Later ZF steering rack rebuild info/help?

[AFM744]

Hi from the Turbo/965 side of things. My '92 Turbo is currently VERY torn apart; engine is out, disassembled, heads at German Precision, case halves collecting dust. I'm busying myself doing all the other stuffs that need to be done.
My 965 shares the later ZF rack with the C2/C4, and like all the others the boots are toast. The rack is in my vise and appears to have suffered no mechanical contamination damage. I want to remove the pinion spindle so I can extract the rack and clean. I've found lots of DIY'ers doing the earlier piston-type R&R, but this is the later rotary valve rack. The pinion play adjuster nut appears to have ~1/4-turn adjustment, do I continue to back this out to release the pinion spindle or will this blow it up?
I've spent the last 3 months looking at my car with it's empty tail in the air... it looks strange now with the front end disembowelled too. I keep glamour-shots of the car around to remind me it won't always look like Pick n' Pull fodder.
Thanks!

[AFM744]

For the archives:
New style pinion/bearing assy simply lifts out. Bearing is slight interference fit w/ housing, so it just took a little strategic coaxing. I got an inside view of this assy before removing from here:
http://www.georgiajag.com/Documents/RackPinionHeads/RackPinionHeads.html
...simply for the confirmation the pinion wasn't being positively retained. Hope this helps someone.

[lucittm]

Jon,
I got my engine back together and lifted into place last Friday. It runs well and no leaks.
Here are some unsolicited tips:
1. Don't forget the sealing rings under the cylinders. I forgot the first one and had to pull the cylinder back off to install it.
2. I assembled the pistons into the cylinders on the bench. This was much easier than fighting the rings with the pistons installed on the rods.
3. I was able to perfect the installation of the piston pin circlips after many attempts. If you put the ends in first (at the cutout) then the rest of the ring will pop into place with thumb pressure. Stuff a rag into the crankcase in case you drop the clip, you know right where it will go...
4. I found the sealing surfaces of the cam tower and, valve covers, and cam chain covers were neither smooth nor flat. PSA sandpaper on plate glass made them flat and some work with a file made them smooth.
5. The three 6mm bolts that sit behind the right hand side cam sprocket are just a little bit shorter than the three 6mm bolts that retain the power steering pump housing on the other side of the cam tower. It is easy to get them swapped and then the gasket under the cam sprocket will not be compressed because the bolts will just barely bottom out.
6. The crankshaft seal under the fanbelt pulley that PP sells is made in China and the rubber is very soft. I used some Loctite 518 "Gasket Maker" to help the seal slide into place without damaging the rubber on the outside.
7. To set the cam timing, I used the digital dial indicator Harbor Freight sells and another dial indicator with a long shaft to show me TDC on cylinder #1. Our cam timing is different than the NA cars, I used 0.62mm (0.025") because the engine is type M30/69.
8. I painted the TDC notch on the crankshaft pulley white because there is no "Z1" and it looks just like the other two notches.
9. I did install the RSR rocker shaft seals (990-579-052). They are expensive, but worth the piece of mind. And they seem like a no-brainer for a turbo car.
10. I created a sort of tutorial for clutch replacement and engine removal/re-install. PM me if you would be willing to review it for accuracy. I would appreciate another set of eyes on it.

Thanks,
Mark

[AFM744]

Mark-
Wow. Thank you, you are welcome to contribute this kind of "unsolicited" advice anytime! My heads are still at Ted's, but the real delay is the pistons I still have to order (pending head-cc). Just since I dropped the engine the build plan has changed to:
Port & Polish
38mm intake bore
Twin-plug (inactive)
964/3.6T cams
JE 8:1 pistons
ARP rod bolts and head studs
...and this is just go get it back together. The EFI work will come next. That'll be:
Carrera manifold
Twin-plug ignition
(undecided ECU)
GT35R
I already have full B&B exhaust.

While I've been languishing in limbo I stripped and refinished the Brembo calipers, as well as took off the black body-matching paint on the Kinesis wheels (previous owner's mod).
I am a strong protagonist of manual steering, and driving my friend's Exige compelled me to short-circuit the hydraulics when I put this rack back together. I miss the feel my 3.2 had, and though our power steering is admittedly very good, I'm going to try it manual.
Mark thank you again for posting all the above info. I WILL be needing it in a few weeks.

[AFM744]

Cleaned, repacked and reassembled the rack. Long-time question answered: power steering rack w/o hydraulics does not equal manual steering. As documented by others' posts the PS rack is a higher ratio, for this I was prepared. What I discovered (and did not know nor have not seen posted) is that the pinion is torsion sprung. Under torque the driven (by steering column) deflects, obviously opening the hydraulic ports. SO, unassisted, this steering will be higher effort, but will be losing "feel" by this sprung valving. Bummer. No I don't have any dollars to throw at an RS rack (see above expenses, which I can't afford anyway), and now I know I've got SPRINGS between me and the tie rods. And I gotta fix the stoobit leaky PS pump so it won't soil the EXTENSIVE cleaning I've done to all the engine parts.

[AFM744]

...while I'm upping my post count, here's the evil voice over my left shoulder personified. Whenever I throw him in the back he's egging me on "Daddy go faster!"

...though this picture was taken with the car on jackstands just after I had him help me bleed the brakes.