Porting Hydroboost for more flow

TTMotorsports

Red Skull
Joined
Jan 7, 2021
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Lucerne Valley, CA
OK so I am doing hydro assist steering AND hydroboost. I have heard that you can port the hydroboost for more flow since it doesn't require much pressure from the system to work. Do you guys have any guides or websites on how to tear this thing down and port it, OR is it witchcraft and I gotta send it into a company. And if that is the case who should I send it into. It's a stock 04 Chevy 2500 HD Hydroboost
 
I'm not much help, but I bought a "ported" hydroboost from Vanco. Then, when I was ordering my full hydro setup from Howe, I mentioned that my hydroboost was ported. They said there's not really much you can do as far as porting goes.

Interested to see where this thread goes.
 
Years ago psc said there is one valve in them that you can machine down a slight bit to increase the flow. Also busted knuckle says to rub 8an lines to and from the hydrovoost but howe said 6an is plenty and works great which is what I was planning to run from the get go. But curious what valve they port to get it to flow more or if its even worth it. My hydroboost worked good in chevy I removed it from and it doesn't leak any so will run it as is if general consensus is its fine stock with good lines from the pump to hydroboost and then to the box.
 
Vanco is the people who port them.

Biggest thing is making it to not be able to fully divert flow to the brakes during heavy braking so that you dont lose steering at those times.

No there isn't much to do, yes you can go too far or break the wrong wall and lose brake assist.

Have at it.
 
Busted Knuckle has a pretty good grasp of what it takes to make them high flow. Jake knows his ****.
 
TTMotorsports said:
Will be around 1.75 GPM BUT i could change the pulley size to get more if necessary.
Click to expand...
Not enough to worry about hose size, only concern would be making sure you dont cut off the flow completely at max braking effort.

Honestly just re read the first post that this is for an assist setup, so no concern about losing assist flow. I wouldn't do a thing to the hydro boost and dont worry about it.

Even with zero cylinder assist the steering box will function and in a max effort emergency brake/steer situation I doubt you'd notice.
 
I had the ported vanco hydro boost, the only significant change over a stock unit came when I changed over to -8 hoses. Marked difference

Quick add...running psc double ram and orbital with a Jones racing tc pump. 3.1 to 3.3 gpm flow with 5.5 pulley on lq4
 
Provience said:
Biggest thing is making it to not be able to fully divert flow to the brakes during heavy braking so that you dont lose steering at those times.
Click to expand...

do you know that hydrobooster require hardly any flow? all it need is pressure, not flow.

'ported' hydrobooster is being done to support the high flowing steering system, to not become a restriction point and that's about it.
 
TrailTamer said:
do you know that hydrobooster require hardly any flow? all it need is pressure, not flow.

'ported' hydrobooster is being done to support the high flowing steering system, to not become a restriction point and that's about it.
Click to expand...
Yes, exactly. Because it comes before the steering, at heavy demand for pressure it can divert enough flow to impact steering . With assist steering you won't notice the loss.
 
mongosd2 said:
I had the ported vanco hydro boost, the only significant change over a stock unit came when I changed over to -8 hoses. Marked difference

Quick add...running psc double ram and orbital with a Jones racing tc pump. 3.1 to 3.3 gpm flow with 5.5 pulley on lq4
Click to expand...

What kind of difference did you notice and which hoses did you swap out to -8's?
 
Provience said:
Yes, exactly. Because it comes before the steering, at heavy demand for pressure it can divert enough flow to impact steering . With assist steering you won't notice the loss.
Click to expand...

No



Pressure ≠ flow

hydrobooster use almost no flow. Majority of PS’s flow pass right through and continue to steering gear (or full hydro steering). It primarily only use PS’s pressure for power brake assist. The tiny amount of ‘flow’ it use is to fill up the area behind piston when the pedal is depressed. That amount of fluid get released through return hose back to reservoir when the pedal is released, that’s it
 
TrailTamer said:
No



Pressure ≠ flow

hydrobooster use almost no flow. Majority of PS’s flow pass right through and continue to steering gear (or full hydro steering). It primarily only use PS’s pressure for power brake assist. The tiny amount of ‘flow’ it use is to fill up the area behind piston when the pedal is depressed. That amount of fluid get released through return hose back to reservoir when the pedal is released, that’s it
Click to expand...
Which is why i said he might notice during extreme situation only. Pressure is flow restricted and it is still a valve.
 
gt1guy said:
What kind of difference did you notice and which hoses did you swap out to -8's?
Click to expand...
Swapped out 3/8"-6 to 1/2"-8, had custom length hoses made, but you can get off the shelf hoses at Tractor Supply.
My steering is a lot smoother and not as much resistance with the steering wheel. Its always taken one finger to turn the heel, but its easier with the larger hoses
 
mongosd2 said:
Swapped out 3/8"-6 to 1/2"-8, had custom length hoses made, but you can get off the shelf hoses at Tractor Supply.
My steering is a lot smoother and not as much resistance with the steering wheel. Its always taken one finger to turn the heel, but its easier with the larger hoses
Click to expand...
 
