Notes on Recent Testarossa Steering Rack Rebuild

Hello Gents,
I recently had my steering rack rebuilt and I thought I would bother you with a few comments about that project.

I hit this bad section of road while driving a while back.

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Even though I had slowed way down, the aggressive drop-off resulted in a loud "clank" noise and it was apparent to me right away that my passenger-side steering rack bushing had failed. The car drove ok on the way home, but the typical "thump" could be heard while moving the steering wheel while stopped.

After doing a lot of research here in FChat and elsewhere, I learned that ARC Remanufacturing in Astoria, NY routinely refurbishes the TRW Italia steering racks that are found in our Testarossas and many other cars of the period. I contacted Will of ARC and arranged for the repair. The failed nylon bushing would be replaced by a custom-machined metal bushing.

I Removed the rack from the car, which I would consider a fairly difficult job simply because there is so little clearance to work in that area. It is difficult to see exactly what you are working on, and it's hard to get tools on the fasteners. I found that taking the roll-bar loose gave me the necessary clearance to work. I elected to leave the large, aluminum fittings fastened to the bulkhead, and only removed the smaller, outer fittings that provide the clamping force to secure the steering rack to the larger fittings. This allowed me to slide the steering rack laterally past the brake rotor and out of the car. The rack can slide between the studs that protrude from the larger aluminum fittings that remain attached to the bulkhead.

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The old nylon bushing had shattered into little pieces...

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The steering linkage needs to be disconnected from the rack before the rack can be removed. I needed to release bracket halves (#65) that secure the spherical bearing (#63) so that the steering linkage could be pulled free from the steering rack (the bolt that secures the steering linkage to the steering rack input fitting must be removed first).

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I shipped the tired old rack to ARC and came back about 2 weeks later, better than new since the metal bushing won't fail like the old nylon bushings do.

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Installation of the new rack was easy and just a reverse of the removal process.
I did a front-end alignment by using the good old "string" method. This is complicated a little by the front track being markedly more narrow than the rear track...but carefull measurements allow for a fairly accurate alignment (make sure to center the steering wheel first).

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A quick road test showed that the new rack felt "tighter" than the old rack, and took more force to turn than I remember the old one did. I guess that is probably to be expected with the new grease, metal bushing, etc. Now that I have about 200 miles on the new rack, it feels a lot more normal.
Anyway, that is my steering rack story. Will at ARC was great to work with, and I think he did a quality job. Total cost was $650 for the rebuild, and $100 for round-trip shipping. Below is Will's contact info. Thank you.

Will Hayes
Arc Remanufacturing
718-728-0701 ext 102
19-40 42nd St Astoria NY 11105

 

Yeah man! There's more where that came from. Stay tuned for the A/C blower motor replacement...