There is useful info on fitting a replacement steering rack.

Fitting a quickrak is simple in theory. But it took me about five hours. That was due to a lot of little complications. And the akward access.

Firstly you will need to check that the rubber connection between the steering column and the rack is the correct sort. My power steering rack had a splined coupling, whereas the quickrak had a pre-1991 couping of two flats. I ordered a coupling from Vauxhall, then got impatient and picked one up from the local breakers for £8.50.

The quickrak is a modified manual rack. When it arrived it looked a bit bare. A number of parts had to be moved over from the existing rack. The gaitors for one. Some long cable ties are needed to fix these. The tubular cover that sits between the gaitors also has to move over. However, in my case, it was too fat to fit over the quickrak. So I hacksawed the back of it so that it could be expanded over the rack. Then I sealed the saw line up with tape, intending to replace it with a cover from a normal manual rack. There is a spacer part that sits underneath this cover that has to be moved over as well.

I found that the rack is fatter where the passenger side rubber mounting block fits. So I spent about half an hour with a Stanley knife trimming about 5mm off the inside edge of the rubber.

You'd be best off getting a complete manual rack from a scrap yard, including the rubber bung that the steering column fits through. I picked one up for £10. This will have all of the parts that you need, specifically the proper rubber bung that covers the end of the rack on the passenger side and the hammer in metal cap that protects the rack on the drivers side. Unfortunately, the metal can that sits between the gaitors was also too small for my Quickrak, so the hacksawed one went back on. Also I bought a new coupling for the connection to the steering column. New rubber isn't as soft as 10yr old rubber and should therefore help remove any slight slop in the steering.

Just to clarify, here is the list of parts you need:

• Rubber bung in bulkhead - PAS will fit but has larger hole in it.
• Gaitors - ones from PAS rack will fit.
• Protective can that goes between gaitors - PAS might be too skinny, manual one might be as well.
• PTFE slider block that sits underneath the can - PAS one will fit.
• Passenger side rubber mounting bung - PAS can be modified with knife, but manual one also acts as dust cover on end of rack.
• Drivers side dust cap - comes off a manual rack, hammers in.

I had difficulty getting the main tie rod bolts into the rack. I found it necessary to run a M12 tap down the threads to sort this out. It'd be worth buying a cheap tap and die set from a hardware shop for this purpose.

With the rack fitted I then sorted the power steering ancilleries. I sealed the pipe connections up with plastic bags and cable ties. I didn't remove it all in case I didn't like the lack of power steering. With the pump I loosened off the belt tensioning system so that the belt could be removed.