porscharu

The bolt retains a ground to the crossmember and a clip for the pressure hose running along the bottom.

67King

That is where I used cap set screws. A little blue Loc-Tite, and plug the holes. Mine is also filled with grease, so it'd have to get REALLY hot to leak.

xschop

My pro bolt supplier could not source them. Where did you find them?
Again, they need to only be 10-12mm long or the end-user will run them into the rack or rotating parts.
The banjo spacers prevent this.

Also, I'm going to add a grease zert to the far passenger side port to supply grease to that wiper seal.
I am trying to figure which driver's side port would best supply grease to the rack and pinion gear location. Any thoughts on this?

MM951

That looks great XS. I'll be keeping tabs on this..I spent a fortune resealing my PS system about 4 years ago and its leaking again..

xschop

I was finishing the 1st completed rack and discovered another mod that can be done to the front plate of the pinion shaft so a grease sert can be added and grease reaches directly to pinion and rack shaft. That way the driver's side boot doesnt have to be removed to properly grease the pinion/shaft....I'll mod the next one accordingly.....After a closer inspection, the inner wipe seal tube does not have to stay. I added a new stronger spring and there is no lateral play at all. I can turn the pinion with two fingers and and it is silky smooth....

Tiger03447

the only place I could find 12X1.5 bolts was ARP. Naturally, since I'm a jerk, I wanted mine in stainless. But they were for a different application. You might get lucky and find them in zinc a lot easier...check an auto parts store. Dorman may have them in little bubble packs. Or McMaster-Carr.

67King

Home Depot. And again they are cap set screws, so probably 6-7mm long. Use loctite and don't bottom out them

Otto Mechanic

I found a set of zert grease fittings in a M12x1.5 thread on eBay last week I expect will be the right length. Sorry I haven't sent those close up pictures of the pinion cover, I've had a problem that's kept me out of the shop for the past few days. I hope to get some pictures later today.

Otto Mechanic

Here's the picture of the pinion housing I promised and specifics on the part numbers I'm using from McMasters-Carr, again my lighting isn't up to snuff but I hope they help:

I found them at McMasters-Carr, they sell them in packs of 5 (serendipity I suppose since you only need 4). I'm using the M12x1.5 Steel Alloy 99642A229 parts to plug the holes the banjo bolts go in and the Steel Alloy M10x1.25 for the other two plugs (99642A184).

I picked up a pack of 5 M12x1.5 zerk fittings from eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M12-x-1-5mm-...item2a4f13ad55

I'm planning to use one in the pinion housing to grease the rack/pinion directly and perhaps another couple on each end of the rack housing.

I've attached close up pictures of the pinion housing I have with only two bolt holes in the cover plate along with the spring and aluminium "washer.

The second picture shows the back of the pinion housing and the red circle shows the M12x1.5 port I plan to install the zerk fitting in for greasing the rack.

Any thoughts on whether it's really dangerous to use the pinion gear without re-enforcement in a de-powered rack? Has anyone ever had one snap?

V2Rocket

i used allen plugs to close all the ports, and greased the **** out of the pinion and rack...

xschop

You would have to remove the inner seal between the pinion housing and rack housing in order for grease to distribute there. I looked at that.

xschop

Did you perform the shim procedure to rid the play?

Otto Mechanic

Turns out I got the zerk fittings in the mail yesterday and didn't know it. They fit perfectly, here's a picture of where I'll install the most important one, the closest point to the rack from the pinion housing.

Otto Mechanic

That's what I'm doing too. I just wanted to make sure I could re-grease the rack without removing it.

Otto Mechanic

Beautiful work. Honestly, it looks like something you could put in a showcase. Almost jewelry. Nice job!