Locally fabricated power steering hose

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

Well, I installed my locally fabricated $26 power steering hose Saturday
afternoon.

Nasty little job - had to remove the pentosin resevoir to get access to the
banjo fitting on the rack - hoses were VERY tight, gooey, slippery, dirty.
Emptied most of the Pentosin from the reservoir using a turkey baster,
couldn't get it all, the rest went onto the ground and my hands. Ugh.

Now here's the tough part: Removing the banjo fitting on the rack isn't too
hard once everything is out of the way: Loosen with 19mm wrench, back it
out with your fingers. The toughpart (tm) is getting the banjo fitting
started correctly with the new seal rings on it - you stand beside the left
fender, hold the banjo fitting and seal rings in place on the hose with
your RIGHT hand, and strive mightily to keep the other end of the hose
aligned correctly with your LEFT hand - awkward to say the least, and an
assistant would have been MOST welcome. Took me almost an HOUR to find the
correct contortion to get it started - and it has to be EXACTLY right, or
it won't go. And yes, it is VERY easy to drop the seal ring, and then you
have to extricate yourself, recover the seal ring, and start again.

Turned out that the bend in the rack end of the fitting was such that the
hose was exactly where my hand needed to be. A few gentle seconds with a
bench vice and a medium convincer "modified" the angle slightly, and then I
was able to get eveything to line up at last.

Reassembly was the reverse of removal, except much faster. Remember to use
ALL NEW aluminum seal rings here.

As I finished up, Dear Bride drove up in her Mzda 323, with clouds of steam
coming from under the hood. Examination revealed cracks in the plastic
radiator header tank (see, Audi isn't he only one using this stupid
system), so I know what I'm doing later today. Phooey.

Best Regards,

Mike Arman