Hello; Yesterday Canadian tire called me with my replacement rack and
pinion. Regular readers will recall that my 2 week old  rack started
leaking.  The rack Can. tire got me was from Bow wow in Vancouver the charge
was $997.00 plus taxes. The replacement, which I installed last night was
from JMC industries ltd. from Delta B.C. I took a 25 km. test ride last
night, so far no problems. My wife got home at noon today to tell me that
she had backed her BMW 535i into a pickup truck at the grocery store and
wrinkled the trunk lid. Back to the subject.  I found I could save about an
hour by leaving the tie rods on the spindles.  It could be a little
difficult to stake the tie rod to the p/s ram, but I found a way around
that.  I'll let you know how long this rack lasts.
On another item, while filling the ps reservoir I noticed a little leakage
from the device at the front left of the engine.  Coolant leakage, I
couldn't locate the percise spot of the leak as there is a lot of hoses in
this area.  I'd go out and get a better description but my wife has taken
the van and left the BMW.   The leakage stops when the engine warms up.
What is that thing? I think it's one of the small hoses clamp needs
tightening. Larry Carter