E-30 Power steering Rack replacement

[Purvis Brad Civ UAVB/DOI <brad.purvis@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All:
Here are a few tips I learned when doing the power steering rack
replacement.
 First of all an automatic makes the job much much harder.
The trans lines are very close to the banjo bolts that hold the lines to the
rack. It is very difficult to remove the lines and replace them without much
effort as you can not get a hand up there and only can get fingers. I don't
know if removing the steering shaft connector and removing the through bolts
that hold the rack in place (and bending the tabs down) would have allowed
for better access.
Putting the steering rack shaft back on was also a time consuming process.
It took a long time to get the shaft on and to the correct depth for the
bolts to fit and also to get the banjo bolts on the power steering rack. I
was able to get the lower one (22m/m flare wrench required) on the rack
while down below the mounting location. The other bolt (top one that
required a 19m/m flare wrench) could not be pulled down and placed on.
Total time to do this job with a rack by myself was 5 1/2 hours as I have
never done this before.
I do have a leak in the rack that was not apparent when I ran the engine and
checked for leaks while on the rack. I will investigate but think it is
probably the banjo bolt torque levels as the 22 m/m bolt was really tight
and I don't think I was able to get it as tight thus the leak.
Will check it as soon as I can.
For what it was worth I bought a replacement rack from Southern Axle in
Nashville Tenn and sent them the core back. The AFT was black in the old
rack and reservoir and smelled bad. I flushed the system twice and bleed the
air out of the system as well by turning the power steering left and right
for a number of times. Even with the leak the rack works quite well. My old
rack got to the point that when cold in the morning, I had no power
steering. 
If not for the banjo bolts and this car being an automatic I feel the job
could be done in an easy 3 hours. Of course I had a rack while really
helped.
Again I did this sole so it can be done and there were not heavy assemblies
to move or lift. The rack itself is quite light and manageable.
YMMV

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