1993 Toyota Celica Steering Rack Replacement. Gone wrong?

I am replacing the steering rack because the old gear was leaking lubricant plus one boot was broken. It is in the car; however the problem comes with trying to straighten the rack / centre it and the wheel so when we attach the U-joint to the gear everything lines up. Unfortunately, it is in my schools shop (I am a sophomore in high school and I work on it in auto mechanics) and so some other kids took out the old rack when I wasn't there so the relationship of the tie rods to the rack and gear to U-joint is not marked. So when we drop the column into the rack, the steering wheel isn't straight. I had a person hold it the last time I tried, and we had centered the rack and everything, but when we attached the tie rod ends they were about two turns on (drivers side) and 20 turns on (passenger), the wheel and rotors were straight but the wheel turned one rotation right from "centre" and about 2 1/4 left from "centre". At this point, I'm getting pretty frustrated because we have been working on this rack for two weeks now. Plus the rack is not oem its a secondary remanufacturer, and this is the second rack they sent us because the first one was two inches too short (they sent us the wrong one). My auto teacher suggested "centering the rack" by measuring from the end of the boot (closest to gear) to the end of the rack on both sides and make sure they are the same measurement then "center the wheel" by counting the turns and finding the middle. However wouldn't that have to be when the column is off the gear? In which case it turns infinately because its just a stick.
Also at the moment I believe the rack is centered and the tie rods have even turns AND both rotors are parallel (by sight) and facing forward but THE STEERING WHEEL IS UPSIDE DOWN. It will not pass inspection like that. So I don't know what to do anymore. And my auto teacher doesn't know either. So I'm stuck. Besides, my car ran perfectly fine before I brought it in. Plus other kids keep scratching it and wrecking it so I'd really like to get it out of there. Thank you for reading this, hope you can help! :) Our last resort option is to get it towed to a REAL shop. Which I'd really rather not do. So help please ! Thank you :)