Making this thread to either be a monument to my failure or a how-to on my success
Hydroboost is a system which uses hydraulic pressure from the power steering system, as the pressure to press the brake master cylinder, instead of vacuum or electrics
I'm doing this instead of electric power steering + electric brake booster because this will give significantly better breaking and steering feedback and feel, also this has much higher packaging efficiency, and comes with a lot less fabrication requirements for bolting stuff to the firewall. It's also way cheaper and uses stuff the car came with.
The pump is a volvo electric power steering pump, from an 04-13 volvo,
04-13 Volvo Electric Power Steering Pump S40 V50 OEM Bracket/Pigtails Included | eBay
it uses up to 80 amps at peak when the steering is at lock, has a beefy main power input plug and a little canbus input plug as well.
it'll be paired with a hydratech brake booster and a flaming river steering rack
Hydratech Braking Systems :: 1968-1982 C3 Corvette Hydraulic Brake Assist System Listings
1967-82 Corvette Power Rack & Pinion Cradle Kit - No Column
in a 1971 corvette
big unknowns as of now:
- unclear if backpressure is a problem, most hydroboost systems have two separate return lines because the brake booster HATES backpressure. the volvo pump has only a single return inlet...
- unclear if the "failsafe mode" of the pump, which runs it at 50% speed, is sufficient to drive the system, getting good steering assist and good brake pressure, but not overboosted steering
- unclear if adding variable speed to the pump, using a control board like this: Universal PSC/NMS-PSC – NMStec , will cause the braking force to be significantly reduced at low pump RPM. the idea being that outside of a parking lot, you don't need that much steering assist so why not turn it down pretty low
- unclear what is a good way to silence the pump, since its pretty loud and annoying at low speeds, i'll need to put it into some kind of sound-resistant box, and still keep it somewhat cool in there (possibly running the PS hose around the motor a few times, and putting the fluid through a little heat exchanger somewhere)
I'm about to purchase the pump, here goes nothing
some videos on the pump from gas car builds
here's how it sounds when running, very forklift esque
