Hey everyone,
So earlier in the year I bought my first car. A 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo. Had about 65k miles, was in great shape, and was priced great, I could not pass it up.
And I have to say, I've loved it. I honestly never thought I'd buy Chevy, but for the half year I've owned itits been great. It has such great pickup, decent on gas mileage (for a 99 sports car), and just plain fun to drive. The only problem I had initially was, I learned the AC didn't work. This was right after I bought it...in the middle of summer. I tested it during the test drive and the guy insisted it just needed a recharge. More like a $400+ leaking problem. But that's off topic, sorry about that.
So anyway, about a month or so ago I go get it checked out...fluid levels, air filters, oil, ect.. And the guy comes back and tells me the power steering rack has a leak and needs to be replaced. Great, how much? $800-900 dollars. (this was shortly after I just got done dropping 430 bucks on new brake rotors, capilers, and pads. My brakes were grinding and sounded like death. Man, got to love cars.) Awesome, cause being a broke college kid I have extra money to put torward power steering racks. Anyway, he tells me it's not completely screwed, just under a lot of pressure and come winter, it's going to be under even more pressure so it's gotta been fixed. So I kind of sit on it. At school I drive my car maybe once or twice a week anyway, so no rush. Well, now winter is almost here and I feel like I should nip this one in the butt before it causes more damage or something.
I know the Lumina and Monte Carlo are near identical cars, so I researched and found a brand new 99 Lumia power steering rack on eBay for 65 bucks, so...

For those of you who thought it was too long and didn't read:

My question to you guys is, just how similar are the Monte Carlo and Lumina? Similar enough where I could buy a Lumina Steering rack and have it put in to my Carlo, saving close to 700 dollars (even with labor cost)

And, if the answer to that one is, no dice, my second question is, how do I know what kind of suspension my car features? I found a Monte Carlo specific power steering rack for $185 (still better than the alternative) but it asks whether I have soft or firm suspension.

Thanks,

 

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According to this site it's the same/.............Tom