5SGTE is the latest person to join the group buy. Deposit received, thank you.

Wingers is in on the group buy. Deposit received, thanks.

OK I have been thinking about when to end the group buy and start production. It's been great to see that we have reached 12 customers so far. That little rush in December has helped.

I will be in contact with the manufacturer in the New Year to arrange a final date for production. Providing they can fit us in, I am going to wait until 31 of January 2012 to end the group buy. The first customer has been waiting five months now, so it's only fair to end it soon.

If we get lucky and 20 or more have paid a deposit by that time, all of you will get the benefit of the lower cost.

GROUP BUY ENDS 31/01/2012 !

They following information was written by Judgeman a member of mr2oc.com.

i didnt get any pictures wile i was tering it apart but this is what i got.
the tare down is pritty strait forward but you will need som pritty big wrenches/sockits and dont forget your super special service tool.

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in order to replace the oil seal in the valve housing il have to remove the bearing too and i may have to get a new one but i havnt got that far yet.

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the hard lines have O-rings on the ends witch should be replaced.

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the special service tool AKA big bolt and 2 nuts is used to remove an allen bolt that would normaly require a 19mm (i think) allen wrench, i didnt have one that big.

i was able to press out the seal without damaging the bearing so i just need to order the 2 new seals, gasket, the 4 O-rings for the hard lines and 2 claw washers for the inner tie rods.

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i orderd my new seals and stuff today from Lithia Toyota.
44218-12020 gasket, valve housing
90311-26003 seal, oil
90311-19010 seal, oil
90301-03001 ring, O X4
90214-12002 washer, claw X2
44327-12010 gasket, pressure port #1
the total came to $31.32

im also going to order new tie rod ends from twos r us, il be using the inner tie rods and boots that are in my 2 now becaus they are only about 2 years old.

got my parts from Lithia Toyota today, im still waiting for the pinion gear though.

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i picked up my new pinion gear from Seth on Sunday and put it in tonight.

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the diferance between the two is the old one on the left has 6 teath and the new one on the right has 7.
the install is very strait forword, i used a big deep sockit to press in the new seal then the old bearing.

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the next step is to coat the teflon seals on the pinion gear with power steering fluid then it just pushes in with a little wigling.

the next seal was a bit trickier, i had to use two larg sockits witch made it to big for the vice so i had to tap this one in with a hammer.

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the seal in place.

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next is bolting the valve housing to the gear housing, theres nothing to it realing just dont pinch the gasket.

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sence i reused the old lock nut i put som locktite on it for good mesure

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i used two blocks of wood to hold it in a vice wile i torqued the lock nut

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put som locktite on the cap threats then torque it and stake it.

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next is the rack guide, i greased it up befor puting it in.

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put the guide spring in the guide.

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but som locktite on the threads and use your super special service tool to torque the guide, then back it off 12 degrees and check the preload.

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if all is well put some locktite on the lock nut and but it on.

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put some powre steering fluid on your new O rings put the O rings on the hard lines and put the hard lines on the rack. they only go on one way.

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all done, stand back an admire your work.

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i started the rack install today but didnt finish becaus i need some new bellows.
sorry for the bad pictures i forgot my digi cam.

start by jacking the car up and securing it on jack stands.
then secure the steering wheel with the seet belt.

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now get the junk out of your frunk and remove this plastic cover, its held on with a few plastec nuts witch should unscrew by hand.

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remove the lower U joint bolt and loosn the upper one, the U joint should just slide off the rack and up the steering colum with a little wigling.

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now go underneath and remove the under boddy cover. the dead mouse on the under boddy cover can be thrown away, you wont need it any more.

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if you havnt done so already, remove the front wheels.
to remove the end links you need to remove the cotter pin and castle nut.

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a few wacks with a ball peen hammer should nock the end link out of the hub.
note: if your are afraid of damaging the tierod ends leav the castle nut on flush with the top of the bolt when you beat it out. thanks to David Hawkins.

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now things get messy there is a 22mm banjo bolt that needs to come out. i used about 1.5 feet of extensions and a braker bar to get at it. its not on there very hard its just hard to get at.

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now you need to move this hose clamp and undo this hose.

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undo the 4 bolts and remove the 2 brackets that hold the rack in.

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then start cussing and wigling and you will have it out in no time.

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now becaus im reuseing my inner tie rods i need to take them off my old rack.
the claw washers are soft, a flat head screw driver and a hammer makes short work of them. after that use a couple of wrenches to unscrew them from the rack.

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and this is ware im stuck, i was going to reuse my bellows but one is cracking so i ordered a pare from twos-r-us.

