Notes :
- Don’t fully tighten bolts securing the rack yet – will torque up once the actual steering column (connecting steering wheel to steering rack) is fitted – this will come after the engine is in.
- Give the tracking nut 13 turns for SV body (old manual). New manual says 12. Average of 11 for normal body and 13 for SV body (as per old manual). This is for tracking purposes and only a rough fit, tracking will be done at PBC.
Lay out required components from Steering rack bag :
Once protective cardboard has been added to the car, put down some cloth/towel to protect the metal work as shown, then insert the left side (driver perspective) of steering rack and push quite far through.
This leaves enough space to get the right side of the steering rack in position
Now add the steering rack clamps and tighten bolts, but do not fully torque – need some give in the steering rack for later when we attach the steering column.
You want to make sure that the steering column is angled in such a way that the Universal joint is pointing towards where the steering wheel will go. Don´t install it with the Universal joint level as it will require a lot of faff to line it all up later.
Now take the universal joint and slide it onto the steering rack. Attempt to fit the bolt through, you will probably find something like this where you cannot push the bolt all the way though
Take the universal joint back off and put it in a vice. This comes as an 8mm hole. Get a 9mm HSS drill bit and drill through the hole. Move the drill bit up and down several times and apply a little pressure towards the open side of the UJ so that the drill bit is really taking off some of that metal. Offer the universal joint back up to the steering rack periodically to see if the bolt will now fit. Eventually it will and you get the following :
Screw bolt onto end and torque to 20Nm, marking with Torque pen.