Steering rack boot

Morning,

Does anyone know where I can get a new steering rack boot for a 1990 cabby gti.

From vwheritage the steering rack boot doesn't come with the breather pipe to attach to the other side and they don't seem to have any other sorts. Can't find one with the pipe anywhere. Hope I make sense!

Cheers
Raymond

Probably because there was never a factory version of the cabby in right hand drive with power steering !!

Yes please ignore that… Had a major brain fart! Was because all boots say specifically non p/s variant. Me being a clown assumed that I needed a p/s variant. Brain fart moment - completely forgetting I don't even have p/s! 

Anywayyyyy ignoring that - the boots still aren't the ones I need! Waiting to be sent photos (I'm not near the car) to show the one I need. 

Hang on… You had my doubting myself! But my cabby definitely has power steering! Even took a 1.5 hour trip today to check it out! 

Are you 100% sure that this wasn't a standard installation? Doesn't look like it's been added to afterwards… 

Anyway, I've also taken a couple of photos of the part I need - hopefully someone can explain if it exists anymore or if it's been modified since.



So the boot is now torn, but hopefully you can see the elbow from the boot and in the third picture the pipe that runs from each corresponding boot.

The one we ordered had a hole that sat proud of the boot to exert any air but there was nothing to connect the two pipes. Hopefully with the pics it's a bit clearer and someone could shed some light.


And just to prove I'm not crazy here's the power steering bottle. 

Ok reading up I get that power steering wasn't as standard… So someone somewhere has fitted this to my car at some point… No idea who what when or where it was done though!

Can someone explain then what would be involved in fitting the power steering? I'm
Guessing that that's why I have a different steering rack boot to the standard VW one however I have no idea what to buy! 

The power steering cap actually has a ford badge… Maybe a coincidence or maybe not - can someone please help?

Cheers, Raymond

I can't help I'm afraid but I think even 'back in the day' power steering was retro fitted to a few Cabbys by dealers but using Vauxhall parts if I remember correctly?

lhasadreams Ade will know as I think Sharon's Sportline has PAS fitted  

Cheers mate - I've seen a  few things saying that different parts have been used. Apparently TSR did a kit at some point and ye you're right with vw dealers fitting it themselves. However I can't get a definitive answer as to which rack etc was used. Some say micra, some say ford, some say Vauxhall and I've even seen somewhere it say rover.

Explains why I couldn't figure it out though! Trouble is is I don't have a clue how to find out which one's mine to find out which gaiter I need… Nothing's ever simple on this car!

By the way, how do you tag people in posts? 

To tag someone just type their user name but put an. @  symbol immediately before name with no gap and it then changes to look like this. E3 RPL
Once you have listed it or clicked on preview.

Cheers RichardHall much appreciated. 

Well after much detective work I have a feeling I may have discovered what it was… Looks like it's a Nissan steering rack. Think I've found the right boot too… Going to order it and see if it's right. 

No idea if mine was a dealer fit or a later fit such as TSR or something. But anyway at least I wasn't completely bonkers…


Feel a touch gutted now though as now I won't have experienced what a mk1 should have properly felt like… Something in me doesn't like the though of having Nissan parts on my VW! Just doesn't feel right! Especially as it looks like it came from a bluebird. I mean it isn't exactly an iconic car is it?! 

Lol oh dear! Well at least you wont experience the heavy parking steering!  

You could always convert it back to manual?

Partsbase could help you as they cover Nissan, to confirm you order the right part?

partsbase.org

Yet I guess… It's a tough one though as if it was a dealer option that was around £1500 to fit at the time, and the tsr kit was £1000…
I mean I don't know if there are people that think it should be manual or if it would benefit significantly from power steering I don't know?    Someone somewhere went to a lot of money and effort to install it clearly… Even if it's proving a nightmare for me! 


I'm only guessing it's a Nissan bluebird rack as I can't find any part number on the rack itself… There's a sticker but was covered in muck and any writing has now come off…

The Nissan bluebird boot looked identical to the one I had… Also when I found a built Nissan rack the pipe work from each boot was the same as what I had… Leading me to believe it's that one. 
Trouble is is I don't know why track rod ends need to fit and it looks as if there's an extender of some sorts there too… But I don't know what part that is either and the threads knackered so needs replacing! 
'One of those things that looked to be a relatively simple job…!' 

Just wish I had more history with the car so I could figure all of this out. Never mind, part of the joys I guess!  

Definitely giving me a headache this though!

Chris_Eyre rubjonny sorry for the random tags guys but I'm sure I've seen your names on other forums when doing google searches about this.
Can you help at all? 

I need the part numbers for what looks like extenders as well as to make sure I get the right track rod ends. 

I'm guessing mine was a dealer fit as with the boot perishing etc you'd like to think that's consistent with something that was done some 20+ years ago… Thanks in anticipation 

Hi, I had my eye on the Mk1 power steering myth from the late '90s and eventually it transpired it was a UK fit by Steering Developments in Hemel who are a Motability dealer. That's the history.

It should be a Bluebird rack and the track rod ends I bought were Quinton Hazell, part number QR2157s.

A Rover / Honda part IIRC.

The taper on them into the hub is not an exact replication of the VW taper. Slightly narrower and they sit in further. I'd be interested whether you think they're the same as what you already have

Thanks for the help Chris_Eyre ! Was hoping you were the same guy I'd seen popping up everywhere! 

(Now I'm not with the car so bare with me as I'm going off someone else's guidance…) did the track rod ends go straight into the rack or was there an adapter of some sorts? 
I'm being told that there's an adapter or extender on mine and the threads knackered… As such they can't get the original track rod end out… So I need to buy that part from somewhere. Looks like it was put in to adjust the width perhaps to match up with the mk1's width? 

Hope I make sense… Thanks again for the help.

Here's a pic of the part im after connected to the track rod end:



And here's the steering rack from above - minus the boot and pipes etc. hopefully someone can shed some light as to which part this would have specifically have been. And again I may be wrong as to it being a bluebird rack…


Cheers
Raymond 

No probs, this is pretty niche stuff as there really aren't that many cars with it fitted.

The spacer you've pictured is a bespoke item and it fits on the driver's side. Unfortunately you will need to get one made at an engineering shop, but it's only hex bar, tapped to - I think, but double check - M12 x 1.25 thread.

Interestingly the nearside rack mount is not the same as mine. Mine is a TSR kit, which as far as I know used the same rack, but the nearside mount was offset. It suggests the TSR kit could differ or be a different rack.





Anyway, it doesn't change your question! The hex extension bar just  needs getting out of the old track rod end (split it with a Dremel groove each side if it won't come out?)

Oh for #*$% sake! 
This really wasn't supposed to be this much hassle! 
Well I was only guessing what kit mine was… I genuinely have no idea. So it's obviously not a TSR kit… I can only guess it's an earlier one as the wear etc is consistent with the rest of the car… 
This is proving to be a bit of a pain! I only wanted to change the boot! Not a happy chappy! 

Can you see the pipe work behind the boot on one of my pics above? Does that pipe work look consistent with the bluebird rack? The distinctive 'v' looks like it's there…

And I take it that yours has the spacer rod too then? 

Yes, mine has the spacer rod.

It's difficult to say yes on the rack being the same. The pipe picture angle is different and the V varies.

All you can do is order a boot on return and try it. The power steering is worth it!