Steering knuckle - flush?

[SD-KC]

All,
I’m swapping a 330 rack into the e30. I did the steering coupler shorten from garagistic. That went well. I am wondering about mounting the coupler to the steering rack and also to the steering rod. Should it be flush to the steering rack and rod? My rack seems to be too low on the driver’s side and I’m thinking I’ve not got the knuckle on far enough to the steering rack. I can’t seem to find any photos that shows the location of the coupler attached to the steering rack or rod. I’ve got my knuckle through the first splines of the steering rack but getting it onto the second seems to be too tight? The steering rod is pretty close to the firewall. Here’s a photo of the current status.

[D.Martijn]

Should go al the way down to the section part of splines. the relief in the shaft is so you can get a bolt through. This prevents the knuckle from coming off even if the nut loosen a little.
Make sure to remove any debris on the splines of the rack and in the knuckle also.

Mine was very tight when removing, trying to reinstall is I just couldn't get it seated all the way in. Cleaning the spines with a brass brush and even scraping the valleys of the spines with a small metal pick, it just slid right on the shaft!

[SD-KC]

That does make sense considering the bolt. I didn’t remember that when I took the old rack out. I opened the joint with a screwdriver and the rack just fell off. I wasn’t in a position to see how it sat. I’ll have to pry this off and clean it really well. I tried to grease it to get it to slide on.
Part of me wants to just hammer the thing down. I’m getting project fatigue…

[SD-KC]

A reminder to anyone who stumbles on this thread. Cleaning the spines as suggested above is very important. My rack came from a car that must have sat at LKQ for awhile. There was a lot of surface rust. Once cleaned with a wire brush, the installation was much easier.