[V8] Permanent Steering Rack Mount Fix

[Ed Kellock]

Damn. That looks awesome. I have the same degree of deterioration in that
area. Sure wish I lived closer. Not that either of you might want to go
through that again. ;-)
On Apr 28, 2016 10:00 PM, "toml99 at todomundo.com" <toml99 at todomundo.com>
wrote:

Hey all, now that the 5-speed runs, realized that the rack mount issue was
critical and needed to deal with it asap.  Some of you remember that
bracket I made up to "fix" it, but in reality it may have actually made
things worse as it wasn't actually attached to anything in my case, as the
fender metal was missing around the OEM bracket.  I had to drive the car
about 20 miles to take it to my friend Dave's place on Lummi Island who's
always up for a challenge/whatnot and is good at all things like this and
cheerfully got dirty for 1.5 days of hassle.   I realized the strut had to
come off, so couldn't just bring it to a welder in town, and say "fix it".
On the highway, I had almost 1/4 turn of the steering wheel slop, so took
the corners slow, but was still fun to drive it after it sitting.

Started dissasembly, and not wanting to sacrifice that TTY axle bolt,
removed the inner and left it attached and dropped strut.
Used a vibrating multi-tool(think Fein) with a new scraper blade, and
removed the undercoat/paint/galvanizing quickly, that was quite thick by
the way.  Drilled out the few spot welds that were still holding.  All the
obvious cracks got welded before the 1/8" plate got cut out and hammered
into that not even close to flat spot.  Fit like a glove.  That got welded
thoroughly, then cut 3/4" strips(grinder) that got bent/welded to form the
basic shape of what's there, but about twice the thickness.  Found a 2"
chain link post that fit the hole perfect and Dave welded that in for
structure.  If you look at the original piece, that oval hole/and no
support on the front side is probably why they all fail in the same way.
Primed the patch with some Zinc Dichromate primer (Audi bathed the car in
something similar)I had for painting lower units on outboards(think
immersion in salt water), then sprayed the undercoating that still hadn't
dried in 2 hrs.  Feeling like we nailed it, went to install strut, and it
hit the left(front) side of new thing.  Looked at OEM, and it goes to zero
(failure area).  Had to cut/grind in place with 1/2 dry asphalt/rubber
undercoating getting hosed by sparks.  Worst part of whole project, but
never thought the strut tower was that close to wall, and didn't even
consider it.  Wanted to leave as much meat there as possible, but guessed,
and it fit just fine.  Way beefier than stock.  Took a solid day and a
half.  Would take 1/2 day next time around as most if it was fabrication
decisions/what's there.  I saved the "ear" off the car, and my aluminum
plate(that was super handy for lining up bolt holes, so the few of you that
need to do this also, will benefit from that as I can trace everything out
on some scrap and you can cut it out.  Hell, we both agreed that we need to
patent this thing and somehow get a TSB requiring fix....Ha.  Goes down the
road perfectly straight, and has about 1/32" of slop now....

Ran out the 1/2 tank of treated 3-4yo gas and it still ran rough at idle.
I had already dealt with the ISV and it was better, but still didn't sound
like Lago.  Changed fuel filter, and there was about 1/2 shot glass of
water in filter.  Ran better, but still not there.  Pulled first plug(#5)
and electrode was burned to at least 2x the gap/fouled.  Pulled the
rest(mint) and replaced the Autolite 103's with a new set($18), and it ran
even better, but not perfect.  Today, decided to pull that one plug
wire(newish but not Bosch) and check it and it was bad......swapped a
crusty old wire on there, and all is good.   CANT believe that it was
running on 7 cylinders that well.  Took it out on the highway, and it's
feeling 100%.  Gonna get new wires/caps/rotors when I have money.  Had some
punk in a WRX riding my ass, and had to torture him a bit....Ha.

Jason, have no Bose stereo spares, and have a cluster, but I'm reselling
the black car I sold to a friend's son, and it's got a bad speedo.....His
has a peel of paint sticking out preventing needle from going over 35.
Speedogears.com or something like that had the plastic gear that fixed the
last Saab I had if that's the only issue.  If I can get that paint peel out
of way, may have one, but not really planning on spending any time fixing
that as it's getting sold.  May drill a small hole in plastic and remove
paint peel.....Ha.  Have another cluster, but is sunbaked/no LED
screen/speedo say's 225K and I'd have to find it.

Been wanting to fix that rack thing since I got the car in 08 so am feeling
really good right now, and had to share the joy.....Cheers, Tom

http://tinyurl.com/zgdvv5b
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