I have never had good luck with Discovery 2 power steering pumps. The aftermarket pumps seem to be getting more expensive and the quality seems to be getting worse. The aftermarket replacement pumps also seem to whine more and never seem to be as good as the original pumps.

I looked into alternative options for power steering pumps. The GM Type 2 (Saginaw TC Series) appeared as the obvious choice. There are a couple of reasons I like this pump. First, it’s roughly the same dimensions as the factory Land Rover pump (a bit thicker, bolt holes are in similar locations). Second, the output stats are similar (PSI of factory pump is 1500, PSI of stock Type 2 pump is 1250; GPM of factory pump is 2.25 gal/min, GPM of Type 2 pump is 2.4-2.8 gal/min). Third, the Type 2 pump has been used in a huge number of GM vehicles and has been around for a very long time, and has a large aftermarket, meaning parts will be available for a long time. Fourth, they are fairly inexpensive (good aftermarket one from is ~$100) and performance ones are available from specialty companies (with increased flow rates/PSI).

I designed brackets to locate a 2005 Corvette Type 2 pump next to the A/C compressor. This won’t work with the ACE (active cornering enhancement) system, but my D2 is not equipped with it. I eliminated the old factory pump and its pulley. I retained factory power steering reservoir by cutting the low pressure hose short to go straight to the Type 2 pump. The high pressure line uses a metric to 6AN fitting, a short 6AN hose, and then another couple 6AN fittings to fit to the Type 2 pump. I used an aftermarket 5 in diameter metal pulley (which compensates for the smaller crank pulley on the Rover V8 vs the Corvette’s LS) and a 94.5 in belt.

Results have been good. The Type 2 pump appears to have about the same output as the factory pump, so the driving feel is very similar. I tried a larger flow rate valve and that made the steering significantly more assisted (thinking it would be good for larger off-road tires). I went back to the standard rate valve on this Discovery as it is stock. The hoses are tight around the 03-04 intake hose with the extra bladders, but I changed the bracket slightly and it largely fixed this.

Overall, I plan on staying with this setup. One nice thing with this new setup is that if anything should go wrong with this Type 2 pump, I can pick one up and switch it over to a different pump in about 15 minutes. Since it is all up on the top of the engine, the A/C bracket can stay on once the Type 2 bracket is first installed.

 

I noticed something (has nothing to do with PS Mod), in one of your pictures it shows the TB and the cables have a TON of slack in them. Adjust the 2 cables via the 13mm nuts to about 2mm from hitting the plate and your Cruise Control and foot will thank you.

The PS mod sounds awesome vs the factory stuff and yes the last 2 D2 PS pumps I've bought have been awful. One leaked maybe 4 months after installing it, and it also was louder than the dead OEM unit it replaced. I also just installed one for a friend and it was awful sounding out of the box (although they did gain back PS)..

I was always going to gather the bits from the P38 RR PS setup, but I just never found a good one at a salvage yard. The lines would need adapting, but a never had issues with a P38 PS pump like I do the D2 units. Cool upgrade and thanks for posting!

 

Just had my PS Pump replaced, about 4 months and 3,000 miles later, no issues.
If this one ever fails, I'll try your mod. Seems like a good upgrade, without going the Electric route.

 

Yeah - nice catch. I have been troubleshooting a sticky throttle issue and took them apart to clean all this / retighten. These pics I believe were in the middle of that. Setup is somewhat similar to P38 setup, and thought about trying that but P38s parts are generally rarer than the D2 parts at this point unfortunately. My hope was that going with the Type 2, I would always be able to get a decent, cheap, available pump. Also, working on switching over my other Disco with bigger tires to this setup as well using a high-performance Type 2. It should provide more assistance than the factory pump and make for a nicer experience with those tires.

Also seriously considered trying electric pumps, but the cost was significantly higher, size presented significant fitting challenges, and with additional complication from the adding a controller, it just didn’t seem worth the hassle compared to this.

 

Nice mod. Have you measured the pressure in the system? Is the larger diameter pulley spinning more slowly and dropping the pressure noticeably? At the end of the day I think steering feel will indicate if there are any issues, but perhaps a smaller pulley and belt would spin the pump faster and achieve higher pressure? Or is there a bypass that regulates the pressure? I'm not familiar with the flow rate valve, would this do the same? I'm about to do battle with the PS pump in one of my trucks and wondering if this is a smarter approach. I've heard the same stories about today's pumps being sub-par. Are you fabbing the brackets? Or offering drawings?

 

I am fighting with a new power steering pump myself. I replaced the steering box and bled it thoroughly and I still get spots in steering that are very heavy, like there is no power steering assist. My thought is that it is the pump, I have no leaks. Knock on wood. Was the bracket easy to machine?

 

I have not measured the pressure in the system. The 5in pulley is slightly smaller than the factory Land Rover pulley (which is around like 5.25in so, not quite sure). The 5in pulley is significantly smaller than the factory LS pulley, which is over 6in. Since the LS crank pulley is bigger than the Rover crank pulley, the proportion with the 5in power steering pulley on the Type 2 pulley seems roughly appropriate for the Rover crank pulley size.

There is a bunch of documentation about the flow rate and pressure. No pump creates a constant pressure, its a curve. The valve lets it get to a set pressure and then bleed off excess. Since the Type 2 is a common aftermarket pump, there is a bunch of different pump aftermarket pump options at uprated pressures and you can buy different flow rate valves.

I tried a higher flow rate valve and it made the steering overassisted. It would have been okay, except the first pump I tried was a really cheap eBay aftermarket one (bought to test fit) and it got noisy when I went to that higher flow rate. I got a nicer pump and it has been good. The factory flow rate and pressure seems to be pretty close for a factory tire and size setup.

I am looking at one of these uprated pumps from TurnOne (https://turnonesteering.com/products...teering-pumps/) for my other Discovery that has off-road tires. It could use some extra steering power. I wouldn't mind having the steering a little overassisted compared to stock.

If anyone wants to give this a try, send me a PM and I can share the file for the brackets. Super easy to get the brackets cut from 0.188in mild steel. Besides the brackets, pump and pulley, it’s just a few hardware parts, a hose, belt, and adapters.