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1G Reinstalled steering rack, can't get connection bolt all the way into joint assembly

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Yes, that's it exactly. 8 bolts. The steering wheel will end up a scoshe further away from the driver, but hardly noticeable. No guaranty that it will be enough adjustment for the gap you need to make up, but it should help (assuming the column is not already slid down as far is it goes). One might be tempted to elongate the holes for more movement, but I'd think that through carefully before you resort to it.
 
I'm about to try, so wish me luck. If the column can't be lowered quite enough to bridge the gap, then I've got a serious problem.

What I really want to know is why this is even happening, given that everything appears to be back to where it was, height-wise, with the subframe at most lower than it was before by whatever the width of the new ES bushing top washers is, around 1/16".

I wonder if putting everything back on the car and lowering it to the ground again will push things up a tad, using the weight of the car and suspension, just enough to close whatever gap remains? Perhaps I should keep the upper pinch bolt loose until I do that.
 
Worth I try, since you don’t really need to get under the car again (for this, at least). I’m also puzzled on why this spacing appears to have changed. Perhaps you might try supporting the front end with jackstands directly on the subframe, and retorque the nuts? How did the old factory bushings look when removed, compared to the new poly ones? My impression is that this is a very popular replacement, and I’ve not read of similar difficulties.
 
It is kind of odd. Things don't just "happen". There's always a reason for something, even if it's not obvious. Anyway, I just got all the suspension parts back on, and only need to reinstall the rotor, brakes and wheels and I can lower the car and see if my theory holds. I'll let you know.

Oh, and as for the old bushings, they were still in relatively decent shape and I could have reused them and while I didn't do a side by side comparison they looked more or less like the new ones, in terms of shape and size. The new ones are poly so harder to compress, so maybe that plus the extra washer accounts for the gap.
 
I don't buy it. I did this job years ago and I don't remember anything too crazy. I don't think the tolerances of all these components are all that tight. That why there are slotted brackets etc. And for sure i would say weight of the vehicle would do nothing. If weight affects movement imagine what dynamic loads would do. That stuff doesn't move to that degree. I've had subframes, racks and columns out both at the same time and independently. Keep at it. It 8snt easy but i dont think there is some smoking gun here. Its just a crappy job to do.
 
Yeah but this is structural metal. It doesn't give, and yet I need a bit more of it, around 1/4". Something doesn't add up and I'm hoping that I didn't mess something up in removing, cleaning, painting and reinstalling everything.

Could the steering rack bolt jamming against the pinch clamp instead of going into it when I reinstalled the rack and tightened the rack and subframe bolts have deformed the clamp upwards?

I did follow Mech Addict's advice above and loosen those 8 steering column bolts, and thankfully there was some room for it to move down, but it still looks just a tad short of where it needs to be.

I left everything loose there and resumed putting parts back on the front end. Now all that's left is the rotors, brakes and wheels. You may be right about the weight of the car not doing anything, but I'll find out tomorrow. So strange.

Btw, a while back you explained how to torque down the axle nuts. I need to have the wheels on the ground, right? And since my wheels have these plastic center caps, I'm going to need to take them off again to reattach the caps, right?

Hopefully it'll all come together tomorrow. I still have some stuff to do in the engine bay, reinstall the air can, squirt some oil in the plug holes and turn it over manually a few times, swap the old gas for new, pray that it all works, sacrifice a goat, etc. But that's about it.
 
The FSM directs against placing any vehicle weight on the hub without the axle bolt torqued. You need a holding device on two lug studs with a decent length arm, and then put 150 + ftlb on the axle nut. RTM sells such a tool, and it doubles as a crank sprocket removal tool, too. I bought one after I had already done my front axles and timing belt. I had used some oak boards with holes drilled in them, and it worked (though they creaked a bit alarmingly). I know some folks use impact wrench, though I never use those to install; only remove. Did you get any photos of the rack mounts in place?
 
Shove a screw driver in the rotor against the caliper to torque the axle nut. If you painted the caliper, place a rag between the screw driver and caliper

Thanks. Forgot about this trick.

The FSM directs against placing any vehicle weight on the hub without the axle bolt torqued. You need a holding device on two lug studs with a decent length arm, and then put 150 + ftlb on the axle nut. RTM sells such a tool, and it doubles as a crank sprocket removal tool, too. I bought one after I had already done my front axles and timing belt. I had used some oak boards with holes drilled in them, and it worked (though they creaked a bit alarmingly). I know some folks use impact wrench, though I never use those to install; only remove. Did you get any photos of the rack mounts in place?

Actually it says don't do this if the CV axle isn't in the hub, not if it's not fully tightened. But in any case I'll follow TK's9d2TSi's advice and use the old screwdriver in the rotor trick and not take any chances, plus speed up installation while I'm at it.
 
Loosening the steering column allowed me to drop the splines connecting bolt almost all the way into the joint assembly. It seems far enough in to be safe to be, but I'll try to post a photo later so folks can weigh in.

There's probably also a small amount of room to safely move the assembly up on the rack end of things in case I need another 1/8-1/4" on the column end. But it would require some disassembly under the car which I'm really hoping to be able to avoid if possible.

I'm kind of burnt out on working on the car and need a rest. I could just leave it parked till I'm ready to tackle it. I'll post a photo later today when I check on the lights as everything else is basically done.

Well, for what I'm calling "Phase 1".
 
I totally get the need-a-break part. I’ve been impressed by the speed with which you’ve tackled so many tasks on your car, I sort of assumed you might have straightened this out and moved on to the next thing. :beatentodeath:I think as long as you can insert and tighten the pinch bolt, it should be suitably engaged and not at risk of separation. If it pulls too much between the steering column or rack, then you might have small bearings or u joints wearing faster, but not catastrophic loss of control.

hopefully you can finish your “phase 1” and enjoy the car for a while.
 
