Power steering pipes?

[notorious]

Subscribing to this thread

[spannerrash]

I've just been having an email conversation with Maria at A8parts who has found some complete pipes for me. They are not in good enough condition to fit to a car but are complete so useable as templates. As soon as I get them I will start looking for manufacturers to see if anyone can do anything for us.

Keep the suggestions coming, I may need to send them out to quiet a few before we get any results.

If anyone has any pictures of de-constructed pipes it would be useful, potential suppliers may need to see what's inside. If I manage to locate a second set I'll strip them myself but don't really want to do this to the only set I have.

[MikkiJayne]

sorry I keep forgetting to take pictures Memory of a goldfish...

[spannerrash]

I received the pipes from A8parts yesterday. first off can someone take a look to check if they look right. I'm sure they will be but I was expecting a pipe with a curly pig tail on one end. Is that a different, probably NLA pipe?




On a second point. Do the pictures bellow accurately represent what it is that is inside one of the hoses that makes it so difficult to replicate,

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]


On inspection of the hoses I have it looks like one of the hoses is actually quite un-remarkable in that it is simple hydraulic hoes. The solid pipework looks like the most complex part of this but should be achievable if we can find a good hose company.

The second hose seems to be, again, un-remarkable for half of it's length. Simple hydraulic hose with a solid pipe section at either end. Ok, the solid pipe is quite lengthy and has a few bends in it but surely not impossible to replicate. The second half of that pipe on the other hand does look quite special. Do you agree, have I over simplified the other 3/4 of the two pipes.

I have sent an email to Conti Tec who it looks like originally manufactured this pipe to see if they can help at all but I won't hold my breath. These big companies are not usually that interested in dealing directly with the end user.

[MikkiJayne]

Yeah those are proper V8 hoses, and your assessment is spot on. The part with the liner is indeed the first part of the pressure hose and that's really the only difficult bit. The inner nozzle is in the pump end banjo, and there is a support bush holding the liner in place just where that crimp is where you cut it open. The liner stops at the bolted union and then the second half is just 10mm hose.

The return is pretty simple as you've seen - its just a hose with a union on one and and a reducer on the other. That one is pretty simple to recover.

My thoughts with the pressure hose are to cut the outer hydraulic hose off and recover both the liner and the support bush. They can be put in to a new hose but instead of having a bolted union in the corner, just terminate the liner in a standard hose joiner, or maybe a 90 degree to get round the corner. Crimp two bits of hose together at that joiner and then crimp on to the rack-end banjo.

Its just a case of finding someone with the intelligence and parts to do it.

[spannerrash]

I realize I have asked a question similar to this before but has anyone done any research as to if the complex double lined section of pipework is used on another vehicle? I am making an assumption here but as this complex section has a fitting on the end it may be that this is a standard manufactured section of the steering hose and is simply connected to other bits of hydraulic hose to make it specific to a particular vehicle. That would be the most cost effective way of manufacturing these double lined hoses, make them all the same and then add the simpler, cheaper hoses to fit individual vehicles.

It may be, and I am being really optimistic here, that we simply need to identify another vehicle with this section fitted and maybe Audi still have some stock. We could then un-bolt and discard the section that isn't suitable for our cars. The other 3/4 simpler parts of our pipes, we could get made up.

It may even be that this pipe for other vehicles is not as expensive as for ours.

I will give it a week or two to see if Cont Tec gets back to me. Meanwhile i'll trawl the net for VWAG power steering pipe images, see if I can find anything that has the same complex section fitted somewhere in its construction.

[ThisWayUp]

Hi,
Did any of the companies ever come back on this subject?
Thanks,
Brian