We've done a couple and they're not all that bad.
Do it as shown on the Jap site and you will give yourself ulcers.
When removing, be certain the indicators are set at the straight ahead position or the next job you'll do is fit a new guts in the self cancelling gizmo.
Remove the shroud off the steering column and disconnect at the half way mark at around drivers knee height, that allows for the steering column to move upwards. Remove the heatshield around the pinion, disconnect the hardydisc, then unbolt the pinion and lift it out. (As per instructions on the BX Club site)
Take a pic of the pinion so as to see where the seals and rings fit. Put them back in the wrong place and you'll get a chance of doing it all again. IIRC, the one shown on the Japanese site is incorrect.
Get an old "bubble pack" that manufacturers pack goods in to prevent them getting scratched. This is a semi flexible plastic about .5mm thick.
I then wrapped that around the pinion so as to allow those hard rubber looking seals to slide over it as if it were a funnel. Spraying with silicone spray helps here.
Once I had all of those in the correct grooves, I then covered the lot with a piece of this plastic and lightly clamped, again spraying with silicone spray before I fitted the plastic sleeve and sat the lot in the freezer for a couple of hours.
When pulled out and clamps removed, I then sat it back in the freezer for another hour or so to allow the contraction to continue.
Then I sprayed the lot with silicone spray again.
I didn't go on with all the palarva the Japanese site goes on with by turning and releasing and retightening the clamps over s few days (bugger that for a joke) I just went ahead and slid it in, but the secret was.....MINUS the bearing. This is where they made an easy job bloody hard and why they had to get the seals shrunk down to a fitted position. Try to do it their way and I can bet you'll slice some of the rings. Leave the bearing off and ease the rings into where they go using a plastic scraper or a small driver if you're careful, THEN fit the bearing, otherwise you're flying blind.
As you can see, the bearing goes on over the gear, not over the seals area.
http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~ynar/bxorg_a ... /m2309.JPE
Last one we did, it took 2 of us (one working under the car, one at the top and on the bench, just over an hour.
Word of advice; when finished, be certain to replace the heatshield around the pinion area, the small one. On my 16V this was missing and this was the cause of the failure. Too much heat on rubber seals.
Alan S
By the time you're old enough to know it all, you can't remember why you were learning.
