How much play should there be in the steering wheel. I pulled and put in the motor through the bottom and it seems like it has a lot more play in it than it used to. power steering fluid level is good, but I don't remember it having as much play as it does. It was months ago, so I could just be nuts

Also, what is the point of the plastic cover around the steering shaft thing. with new mounts mine sits closer to my headers and is starting to melt.

 

Not sure how much play should be in the wheel, but the plastic covers the rag-joint in the steering shaft. This is a rubber isolater built into the steering shaft. I assume the plastic is there to keep the manifold heat from soaking the rag joint's rubber and degrading it.

There is a rag-joint eliminator kit out there which replaces the rubber joint with an aluminum one. I put one on my car and it reduced the steering play quite a bit. You can get the kit from Unbalanced Engineering.

Thomas.