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You can also remove the outers without damage by putting the castle nut flush with the top of the threads when you whack it with the hammer. The nut keeps the threads from getting buggered up.
ok i finnished it up last night.
befor you take the tie rod ends off but some tape on the tie rods as a marker.

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the next step is putting the new claw washers and inner tie rods on my new rack.
the flat spots on the inner tie rods are very narrow so rather then using a normal wrench i used a bug pipe wrench insted.

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a combination of OEM claw washers and after market inner tie rods left me with very little to pound over but it should be enough.

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now we can put the new bellows on, theres nothing to it realy but if you reuse the OEM mettle inner clamps get them good and streched out befor you try to put them on.
NOTE: make sure that hole in the rack is clear ^ it alows are to flow from one bellows to the other.

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put the tie rod ends on loosly for now.

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we are almost ready to put the rack in now so before you forget, but this gasket in place.

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ok now things get a little fuzy, the BGB will give you measurements for centering the rack and tie rod ends, but becaus iv got after market tie rods it dosnt do me a hole lot of good.
i tryed many things and most of it didnt realy get me any ware and in the end it pritty much came down to eye balling it.
one thing i did was i measured ware my tie rod ends were and mooved one one way and one the other so they wer both the same and so thet i keep my original toe setting (or at least somthing close to it).

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i also measured the rack at all the way left and all the way right and found the racks center of travel but this turnd out to be a wast of time in the end.

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now we can put the rack in place, if it isnt going in try rotating the hose clamp so that the little wings are pointing to the side instead of down (sorry no pictures of this).

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you should be able start the banjo bolt by hand, then use a 22mm socket to tighten it down.

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then hook up the return hose.

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now i tryed hooking up the U-joint with the rack at the center line.

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but after i had the tie rod ends in the hubs and steped back it was obvious things wernt strait.

i dont have any more pictures but what i did is i looked at my front brake roters, try to imagin a line running along the face of the toter towards the back of the car, then i bumped the hubs over till both sides looked the same.

i hooked the steering back up and turned the wheel from lock to lock and i couldnt see any difference at the angle of the wheel at eather lock so i bolted it all down like that.
it turns out i was pritty close.

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the steering wheel was only off by about a half an inch, if that.

the steering is way more responsiv now, i cant wait for the next autocross.

Deposit received with thanks, from -Totenkopf- .

Super impressive write up by that guy! very interesting read.

Deposit received from WIDEMR, thanks.

Here is a reminder.

The group buy closes in two weeks. Please have your deposit paid before the end of January if you would like a quick steer pinion.

Twincams from Singapore has joined the group buy. Thank you Twincams.

Ashtwo has paid his remainder, which means he is fully paid up excluding shipping. Thank you ashtwo.

Basch32 has paid his remainder, excluding shipping. Thanks Basch32.

How much do I have left to pay?

Harper wrote:
How much do I have left to pay?

Pm sent.

Ziggyzigatron has paid in full excluding shipping. Thank you ziggyzigatron.

Whitchy has joined the group buy and paid in full excluding shipping. Thank you Whitchy.

This is the last day of the group buy.

Oh we are getting close now :-D When do you expect the first parts to be ready?

Cant wait to get it fitted and try it out on the track

Oh plus kc for the great group buy and constant updates

Thanks for the kind comments basch32.

I'm not trying to dodge the question of when they will be ready, but I want to get in touch with the manufacturer first. Rest assured that when I have an estimate of when they should be ready, I will be posting updates on the relative forums.

I am looking forward to having this installed too.

No worries at all I have alot of things I want to do to the 2 so will give me time to buy all the bits (ie. not eat for a month) and then take the car off the road for 1/2 weeks and get all the work done rather than lots of little jobs haha

It is up to each individual how they tackle this, but I am going to buy new seals and gaskets for my MR2 steering rack. You should consider this too when you have the steering rack apart. It shouldn't hurt the wallet too much.

Already have it on the list of bits to get when its apart would be silly not to replace em Already was a silly panda and didnt rebuild the gearbox when i fitted the engine in my 2 -.-'

dwyer125 is fully paid up excluding shipping, thank you.

I spoke to the manufacturer today. The pinions should be ready in 8-9 weeks.

The remaining members who have paid deposits should have received a email from me.

If for some reason you did not receive the email, I am requesting the remaining amount for the pinion. Thank you.

5SGTE has now paid in full, excluding shipping. Thank you.

Harper has now paid in full, excluding shipping. Thank you.

LMT has paid in full, excluding shipping. Thank you.

SFLee has paid in full, excluding shipping. Thank you.

Should be able to get the money to you for the weekend Martin.