I don't have any personal experience with that, but I will offer some reasoning to consider. The power steering rack rebuild kit is listed at about $100, without replacement boots. I didn't find the price for boots but if yours are OK that's not a concern; if yours are worn, torn or leaking you can add that price to your cost, which would probably raise you up to about $150.
The whole remanufactured and guaranteed rack is just $235.
You have to remove and replace the whole unit regardless whether you rebuild the rack or buy another.
If you rebuild, you have to disassemble the rack (lengthy and messy job) and risk losing or damaging something while you're in there, or making a reassembly mistake (WITH YOUR STEERING
) and not knowing it until you replace it and drive the car. If it feels weird, you have nobody to ask about it and nobody to blame but yrslf. AND, you lose however much downtime it takes you to remove, disassemble, inspect, clean, rebuild and reinstall the unit yrslf, twice.If you buy the complete rack from a company, it's guaranteed and it's *probably* rebuilt correctly, including any torque specs which might be important to correct function. A Re-Man unit will have been mic'd to ensure all tolerances and dimensions are within limits, while your original old parts will have worn against each other for 36yrs. Your rebuild might not even fix the leak, if it's a worn major part. The Re-Man will be guaranteed correct. If you put on a new rack and it feels weird or seeks out trees along the roadside, at least you have somebody to sue for the damages. If you do it yrslf, the whole cost is yours alone.
Removing the old one and replacing the new one might take you a weekend, but it's unlikely you will forget where parts go (OR LOSE THEM) in that short time. If you take the time to rebuild the whole rack yrslf, you might forget stuff or lose stuff or damage rebuild items and then you'll be in grief, and your car becomes a Hangar Queen on jackstands during a lot of good driving weeks until you sort it out or order new parts.
I love a good mechanical challenge but I don't gamble with either my brakes or my steering (which is why I have no experience with this). I will experiment with something which might strand me on the side of the road, but nothing which can kill me. This can kill you, and you're no fun to us dead.
For the sake of another $100, I'd buy the guaranteed Re-Man steering rack and just swap it out quickly. The time saved would probably be worth the difference to me alone, but the real value would be my peace of mind, knowing the thing was rebuilt correctly and was guaranteed to work safely. I would probably even have a Pro make the change and adjustment for me, and change out the PS fluid while he's at it.
Our ZX Guru is Rich from RDZ (a CTZCC member) in New Milford. His number is 203-628-7725 http://www.rdzmotorsports.com/ Rich works on these cars for a living and can tell you how easy or hard (or safe or dangerous) it might be for you to rebuild your own PS rack safely and correctly. Why not give him a call and ask his opinion? And pleaZe let us know what you decide to do?
Frank
PS: Beck-Arnley or Moog make excellent replacement parts; Moog builds them stronger than factory if you don't mind a little more weight.