"Phase 2" will be pretty demanding too, if not quite as much. Just a taste:

Replacing front struts and mounts
Replacing front wheel bearings & seals & cleaning & painting everything
Timing belt replacement with all accessory parts too
Coolant flush & replace
Replacing all other fluids (that haven't already been replaced)
Plugs, wires, filters

And then there's "Phase 3", for next year:

Replacing ball joints & bushings on the rear
Replacing struts & mounts on rear
Cleaning, derusting & painting rear subframe, diff & diff carrier
Cleaning, derusting & painting rear & mid underbody
Cleaning, derusting & painting tank (inside & out) & fixing dent on bottom
Cleaning, derusting & painting entire exhaust & replacing parts in need of it
Cleaning, derusting & painting prop shaft & carriers
Fixing various body dents, scratches & scuffs
Painting hood & hatch, which have lots of cracks
Replacing headliner

There's a bunch more, e.g. new tires, new pads & rotors, probably new wheels.

When it's all done, I hope to have an essentially new car, to the extent possible without spending crazy amounts of money. I'm thinking by next fall, at the latest.

But for now, I need to bask in my accomplishments and do nothing. :)
 
Yes, I have/had many of these tasks on my car, but different order. I’m envious that you’ve owned your car for a long time, so you know the history, hiw it has ended up in the condition it is in, and how it all looked and worked when things were “right”. My car has 29 years in the hands of others, and I curse them frequently. (Missing bolts!! :confused::mad::argue:)
 
Thankfully it's a forgiving car, putting up with all sorts of abuse and neglect. They really did overbuild these things, which I'm grateful for. The only semi-major problems I've had over the years were a bad harmonic balancer, bad ECU, gear popping out of 1st, clutches that need replacement too soon, and seized brakes. And the last 3 are probably mostly user error. That's pretty damn good for a 28+ year old car, compared to my parents' cars.

Also, one nice thing about all these maintenance and restoration tasks is that they open up opportunities to upgrade parts for better performance, handling and possibly power. E.g. I got a K&N air filter to replace the old dirty paper one, which is supposed to give a small power boost. Parts of the exhaust probably need replacement soon, so more room for upgrade there. I just got a Stage 2 DD clutch to replace the OEM clutch. ES bushings to replace the OEM ones. And so on.

I also like how everything looks so much nicer under the car. MUCH less rust and grime!

Btw, speaking of bolts, you know how after taking something apart to fix it and then putting it back together, sometimes you end up with "extra" bolts and other small parts you couldn't figure out where they went? After all the work I did, I ended up with exactly one phantom part, a mid-sized washer I couldn't figure out where it belonged. Not bad. When I resume work on the car, I'll keep an eye out for where it might belong.
 
Here's the photo I promised, of the steering column to upper part of the joint assembly connection:

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Is this enough for it to safely connect to? The lower part that connects to the rack doesn't even show any splines, even the ends. Ideally I'd split the difference and move the assembly 1/8"-1/4" or so up, but I'm guessing that this is ok too. Is it? Here's the lower part over the rack bolt:

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And here's what the upper part looked like before I moved the steering column down:

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You mean the steering column won't come off the joint assembly, so I shouldn't lose steering while driving? I've only tried moving the steering wheel end to end with the car either parked or moving just a few feet either way in the driveway, and at no point did it feel like it was binding or in any way constricted from normal movement. I'm vastly more concerned about completely free movement, as in the wheel and column are no longer connected to the rack. Not good whole in motion!

What I suspect happened is that when I reinstalled the rack, the subframe was still hanging off the bolts and not fully tightened, to give me enough room to reconnect the 2 fluid lines going into the rack assembly as well as the line bracket mounting bolt to the subframe. I was able to tighten down the rack to the subframe and reconnect the lines and bracket bolt, but when I then tightened down the subframe, I'm guessing that the rack connector bolt didn't go into the joint assembly but rather butted against its end, and tightening the subframe either pushed the bolt into the rack assembly below or bent the joint assembly above, which created the gap.

If so, to get this right again, I might have to either rebuild or replace the rack, the joint assembly, or both. I basically forgot to verify that the bolt went into the joint assembly before tightening down the subframe. Rookie error. At least I noticed the consequences in time and did my best to correct them. Hopefully I didn't cause damage to the body itself or the steering column assembly.

So, basically, what do you think, based on all the above, safe to drive, or take it apart and fix it right?
 
You mean the dimple that has a matching dimple on the rubber bushing? Yes, I believe so, but I'll check to make sure. Gotta lift the car but what the hell, I've gotten this far so it's just a bit more work. Plus I'm waiting on a new reverse switch as the stock one broke, so I can't pass inspection till I replace it. It's always the "lesser" details that get you.
 
Yes, I have/had many of these tasks on my car, but different order. I’m envious that you’ve owned your car for a long time, so you know the history, hiw it has ended up in the condition it is in, and how it all looked and worked when things were “right”. My car has 29 years in the hands of others, and I curse them frequently. (Missing bolts!! :confused::mad::argue:)

Hey, sorry to revisit this issue, but I was just wondering, is the steering shaft that connects the steering wheel to the splined end that slips into the top of the joint assembly solid, or can its length be adjusted using the clamp that slips over the wider of the 2 long tubes in the steering column?

Just a hunch, but if its length can be adjusted, the perhaps I somehow applied excessive pressure on the bottom of the joint assembly when I tightened either the rack or subframe and thus shortened the column length, perhaps because this clamp wasn't tight enough. If so, I can fix all this by lengthening the column a 1/4-1/2" and closing the gap on either end.
 
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