Steering Gear Adjustment

[Chris Woodward <cwoodwar@domain.elided>]

Hello all!  Picked up my new Spider yesterday and have put about 300
miles on this weekend just cruising around town and various mountian
roads, impressing members of the fairer sex, etc.  This car is so nice -
my 1st Alfa but nowhere close to my last!

After all that driving, one thing was very noticeable - the steering
gearbox needs adjustment!  The suspension bits all seem to be in good
shape (only 28k miles on the clock), but the steering has a lot of play.

So... I have never messed with this type of steering before, though I
have seen it before and understand the concept.  I loosened the nut and
turned the screw about 1 turn, re-tightened the nut, and the steering is
much improved.  My question is: how much is too much "adjustment" of
this?  I want to get it as tight as possible (probably not there yet)
without causing any premature wear to the gearbox.

Any advice would be appreciated.  The owner's manual is very
comprehensive on this car, compared to the many Audi manuals I have
seen.  What is a good workshop manual for this car?  Is there a Bentley
manual available?

TIA,
Chris
'86 Spider Veloce
'90 Audi Coupe Quattro

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