Well, I'll get right to my problem.  I brought my '85 GL into the
recommended local VW mech today (he seems to know aircooled pretty well, as
well rabbits/golfs, but is sorta shady on the H2O vanagons).  I was losing
power steering fluid pretty fast, and as we had it on the lift, he pulled
the dust boot on the PS rack a little bit, and it amost showered PS fluid
all over the guy.  He said that the rack is shot, and I think he is right.
Please correct us if we are wrong.  Next step was to locate a reman rack,
and after some hard looking, he found a "short" rack for ~$205 USD.  He
ain't sure if it is the right one, but his supplier says it is.  Does this
ring a bell for any of you?  I am sortta strapped for cash, as I have no
job, but school, and am living off of financial aid.  What would any of you
suggest?  I am currently running w/ the belt off of the PS pump, to keep
from running it dry, and will be doing so for my 550 mile round trip home
this weekend.  Another option, my dad's 84 GL has no PS, and I like the way
it handles very well, if not more than w/ PS.  How difficult would it be to
convert to non-PS, and what would need to be done?  The mech. says that he
will not attempt a conversion w/o a detailed description on how to do so.  I
saw an ad for an '80 westy being parted out from Chis ( JordanVw@AOL.COM )
Is this van non-PS, and how much for the rack and steering wheel, if in GOOD
condition?  Would these parts bolt right onto my van?  Those are all of my
questions for now, if I have more, I will fill you in.......
TIA

-Aaron Mckay
                                 mckayaa@oit.edu
                                 college student in mechanical
                                 engineering at Oregon Institute of
Technology
                                 '85 vanagon GL

P.S.  That same mech quoted $3000 + for a brand new VW rack, and I thought
that capacitor AFM fix was spendy........