Steerdown

I've heard that working on the steering racks of these cars is a major hassle when the engine is in place. I don't ever want to try replacing one then, because when things are opened up, it's not exactly easy.

Maybe it's the years of accumulated crud that make it so distasteful. Everything is covered in slimy gunk, and bits of greasy dirt fall into your eyes regularly (until one gets smart and wears some glasses--I'm slow, but stupid).

So the old rack is gone to the land of cores, and the new one is in place. In the interim I tried to do some major cleaning and scraped and cleaned the axle and tie rod passages for the right side and painted in there as well to slow down the rust. Things were a lot drier on the right side than the left, and the rust starting was a tad worse there, probably because that area lacked the regular drips from oil changes and other splashes of leaky fluids that favored the left.