on the subject of racks..

[ben swann]

This is one time I'm glad I didn't adhere to the collective wisdom of
the list.  Sean and I found out that the rack could easily be removed
from the right/passenger side.  I have no idea how we could have gotten
it out throught the left, without removing/moving a lot of stuff and
with far greater difficulty.  It was an easy straight shot to get
through the right wheel well.  There was a wire harness that needed to
be worked around, and a few hoses needed to be pulled slightly, but
otherwise, it was a piece of cake.

Now, there were several other aspects of the job that should have taken
a few minutes, but turned into hours.  So much for doing a job the
first without having all the normal conveniences of the home garage
available.

If we had known the rack was shot, we'd have replaced it when we pulled
the tranny to do the clutch last week - which BTW was as a result of
someone not replacing the throwout bearing which had turned to
shrapnel. We could tell a previous clutch job had been done, as clutch
and pp were almost new.  Turns out removing the rack would have made
that job easier, and so on.

Oh well - Sean's '87 5ktqa is running better than ever, and on its way
back from FLA to MD.

Ben

[Yes it is possible to remove and replace the rack without removing the
engine. It must be taken out through the hole in the wheel well on the
driver's side. IMHO it isn't easy. I think the engineers had a contest
to see who could design the smallest hole that would still allow the
rack to come out. I had to remove the rubber shroud around the hole and
twist the rack to get it to come out.

Regards and good luck
George]

Livolsi, Stephane wrote:
> I got the rack out of my 84 parts car this weekend.  The plan is to
rebuild> it, then install in the daily driver 86 5ktq, minimizing
downtime.
> I had a hell of a time getting it out of the parts car, and this was
with> most of the engine compartment already stripped.  Is it really
possible to> change the rack without removing the wastegate,
hydraulics, etc?
> Has anyone done this that would be willing to offer info - such as,
which is
> the best side to take the rack out - driver or passenger side?
>
> TIA
>
> Stephane