I realised I didn't actually post any photos of the steering rack business, so here's a little photodump of that, along with what's happened in the last week!
So first and foremost, the car went back on its second wof inspection and was flagged for still having ongoing play in the steering, at this point they recommended it be the steering rack itself as every other component had been replaced with new parts, along with one of the headlights not opening up all the way.
HEADLIGHTS: Easy fix, the connector on that side wasnt plugged all the way in
STEERING RACK: As mentioned in previous posts, my rack was fairly damaged, so i ended up whipping a used one out of a local "wreckers" car, sent that off and got it rebuilt for $450. owch! Surprisingly they got it rebuilt within the same day so i collected the part the following morning and installed to the car. success!
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Then came Friday. everything was installed, the alignment was in desperate need of correcting but today was the day!
I puttered the ol nugget down the road, steering was definitely odd, but he was drivable. it was only 10 mins to the workshop so he'd be totally fine.
I get to the bottom of my street/hill and start to hear a heavy knocking noise in the front, so I pull over and inspect the steering, the jamming nut on the inner tie rod was loose, no problem! tightened that back up and got back on the road, after about 30m the car started to knock again, but worse, so instantly i pulled over and started to inspect the car, couldn't see anything on the rack on a visual inspection so called my partner and he rushed to my rescue with a jack, and tools in hand.
While he was en-route i was picking the brains of some much more mechanically minded people and one suggestion they said rung out. "have you tightened the wheel nuts"
I gave the fronts a nudge, couldn't move them with my hand so maybe? would have to wait for the tools to arrive.
Rescue eventually arrived and up the mr2 went, as suspected the steering was totally fine. As i'm sitting here scratching my head I hear a voice pipe up "Uhh steph, the rear wheels aren't even fingertight"
DAMMIT!
To top that all off, my boss saw the poor nugget stranded and turned around to check on me, he is also a big car guy, he will never let me live that one down.
After the mess of the morning was sorted, he was sent off the North Shore Toyota for his "hopefully" final recheck.
I was at work by this time, so was relying on the photos the techs sent me throughout the inspection.
Then it finally happened
"Steph, bad news, your car needs a serious alignment
"
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and about an hour later, he sent me this photo
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WE DID IT, LADS!
I sat at home eagerly waiting the leaky nugget to be returned, and there he was!
He was smol
He was soaked
The technician driving him was soaked
But most importantly
HE WAS LEGAL!
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Did I also mention the technician was soaked? Will need to get some replacement targa seals...