Power Steering Coolers

I know this subject has been the subject of quite a few threads because I've read through all I could find. Still can't quite find an answer I'm looking for and perhaps other may be interested in as well. I would like to add a power steering cooler and trying to determine the best route to go. There are a few diffferent kits I've seen online and wondering which has worked out and have there been any failures in the power steering system since adding a cooler. Most interested to hear from those of you that track your cars. So far on mine I have an underdrive pulley and just found a seeping leak in the high pressure line fitting in the back of the car. I'll pull the front plastic tray off later today and check for any leaks at the rack along with checking the fluid level and a good inspection topside.

I use the kit developed by Bodymotion which uses a Mocal radiator mounted in the rear of the car. This has been in the car for 5 years and I haven't had a P/S issue since. Prior to the kit I had a failure of the the lines.

I am using the inline PS cooler from LN Engineering ($250). Very easy to install. A PS Cooler is absolutely necessary for these cars. The stock line is plastic coated and does not give off much heat. Installed for 4 yrs now. I track the car monthly. No issues.

I'm also using a Mocal radiator, but installed by TPC Racing. No issues and very clean installation. Dan Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Small heat exchanger mounted at the front ahead of the left side radiator. Guarantee of good air flow to the cooler in this location. While I know people have had success with the LN in-line cooler, the design is optimized for simplicity of installation over cooling load and it seems it can't have nearly the cooling capacity. Whether the added capacity is needed is open for debate. I would do exactly the same thing if I were adding a cooler again. Though to be honest, if I were back at that point and knew the car would be fully race prepped in a couple of years, I probably would have just installed an electric PS pump.

do 987.2 cars also need PS cooler?

Generally, no.

Has anyone installed the TRS kit from TuneRS? Looks a little more robust than the LN Engineering cooler. If so, how was the installation process? How's it held up?

I rolled my own with a Mocal HX similar to the Body Motion. There is a thread on here somewhere with install pix. Car is now track only with Cup Car electric pump.

I purchased the TuneRS kit and getting ready to put it on. The directions are vague and the pictures appear to be from another later version Cayman . Can someone please tell me which of the PS hoses is the low flow in the 987.1 ? There is a smooth one that it linked to a larger diameter hard line then a ribbed with a joint in the middle conneced to a smaller diameter hard line. The directions also indicate to remove the low flow line but they appear to be perminent attachements between the rubber and hard line. Just want to be sure I cut into the right one. The kit itself has quality parts: Mocal 7 row cooler, AN fluid fittings, mounts, etc. You could easily purchase the same parts seperatly and save $100 but this is complete and ready to go. Think I'll also cut a NACA styled scoop into the panel to get some airflow over it.

I am on the same boat with RV4Flyer. The instructions aren't very descriptive and they describe the install on a 986 which has a line that can be disconnected via hose clamp. Any luck?

I am trying to put in the same TuneRS kit on an 08 and running in to the same confusion. Did anyone figure out the install with this kit?

Here is what I sent to Miguel at TRS after I completed the install. "Hi Miguel, Thank you for the information you sent. It was extremely helpfull. I was able to do the install yesterday but ran into additional modifications required to install on the 987.1 . The brackets needed to be trimmed for two reasons. First, where they attach to the cooler there is not enough space on the sides to turn the fittings. Second, the placement is different than in the instructions due to additional hoses in the mounting area. The only way I could mount in this area was to angle the brackets slightly and bend up the inside mounting portion on the cooler. There are some problems with the kit in general you may want to rectify: Rivets are not in the kit even though they say included on the instructions. Good thing I saw that before pulling everything apart. At the very least if you are not including them you should state what size to get. All three hose clamps were too small. They did not fit around the hoses. Good think I had additional hose clamps available or I would have been screwed since I didn't catch that until everything was apart and hoses cut. The mounting brackets should be fit/sized better to allow the hose fittings to turn. The slot in the mounting bracket is too wide for a rivet. I had to use a washer between the rivet and bracket. There really needs to be washers included for the rubber standoff mounts. I added washers which is the proper method to keep nuts tight and from backing out. Even better would be to use all metal locking nuts that won't come loose over time. I'm a little nervous about the hose attach point to the rigid hose where I cut the crimped clamp off. This portion of the rigid line does not fit tightly into the supplied hose and it could back off under load and vibration. I really think you need to find a better way to do this even perhaps with a compression fitting or leave a portion of the existing hose and use a second double barbed fitting...and don't forget the additional clamp for it that is the right size. When you figure this one out please send me the correct compression fitting that will fit between the hose and hard line. Overall the kit contents are good quality but missing critical components and the instructions need some additional detail and instruction. The reason I paid extra to purchase the kit was so I wouldn't have to piecemeal the components together. Hopefully the information I'm passing along will help you improve the kit for the next guy with a 987.1." Some pictures....more in next post.

