

Greg Rogers

I found out that most auto stores put Vista Cruiser in with full size 88's and 98's for front end parts, which is incorrect. I don't know if that is the case for a PS gear box. I would think it would be the same for a Cutlass and probably a Chevelle even. I had Chip rebuild my box with 12/1 ratio. Makes car drive a lot better....

joe_padavano

The Vista is an A-body, just like any Cutlass. Of course, the Saginaw pump is the same on EVERY Olds built that year, so how the auto parts stores classify it is irrelevant for this particular issue.

Yes, you have to remove the pressure fitting and bolts/studs from the back of the reservoir. Once you do, the reservoir will still be stuck on the pump body. I've had to tap around the rim with a rubber hammer to get the reservoir off. Expect gallons of PS fluid to leak out everywhere when you do this - seemingly far more fluid is left in the pump than it should be able to hold.

Pay attention to the seals. Not only is there a large o-ring that goes around the perimeter of the pump body to seal the reservoir, but there are also small, square-cross section "o-rings" that go between the pump body and reservoir at each of the bolts and pressure fitting. Take care not to forget these when installing the reservoir (yeah, go ahead, ask my how I know this...). Also be sure they do not jump out of place as you install the reservoir. Lube the large o-ring with PS fluid before installing the reservoir.

frozencaveman

Thanks for the tips. O'Reilly had a kit for my pump, and even when I provided NAPA with the part number, they couldn't get a confident hit on a cross-check, so I just ended up buying the kit from O'Reilly.

My favorite mechanic at a local Goodyear tire center got the fittings off the back of the reservoir in a couple minutes, and the pump practically fell out the front of the reservoir. That big main seal was hardened and not holding it in much at all. Now I'm off to clean it, hopefully keeping track of all those little seals.

With any luck, done today or tomorrow, although I will probably paint it before installation.

-JP

frozencaveman

Between painting, reassembly, and installation, it took me most of the day, but I got the rebuilt pump back in the car. Almost forgot to hook up the pressure lines, and ironically, of all the materials I had on hand, I almost didn't have enough PS fluid to finish the job. Runs with no leaks so far, so I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Thanks for all the feedback!