My rack has started weeping so I'm planning on rebuilding it while the engine's out, however the factory rebuild kit (FD01-32-180) is NLA. The only kit I've been able to find is this one from Powercraft, but doubt if it will really work. Anyone have any experience with this kit or know of any alternatives?

 

Might check various companies to see if they have any NOS kits?

Have a couple of the outer end seals laying around from several years ago, they don't have any dimension markings, so hard pressed to find them off the shelf I expect! One is 38.5 x 23 x 8.6 and the other 37 x 18 x 6.6, looks like one has a viton O ring and the other has an "extended" lip.

You might find the outboard guide a bit of a problem, it's held in by a metal spring clip and virtually impossible to remove it without destruction....not available as a part.

 

My first step is with Ray Crowe. If he doesn't have it then...

Check in with Maval https://www.mavalgear.com/
People used to use maval to convert the PS rack to manual which included a rebuild of the rack.

Check amaya to see if the parts are available in Japan.

 

Reached out to a few local rebuild shops to see what they say. I'll have a look around and see if I can find anything in Japan. I assume since it's just seals there shouldn't be any differences between a RHD and LHD rebuild kit?

 

Amayama is showing availability, but would ship from Japan. Here's the link: https://www.amayama.com/en/part/mazda/fd0132180

 

Well after checking Amayama, RHDjapan, Croooober, and again at my local dealer, I can confirm it's NLA. I might have found one on YA but we'll see if it's legit.

 

Have you tried Nengun? They're showing that seal set as being available (https://www.nengun.com/oem/mazda/fd0132180).

 

Yahoo one looks speculative at best - do note you can get a complete rebuilt rack there for not much more - do the mx5/miata crew have preferred steering specialists, might be worth a call too?

The seals for the hardlines and the spring clips for the boots will be generic and should be available anywhere, but as mentioned, the rack seals are unusual, so you might be the guinea pig for powercraft if you want to DIY.

RHD rack 2nd hand here, is probably not worth any of the rebuild kits......punt on a LHD rack might be another option.

 

I'll check, but I think it'll be the same as Amayama. They say it's available until they check with Mazda and find out it's NLA

 

Confirmed with Nengun and as I thought, they just reach out to Mazda for ordering, so it is unavailable through them. At this point I'm not really sure what to do. I've found after market seal kits through Rock Auto, but none of them include the metal components that would be in the OEM Kit. And at least based on @billyboy 's comment, these kits are useless without the metal parts since they get destroyed during disassembly.

 

Maybe overgilded it with destroyed, but unless there's some secret handshake required first before extracting the spring clip, it seems to be destined for deformation at the very least.

Had a quick look on youtube, I remember seeing one guy several years ago straightening and reusing it after a manual conversion, working spring steel like that is less than ideal though. What you don't see with that pic above, the black nylon inside the gland was cracked on closer inspection, but don't think it's that critical. It rubs you up the wrong way, if it's not leaking from the right hand side (on a LHD?), might be easier to leave that side alone.

 

I wonder if any of the Miata racks would use the same parts or be similar?

 

I just took mine apart, if you rotate the metal end/bushing to where the end of the spring clip is exposed in the slot, it actually popped up slightly out of the slot and then I just rotated the metal end/bushing piece and the spring clip fed out with no issue. The other end of it has a 90 degree bend on it so when you rotate the end/bushing it rotates the clip. Mine didn't deform at all. I think installing would just be reverse order, put end with 90 degree bend into hole in the end/bushing and rotate it to draw the spring clip back into the cavity. Don't have any pics, but if anyone is interested I could probably put it back together and get some.

 

I bough the rebuild kit from rock auto, rebuilt the rack and it works great, no leaks.

Don't think you can buy it anywhere cheaper than rock auto