Info. wanted - power steering pump bracket

[adamderosa]

I am trying to determine what the correct power steering pump bracket would be for my '72 Avanti. The original bracket broke many years ago, and I replaced it with a "universal" aftermarket one that doesn't fit great. I'm guessing that I need to find a bracket from a '60's-'70's Chevrolet, but which one? I already know it's not a Corvette - I tried it and it does not fit. If anyone knows the answer or could post some pictures of theirs I would appreciate it. By the way, this is a set-up with a short waterpump, and the power steering pump is driven from a single belt to the forward groove of the 3-groove crankshaft pulley.

Thanks!

[Gunslinger]

Is your engine a 350 or 400? If it's a 350 it would have been a Corvette spec engine but that doesn't mean the p/s steering bracket is Corvette as you said already. If it's a 400 engine you might check into a Chevy station wagon bracket as the 400 was used very heavily in that application.

Whether the bracket is specific to a short or long water pump I can't say but I would suspect the bracket is engine/vehicle specific and the p/s number makes the difference for the water pump. You never can tell with GM, though. They have often taken the long road to a simple production solution.

[adamderosa]

It was originally a 400cu. engine. I suspect that the bracket I need would be whatever was used on early Avanti II's and perhaps even '65-66 V8 Studebakers.

[Avanti83]

Just for grins, does it look like this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-72-Chevrolet-Chevelle-Camaro-USED-power-steering-pump-w-bracket-pulley-/331670996445?hash=item4d3921c5dd:g:GfkAAOSwZQxW4JQb&vxp=mtrEbay or local swap meets should have what you need. GM used a variety of pump and bracket combos on the SBC's but not as many as one might think. IAC, the Avanti portion of the power steering remained the same until into the 80's so even if you can't find exactly what you have, most any GM pump from the 66-83 era should work so a lot of brackets will fit and work. I've bolted a fair number of various OEM power steering setups to SBC's and as long as the pulleys line up then a belt change is usually the only other item needed.

One thing to be aware of is a lot of the SBC installs also use a brace from the pump/bracket to the engine to strengthen the assembly. See if your setup needs one also.

Bob

[adamderosa]

Thanks for the suggestions. My original bracket is long gone so I don't have it to reference for comparison. If someone with a '72 or earlier Avanti could post a picture of their set-up it would help me quite a bit.

Thanks,

Adam

[silverstude]

Might be a bit late, but here's a 1970 RQA type

http://www.studebaker-info.org/DSCN2469m.jpg

You can see the bottom of the bracket. The belt adjustment is made from a piece that's bolted to the front of the exhaust manifold. There's another pic around with the bracket on the bench. Will try and dig it up..

.....and the dig was successful, but not the pic I thought... You can see the attachment point

http://www.studebaker-info.org/pspumpwac.jpg

Edited September 9, 2016 by silverstude