View attachment diagram-987-pscooler.pdf Diagram is from TRS. Here is what Miguel sent me prior to installation. Hope all this helps. "Please if you can, send me a photo showing your return hose on your 987.1 , I want to make sure yours looks like the one I have on a first generation Cayman I have here on a lift. I want to show you exactly where you need to splice on it to connect the other hose for the other side of the radiator (not the side that I sent you before). It needs to make a circuit. I attached a PDF of a drawing of the circuit for the P/S cooler kit for you as a reference which should help. The photo I've attached is from a 987.1 Cayman I have here with the original return hose, please compare this to yours. I put a red arrow towards the part of the hose that connects to the original metal line. You need to cut the metal crimp off to expose the metal line and then connect the other hose from the other side of the cooler to there, that way it completes the circuit. You COULD use another barbed fitting instead of cutting the crimp off, if you want to do that route let me know. You would need to leave a piece of hose like on the other side. If you want to do this, I can send you out another barbed fitting."

Exactly. BGB has a great kit as well. The other thing you could consider is converting to EPS. Bilt just released their gen 1 kit (there were others, but the companies appear to have gone out of business.) I'm in the midst of the install, but for me its a better option. Parasitic drag off the motor, far less plumbing, weight low / over the nose (where its needed) and off the engine block.

I used LN Engineering 's inline cooler and Redline's fluid. It's better than stock but not great. You can make it live if you check and top off the fluid after each event. After 3 front to rear steering system replacements I got mine to work for about 6 years in the 2006 CS. Better is a front mounted cooler for a frequently tracked car or switching to electric power steering.

My 987.1 w/ 3.8 engine has an L&N inline cooler but the power steering still went out on the track late last season. So, over the winter I added a plate cooler in front of the center radiator. I then ran 3 days at Sebring in Feb., 2 days in Memphis, 2 days at Barber, and most of a day this past weekend at Road Atlanta until I blew a big plume of smoke and thought I'd blown the engine. Then I realized I had no power steering assist. Opened up the cover and the power steering fluid reservoir cap was off and nowhere to be found. Then saw fluid all over the LF wheel. The return line hose I have running from the rack to the cooler had blown off. It had a quality clamp on it and the clamp was still on the tube, i.e. the hose and clamp did not blow off together, what ever that means, if anything. I reattached the hose w/ that clamp and added another, generic one, and closed the reservoir w/ several layers of a plastic garbage bag and a zip tie. (I may very well have initially overfilled the reservoir.) So I go back out yesterday morning a set a new personal best lap (on slicks BTW) w/o any problem. That confirmed to me that I had indeed earlier overfilled the system. NOT! About 6 laps into the following session the hose blows off again. I haven't opened up the engine bay but I'm going to guess that my garbage bag cap is still intact. So WTF? The fluid should not be getting overly hot w/ both inline and plate coolers. So what out of the blue is it blowing that hose off? The only change from the tracks I'd done so far this year is the slicks but I ran some last year at Memphis w/o any problem. What is the best hose clamp you can buy and where do I get a couple?

Where do you get them for $250? I see they have BRS kit which cost $849?

Looks like they don't sell that one any more. It was just a finned tube.

Had a response for the tuneRS kit as I thought you were referring to it not the LN engineering kit. I paid 300$ for mine but it didn't have nearly the R&D work and ease of installation as the BRS kit. Probably why the premium is higher

I posted this recently, hoping this it will help out the next person adding a P/S cooler. Same as the LN engineering solution but with a price tag less than $200. https://youtu.be/b2Uc7WaNu9c