Tube in steering pump housing?

[iamtheari]

I removed the steering pump housing from my 1990 Carrera 4 to replace the O-ring and sealing ring on the camshaft-driven portion of the system. See Perelet's thread for the overall procedure. Before I ask my question, here is a word to the wise: If you have the heat exchangers off and want to do this job, do not put them back on before you start it. It would have been immensely easier to do with the heat exchangers still on the garage floor instead of the car. But it is possible to do with them in place.

Anyhow, inside the steering pump pulley housing there is a metal tube that runs from halfway up the housing to the flat lid that covers the camshaft pulley. It appeared to just be pressed into place on the inside of the steering pump housing when I removed and cleaned everything. Now, it doesn't fit very tightly and can actually fall out through the hole in the lid. That seems wrong.

First, does anyone know what the tube is for? I can't find it in PET or the Pelican catalog. It does show up in Perelet's thread, in this image (sticking out, toward the right near the belt and above the pulley):



Second, and most importantly before I close up the car, did I put things back together in the wrong order? In other words, does the tube stick through the housing from behind? It's pretty tedious to get back into there to test so I am asking here first.

[rsscotty]

The tube goes in first and then the metal cover. If you don't have a secondary muffler bracket like shown in the picture, put a bolt in through the tube to hold it tight.

[Vandit]

That piece is actually a spacer for the bolt that holds the secondary exhaust bracket.

I recently deleted this bracket from my car since I run a G-pipe, however, I reinstalled the bolt and the spacer piece, otherwise i'd end up with a hole in the belt drive box.

[iamtheari]

Thanks guys.

I have the secondary muffler (and bracket) on my car. (Or rather, I will again once I finish closing up this job.)

Just to be sure I have it right before I put everything back together, is the correct order from cam tower outward:

Steering pulley housing, spacer, cover, muffler bracket

Or does the spacer sandwich between the pulley housing and the cam tower?

[rsscotty]

Pump housing, spacer, cover, & bracket in that order.

[iamtheari]

Thank you, kind sir. That's good news - my knuckles couldn't possibly survive removing the housing again.