OakRZB

Greetings all,

Out of curiousity, I looked at their website and they actually carry rebuilt P/S racks for 968's

It's $199.00 minus $45 gift card rebate. After core return, $154.00 (+ a new reservoir) seems hard to resist

'Always willing to defer to the Rennlist braintrust if the collective says otherwise....

Cheers,
___________________
-Robert
'86 944 NA - Alpine White, parting out (slow death)
'86 951 - Alpine White (sold)
'94 968 - Aventurine Green

ramius665

Haven't talked to anyone that's bought one and run it for any amount of time. On a side note, you can rebuild your own rack for an afternoon worth of work and $50 in seals.

If the autozone one comes with a lifetime warranty then it would look a lot more enticing.

Cloud9...68

If you can rebuild one of these racks in an afternoon, I would be truly impressed. I've pulled and rebuilt my entire engine, and no part of that job came close in difficulty and frustration level to my experience with rebuilding my rack. Lots of small parts which they themselves contain their own tiny parts, many of which can easily go flying when you pull this beast apart. The seals are EXTREMELY tight (mine felt like they were super-glued in). It took me a good four hours just to finally get them all out. And the entire rack is very awkwardly shaped, making it difficult to hold in a vise (or by any other means) while loosening and tightening various parts. So, my advice would be to give the Autozone rack a try.

ramius665

You just weren't doing it right. It took JohnKoaWood, Dougs951 and I a couple of hours to rebuild it. The key is to get everything CLEAN as you're doing it.

OakRZB

thanks for the great advice and insight!

there is an AutoZone guarantee and given that the seal kit is still $70, that rack still looks appealing. sounds like you guys (ramius/john/doug) made small work of that rebuild - you should have filmed a time-lapse.

i didn't mention that this work would be concurrent with a koni and big brake upgrade - i might save the extra step of rebuilding that rack this time around...

thanks again!

kwikt

Do a search on the Az rack. I tried one and was better off rebuilding my oe with the Rennbay kit and returned the Az one for a full refund.. THANK GOD I KEPT MY CORE.

Cloud9...68

Knowing in advance what types of tools I would need to pull the seals would have really helped. I struggled with picks and such on the main one inside the tower casing for many hours before I got a tip as to the right kind of tool for this particular seal. In a matter of seconds, it was out. A large, deep vise would have helped a lot, too. Holding the unit in one hand while tugging on the seals with a pick in the other wasn't very efficient. Now that I've done it once, I suppose I could do it a second time pretty quickly.

notthd

I've done both, PIA rebuild but worked fine, the AZ one I got for did not have the pieces orientated correct to fit, I had to unpin and rotate, or untab. Also a PIA but much less time than the rebuild.

I am on the fence for recommendation. Rebuild if I had to do again. Not a simple job.

Cheers, mike

kwikt

Hey Cloud, I used an Allen wrench with vice grips clamped on the end to pry that seal out. Slid the allen under the seal and popped it right out. Worked great for me. Rebuilding it wasn't bad except the 1st time I installed one of the main rack seals backwards and oil gushed out when i started the car. Make sure the seals are facing the correct direction when installing(spring towards the pressure side).Also the Blue/Green seals worked better than the Black ones.

Cloud9...68

I ended up using a tool that is actually similar to what you describe. I also clamped the unit in my vise in conjunction with using the correct tool. One small rap with the palm of my hand on the tool and it popped right out. I couldn't believe my eyes.

As far as the direction of the seals - gulp. I hope I have them right. I thought I was being careful to put the new ones in the same direction as the old ones. Hopefully I won't get any gushers when I finally fire it up, but if I do, I now know what to check for. And all my new seals are blue/green, so I guess that's good.

kwikt

The seals in question are the main rack seals. Pay special attention to these as one of these (to me seemed backwards) but wasn't

OakRZB

All,

Thanks for the additional information and tips - it kinda puts me back on 'the fence' as far as which way to go. I can really relate to some of the experiences mentioned: I installed a (Chevy) rear main seal backwards (seep seep seep) and I know full well that when you don't have 3 hands, you better have a bench vise.

I'll post again when I get done with this - if I rebuild and it's successful, it will be due to all your advice and tips.

BTW: kwikt-nice front tire lift; cloud9'-nice rims; notthd-nice head-turner; ramius-great unique color

Thanks again all,
-Robert

Cloud9...68

OakRZB - Nice location! (I grew up in the Bay Area, so I'm more than a little biased )

bombfactory

I've had an AZ rack in my car now for about six months. No issues, no leaks so far. I don't know if there's any mechanical difference, but they sent me a 944 rack - it looks a little different in outer casing - but it fit just fine.

I did keep my original rack, just in case, and forfeited the core charge.

porsche_968

CAn anyone help with replacing the hose from the reservoir?
Its the smaller one that I found ripped and leaking. Thought I was smart and sliced it,
but now can't get the hose back on the reservoir nipple.
Thanks in advance