Originally Posted by
CarlC
....and a few words of wisdom from Tom @ Lee's when he was in the old shop in Sun Valley.
1) Use the GM power steering fluid. Nothing else for street and mild racing.
2) Use a power steering cooler.
3) If using the older style P-pump, have it modified to run dry and use a remote reservoir if HPDE days are in the cards.
4) Tune the pump cam ring size and pulley to match the intended use of the car. On the old P-pump Tom put in a smaller cam ring that cause an occasional low-speed groan with big/sticky tires, but cured the high engine speed overheat and fluid spitting from the reservoir. On the current CB pump the stock cam ring size was used but an upgraded shaft was installed as well as flipping the pump over and using a non-plastic KSE reservoir (LS1 accessory drive.) It still occasionally groans but it's no big deal, and never spits fluid even on high engine speed tracks.
Every one of his suggestions worked out in practice as well, especially the GM fluid. It's far and away the best for reducing aeration and holding up to track days.