Power Steering Reservoir (1 Viewer)

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Photoman

Photoman

Joined
Mar 28, 2003
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This is a long term project to fabricate a larger power steering reservoir for my 97 cruiser. It holds a quart, quite a bit more than stock. The reason I posted now is I got a bit of a surprise when I opened the stock reservoir and removed the filter at the bottom. There is a good bit of gunk under there as can be seen in the first picture with 60k miles. So when the system is flushed or changed this stuff is not removed. It might be an idea to just remove the reservoir completely off the vehicle and put your choice of cleaning fluid in and shake and drain several times. Just a heads up.
Anyway some pictures of the progress so far. One picture of an adapter I made to just reuse the stock filter in the new reservoir. Another showing the filter tacked in place. The tacks don’t matter as the whole bottom of the adapter is welded. The adapter is also drilled and tapped to hold the filter in place once the reservoir is done. I made the top so it can be removed to take the filter out for cleaning in the future.

Bill
Gunk-inside.jpg
Filter-adapter.jpg
Filter-Installed.jpg
 
Other pictures showing the top and the dip stick I made so far.
Top.jpg
Top-2.jpg
Dip-Stick.jpg
 
Gorgeous. Simply beautiful.

DougM
 
Very nice. Are you going to make more? I'd buy one for sure.
 
Looks nice; are you going to groove the exterior of the tank, or weld on cooling fins?

g
 
Nice craftsmanship as usual. But, why not just purchase one?
 
As always, quality work Bill.

I think the key to a cooler PS system with the 80 is a larger resovoir which is why that is a part of my rebuild on the truck...

Though for me, aftermarket is going to be the plan.

Again, beautiful work.
 
That thing is a work of art. BTW have you done a ROTW?
 
gray said:
Looks nice; are you going to groove the exterior of the tank, or weld on cooling fins?

g
Click to expand...

Yes, that was the next step. I was thinking about either a 3/8" groove with a 1/4" fin or a 1/2" groove with the fin. Also, I was going to try to round the ends a bit. I looked at the fins on that small section of the supercharger plumbing and it is pretty crude. Lol, It did give me the idea of maybe redoing my plumbing with some cooling fins though.
I have a jig I made out of steel for the mounting tabs positions but never got to make them yet. I wanted to wait to see how to make the mount after seeing how the fins worked out.


Bill
 
concretejungle said:
Nice craftsmanship as usual. But, why not just purchase one?
Click to expand...

Well being simpleminded I though how easy it would be to just make one. Then the hours turn into weeks into months and then I say - geez I should have just bought one. I really have to give Toyota credit. There are so many hidden details that go unnoticed under the lids and behind panels on these cruisers. For example, the drain tube that feeds the power steering pump sticks up about 3/16" from the bottom of the reservoir. This helps make the sludge accumulate there as opposed to just going down the drain. It makes it much harder then when fabricating because I had to machine the bottom with an extruded boss and it had to be properly oriented with there filter/sieve. The bottom of there filter/ sieve has a female end on it that fits over this extrusion on the bottom so there is much stuff that goes on behind the scenes in these projects.

Bill
 
94landcruiser said:
Very nice. Are you going to make more? I'd buy one for sure.
Click to expand...

No. This thing took really a lot of time to get just to this point. Of course a lot of learning goes on in the first one. Just the material for something like this is $$$.

Bill
 
I have a couple of questions that I would appreciate some thoughts on. What kind of finish do you think would look good on this when its done. I am not into bling so was thinking just a clear coat with maybe that cap a different color. It is aluminum so anodizing is an option in a few colors, or powder coat.
Also, what happened is I machined an adapter to use the stock fill cap; then changed my mind and went with the screw in cap with o-ring. Unfortunately, these things do not have a vent so I am going to drill a small vent tube in just where the filler tube meets the lid. Since the tube will have a small vent hose coming from it this hose should face the engine. Anyway before this vent was needed the top with the engraving could be oriented in any direction since the bolt holes are even. Now I have to decide what direction I want the engraving to read; from the front of the engine, or from the side over the fender. I know, just a little thing, but you know how it goes. What do you think.


Bill
 
I think you shoud send it to me for field testing because if you put it on your truck it will never leave the garage.....................:lol:


Another work of art Bill, but you already knew that....:cheers:



D-
 
Anodize it. Anodizing is more resistand and looks better. Of course, don't use blue or red colour, but rather something more subtle or resembling the original part, like golden.

I would orient the letters towards the front of the vehicle
 
Bill,
it's great, I would do the lettering facing forward as well.

lagwagon said:
That is beautiful and a great idea. I was looking for more quantity but also a filter and found this.
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=625,587_4583&action=product
Anything we can do to cool the p/s on the 80 is good.
Click to expand...

I saw this one that's finned w/o the filter. It looks good but no specs- size, capacity... anyone have info on it?
http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?form_prod_id=249,48,363_4582&action=product
 
nice bill. I got a junk year unit and have hopes of simply cutting and extending the reservoir with a piece of tubing. There is a ton of room for that thing to extend down. But with my welding skills it will probably become an ash tray.
 
Here's more on the Appleton finned reservoir with filter as used in a rock crawler.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PR-Hydro_Steering/index3.html

This guy raises the question of vented vs non-vented and says vented is the way to go for his set up.
Bill's (Photoman) beautiful reservoir looks non-vented, so I presume this non-vented unit would work for an 80. I have not found actual dimensions, but it looks very tall.
 
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