I was thinking about power steering coolers today.
Does anyone know what kind of temperatures a non-cooled system gets up to when
1) normal street driving?
2) auto-x?
3) track days?

Great! Another thread on power steering coolers! I wanted to talk more about it, but didn't want to start the thread.

While I don't know about temperatures, I recently did learn something I found interesting, and that is that almost all Fords have a power steering cooler. My neighbour informed me of this. he is a Ford Tech. Anyway, my question is, and I suppose it is related to the initial post:

Do Mustangs have PS over heating issues? I assume there are lots of Mustang owners tracking their cars.

Has anyone adapted a Ford PS cooler to their F-bod? If so, what were the results?

Is there something inherently different between Ford and GM PS systems that causes Ford to put on PS cooler?

Is there any reason to believe that a LARGE Ford PS cooler wouldn't drop our PS fluid temps?

I tried to answer questions 1 and 2 at the last AutoX event at A&M. But when I got there I found out that the battery in my lazer tempgun was dead. So we shall see next event.

http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?s...r+steering+temp

I haven't read the Ls1.com thread yet.
I was asking because while searching for a replacement radiator I realized some of the replacements had the transmission coolers in the side tank. I was thinking about plumbing the PS into that cooler. If PS coolers run hotter than coolant temps under conditions 1-3 above (or even 2-3) then it would be worth while. Even adding an additional air to PS cooler would help even more.
I shall now read the LS1.com thread.....

oh, I also have one of the IR thermometers. You'd think I'd realize this and check my fluid temps!

DOAH!

On the one track day that I've been to, I saw temps of 325+ degrees F with the laser pyrometer. It was in August, 95 degrees outside on street tires.

The first time I went to an HPDE was in my old '98 Z28. It did not even have the stock cooler, but was filled with RedLine PS fluid. It was late July in Texas, so I am sure temps were close to or over 100º. I came in and we heard a popping from under my hood. I opened the hood and there was PS fluid everywhere, including on the motor just under the cowl. The fluid was still boiling in the pump.

An OEM PS cooler and an underdrive pulley solved my cooling issues, and can be had reasonably. I have bought two used stock coolers off of ls1.com, and paid $65 shipped for each one.

I couldn't get the LS1 ps cooler to fit to my satisfaction. It could be made to fit but I didn't care for it. I've been running a large transmission cooler but it was too restrictive. Since then I've bought a $50 autozone pump and paid $50 for Turn One to modify it. I also bought a small ps specific cooler to mount in front of the radiator. Now if I could just get some free time to put it on.