Steering rack boots

[Richard McDonel]

Still monkeying with the steering rack. I have two of them here; one from a

'71 and one from a '72. On both racks, the outside diameter onto which the rubber boot fits measures 36 mm. When I bought a pallet of parts off a guy down east last year, there were two brand new "McQuay-Norris" boots from Black Dragon. Great, except they have a diameter of 45 mm. The boxes they came in had Black Dragon part #62-400. I wrote BD, attaching pics of my rack with a vernier caliper showing 36 mm, and their boot clearly indicating 45 mm. Their reply was that part 62-400 is the right part for my car. Period. I went on McQuay Norris's website, and they too have only one part # for all '70 - '73 Zs.

My local Nissan store acknowledges an older factory part number (48203-78500), but says it is no longer available.

Anyone else had a similar problem?

Thanks.

[JohnnyO]

Yes, I purchased 2 different sets of boots, neither fit correctly. Luckily my originals were not torn or "melting" so I was able to clean them up with a worn out green scrubby and then I conditioned them and they hold grease great and are nice and flexible.

The BD kit and those sold at places like rockauto.com are all too big. Their solution is to use a cable tie to crimp them down. I didn't like that idea so I returned them.

Let me know if you find a set that fits.

John

[hogie]

I bought an aftermarket kit from MSA last summer and the ends of it aren't too loose. However, they do use zip ties to hold them tight.

[Richard McDonel]

Thanks guys.

If your MSA parts are only a bit loose, perhaps I can make them work. I'll give them a call and see if they can spare the time to measure them before I buy. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll take JohnnyO's suuggestion. Perhaps from four old boots, I can salvage two.