More work today...
Having had the steering rack off/rebuilt etc, plus the HP pump & struts etc Jim recommended that I fill the pipes to the HP Pump prior to starting the car to prime it.
I detached the main hose at the LHM tank, inserted a well fitting funnel and filled it......well, nothing happened !..... so I turned the engine over......it sucked it all down quickly. Two more funnel fills and I guessed the HP Pump would be primed. I reattached the pipe, filled the LHM tank and went for a full on start.
Two glow plug sessions and it started on the first turn !
I checked the LHM tank....LOADS of micro bubbles, I let those settle for a min or two as I checked under the car/wheel arches/struts etc for any leaks =zero
Turning the steering wheel to bleed the pinion valve/ram, it get better after 3x full turns.
I selected Low, more bubbles, high, more bubbles ....so I repeated that 4 times, the bubbles settled.
More checks showed zero leaks.
Wheels on, off the axle stands (suspension on high) and the car stayed high.
5x more High/Low settings and all bubbles settled.
5x more steering turns...all good.
Checked for leaks = Zero.
Pump "Tick rate" is now 48 seconds
The car drops very quickly and rises nearly as fast.