Rebuilding Power Steering Rack

The Power Steering Rack I am using is a GM one from an early Holden Commodore (VK/VL).

The front end had been mocked up using one so it is logical to stick with the same unit. They are fairly reliable, but are prone to leaking after a few years use so it was sensible to take it in for a rebuild before putting into action on the coupe. I also wanted to paint and polish it, so again it made sense to do a rebuild as it meant I could do all the polishing etc once it was disassembled.

So off I went to Porana Power steering and left it with the guys there to pull apart and check out the components.

It turned out this unit had been sitting for a while and had apparently had water in it at some stage so a lot of the components were a bit pitted. Salvageable but there was a possibility it was going to cause issues down the track. It didn't make a lot of sense to spend all the time and effort on something that was marginal especially at this stage when virtually nothing had been invested in it thus far.

I took a trip across to West Auckland to Autolab and was able to source a secondhand unit for $85. Worthwhile investing that now to get what is hopefully a much better unit.

This one was also pulled apart by Porana and yes this one had a clean bill of health. I have since come away with the bits that I wanted to refinish before they reassemble the unit with new seals.

I took these parts off to Hard Chrome Jack for polishing as the main body is Alloy at the ends (with a mild steel centre tube). The other pieces are all steel and I want to get them HPC ceramic coated. Here they are all polished up.

Unfortunately HPC couldn't coat the main body as the alloy ends are press fitted and riveted to the mild steel centre tube. The fear they had was that the heat would expand the alloy at a different rate to the mild steel and when it all cooled down the fit between the alloy and steel might come loose. That was a risk I didn't want to take so I decided I will paint the centre tube.

Similarly the team at HPC weren't keen on coating the tie rods as the swivel joint at the end of the tie rod could have nylon cups pressed into them. Again the heat would cause issues. I will resort to paint for these also.

So here it is the main body all primed and ready for paint.

Likewise the tie rods.

When masking the main tube I masked out the polished areas but left the 'flutes' and hard to get to spots exposed so I could paint them. These are the bits that don't polish up too well as they are so hard to get at. You can leave them like that but I think painting them will give a better finish.  

It took a while as the weather was so changeable, but a fine day finally came along and I was able to break out the paint.

Here are the same parts once unmasked.

Then it was off back to Porana Power Steering to have it all reassembled. Here we go with the finished product ready to bolt back onto the chassis. Click on the pic if you want a closer look.

That's another job off the list.