Power Steering Control Valve Clamp

[Christopher K.]

The rebuild kit I have for my ps control valve has a Bronze clamp which fits over the ball stud seal. My original clamp is Silver.

Is this looked at during judging? Should I use the new bronze or the old silver?

Thanks for the help, Chris
'73 L82 4spd coupe

[Patrick H.]

Re: Power Steering Control Valve Clamp

I'm going to wager that it is not bronze, but a gold iridite finish over top of a zinc plate underneath. There are various chemicals that will easily remove the iridite and give you the silver underneath, but for a 1 point (maybe) difference I'm not sure I would go through the effort.

Patrick

[Joe L.]

Re: Power Steering Control Valve Clamp

The rebuild kit I have for my ps control valve has a Bronze clamp which fits over the ball stud seal. My original clamp is Silver.

Is this looked at during judging? Should I use the new bronze or the old silver?

Thanks for the help, Chris
'73 L82 4spd coupe

Chris-----

I agree with Patrick. I very much doubt the clamp is bronze but, rather, zinc plated with a hexavalent chromium (irridite) overplate. This is very easy to remove; even aggressive buffing will usually take it off unless it's real heavy. Otherwise, a short dip in a mildly acidic solution will take it off. You have to be VERY careful doing this, though, or you'll also take off or "blacken" the underlying zinc.

However, bear in mind that the original control valve boot clamps were NATURAL STEEL and used a "tang" for closure. Every SERVICE clamp that I've ever seen was of different configuration and used a long screw with a spacer for closure. What type is the one you have?

Addendum: I checked and I note that SERVICE clamps are being supplied now that use the "tang" method of closure, as-original. That's good (assuming one is able to install it properly). However, I believe these are plated and, as I mentioned, originals were bare steel. Of course, from an anti-rust standpoint the plated is better. I wish they made these things out of stainless steel----that's what I'd use every time.

[Christopher K.]

Re: Power Steering Control Valve Clamp

Thanks Patrick and Joe,

The replacement clamp is in fact gold iridite and does have the tang for attachment. The original clamp had a lot of black overspray (bare metal underneath), maybe that's why it didn't rust.

Chris