TrailTamer said:
No



Pressure ≠ flow

hydrobooster use almost no flow. Majority of PS’s flow pass right through and continue to steering gear (or full hydro steering). It primarily only use PS’s pressure for power brake assist. The tiny amount of ‘flow’ it use is to fill up the area behind piston when the pedal is depressed. That amount of fluid get released through return hose back to reservoir when the pedal is released, that’s it
Click to expand...
Seems like accumulator and priority valve would remove this from the system entirely.
 
Provience said:
Which is why i said he might notice during extreme situation only. Pressure is flow restricted and it is still a valve.
Click to expand...
no
CarterKraft said:
Seems like accumulator and priority valve would remove this from the system entirely.
Click to expand...
no

whatever pressure the hydrobooster demand, is shared with steering. Oh and the hydrobooster have built-in accumulator :laughing: the shiny cylinder....


OPERATION
RELEASED POSITION (NO BRAKING)
In this position, spool valve return spring holds spool valve open. In open position, spool valve provides unrestricted fluid flow between power steering pump and power steering gear. Fluid pressure is blocked from entering boost pressure chamber by lands on spool valve. As fluid pressure increases with steering demand, it has no effect on boost pressure chamber. Boost pressure chamber is vented through spool valve, to pump return port, and back to power steering pump.
Click to expand...
Braking Position
As brake pedal is depressed, it moves pedal rod and initiates movement of spool valve. This closes fluid return port to pump from booster chamber, and admits fluid into boost chamber from pressure port. Additional valve movement restricts flow between pump and steering gear, causing pump to increase fluid pressure to maintain flow rate to steering gear. As fluid pressure increases in boost chamber, it forces piston forward actuating master cylinder piston, resulting in brake application. If fluid pressure is required for steering while braking, pump pressure will rise and spool valve will shift in an open direction allowing more fluid to flow to steering gear.
Click to expand...

in a nutshell, ALL flow coming out of PS pump are going through hydro booster, then into steering system. Whatever pressure and flow your power steering demand, will never be more than what hydro booster demand, ever. Unlessssssssss your steering pump is some ultra upery hot rodded flowing crazy amount of volume, that the hydro booster become a tampon, brake pedal depressed or not, doesn't matter, then that's time to get it ported for free-er flowing operation to maintain the flow rate your steering system need to restore (or to achieve) the steering speed.
 
Yeah, the above is all normal stuff.

You can still have the flow restricted by the spool valve to the steering enough to warrant porting of the spool valve IF you are in a high demand everywhere situation.

You won't notice with an assist setup because you dont actually need the hydro to steer while moving, people would and do notice in hydro only steering though that you can have a momentary drop in steering as the brakes have priority.

You highlighted in green where it talks about this, though it also pretends you have limitless pressure and flow increase potential from the pump:flipoff2:
 
As for the booster being a drain to high volume pump regardless of brakes, I'll disagree there :rasta: it will sap some pressure potential and add some drag overall, but it won't be much, less than max 10% in all likelyhood, and the increase in hose size is good regardless of hydro boost being there.
 
after doing a ton of searching around on the same subject, the answer was that none of the vendors are going to tell you how and where to port your own.

more or less, give it a shot. Probably don't use any numbers from anybody else, measure your spool in your bore with your travel. Make sure that you aren't doing anything that is going to violate your flow path.

if you mess it up, reset is just another spool away :smokin:
Click to expand...

quoting myself for whoever had posted the thread in gen4x4 with HELP tag erroneously.
 
The Unknown said:
Lol yeah, I didn't want to be the douche with the emergency tag on a Hydroboost question. I guess I wasn't quick enough.

Now I'm just the douche who didn't realize this thread existed.
Click to expand...
it's an old thread, i was going to respond in there but you deleted it :laughing: i'm interested in your results, just glad that you didn't get scared off of it or change your mind or something :rasta:
 
port pic.jpg
port pic 2.jpg

First pic is valve stock, second pic is my modified version in front of computer pic I found online.

I chucked up my spool valve in a drill and used a file to make it look like an old pic I found on the web. Not a great job but I felt like I had made a positive step.

When I first got my buggy going, I was not pleased with the steering and brake performance. Brake pedal was hard and steering was very heavy. I did this mod and it made no difference but turns out my new pump was bad, it was from Steerco, I had a friend that worked there, got a deal, got no help after the sale. My PSC filter in the reservoir was heavily contaminated after my first ride.

I sent it to PSC for rebuild, they said it was unusable and made me a heck of a deal on a new CBX.
No issues now for past 4 years. I am unsure if porting actually made a difference but I could see that restriction causing a heat build up from a flow restriction. My steering temps rarely go over 160 during Texas heat and long rides at Burris and Clayton.

Not a lot of help but maybe the pics show something.
 
I turned my spool valve down in drill press also, used a hand grinder for the rough cut cleaned up with file and emery cloth. No numbers as clipers digital side was inop, calipers are locked at starting size though.
/attachments/1000000497-jpg.833524/?hash=4add4175c22869fedc3990dcf138a2cf
 

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