how much "play" should there be in the steering wheel? should there be any at all? i consider my car to be very responsive, but a friend of mine drove it the other day and brought the "play" in the wheel to my attention. i think i've just gotten used to the way it feels and didn't notice how somewhat "loose" the steering wheel is. is this normal at all?

any comments would be greatly appreciated

 

There shouldn't be any play, it should be nice and tight.

 

that's what i figured...so how do i go about tightening it up?

 

I have the same problem on my 87. A little play in the wheel. As far as i can tell it is coming from one of two places. 1) the u-joints in the steering linkage or 2)the steering rack itself. I'm thinking that the u-joints are a cheap fix, so i may tackle that first. Any other thoughts out there?

 

Another cause might be the tie-rod ends. If these are worn, you will have to turn the wheel a bit to take up any "slop" in the system before the car responds. Just a thought. Cheaper to replace the ends rather than the entire rack.

HTH