Set up Mk2 Astra steering rack

This is an extract from Vauxhall TIS, which seems to say what needs to be said in characteristically the minimum number of words.

I’ve done this and it obviously is straightforward to do.

Start by carrying out this procedure to ensure that the steering wheel is centred on the steering rack correctly, then adjust the track rod ends to give the correct toe angles and overall direction.

The two images explain the first part.

[img]http://www.gte24v.co.uk/reference/Steering1.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.gte24v.co.uk/reference/Steering2.JPG[/img]

The second part involves setting the front wheels to the straight ahead position while the steering wheel is held at the (preset) straight ahead position.  As my steering was one spline out on the steering wheel, that meant that the front wheels were steering off to the left somewhere.

A rough measure can be obtained by using a straight piece of wood held across the tyre horizontally at the centre of the wheel on each side.  The overall aim is to get the piece of wood to point pretty much exactly at the same position on the rear wheel when you look along its length, i.e. for the inner edge to point at the outer sidewall of the rear tyre.

That gets you to the point where the car should be driveable and you can take it to get it tracked professionally, or better still use a Trakrite and do it yourself, noting each time you drive over the Trakrite, you need to make equal and opposite adjustments to each side to maintain the steering centring.