Steering Rack

[mbayley77 0]

Hi all,

 

I have play in my non pas steering rack and have gotten hold of a PAS rack which i intend to use as a quick rack. I am removing the wishbones and driveshafts of my car to replace with 309 ones anyways and was wandering what was involved in replacing the steering rack at the same time?

 

Any advice etc would be greatly appreciated.

 

Then its onto making the brackets and everything needed for the sump guard

 

Cheers

[Anthony 1,003]

To install a PAS rack you need to partly drop the subframe, so it's a bit more of a fiddly job than a straight non-PAS to non-PAS swap. Make sure that you have the matching intermediate column shaft for the PAS rack btw, as that's different to the non-PAS ones.

[mbayley77 0]

oh bugger.

 

whats different about it?

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

The rack body is taller where the PAS pipes go into it making the lower column shaft shorter.

 

Graham.

[mbayley77 0]

Do you know by how much roughly?

 

And do you know if a phase 2 one will fit a phase 1?

 

I think my mate has a steering colomn spare so will have to raid his garage but its how to get the key!

[Anthony 1,003]

PAS intermediate shafts are shorter than non-PAS and hence not interchangeable.

 

Non-PAS ones are different between pre-1990 and post-1990 (roughly tying in with the Phase 1.5 - Phase 2 swap) which are spline and square drive respectively. PAS ones are all the same style, but as said, not interchangeable with non-PAS due to the difference in length.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Yep you need the PAS lower column to make this work.

 

Also if you are not ever going to assist this rack it's not a bad idea to hacksaw off the long stud that did hold the ram on as it gets in the way.

This will mean you don't have to drop the front part of the subframe and swear a lot out loud, cursing grazed knuckles etc....

Edited March 2, 2006 by Simes

[mbayley77 0]

Sounds like i am going to be robbing the lower half of the steering colomn then. And some hacksaw blades for cutting off the stud.

 

out of curiosity the new rack comes on a sub frame. How much effort is it to replace the sub frame if i get it seam welded.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

This will mean you don't have to drop the front part of the subframe and swear a lot out loud, cursing grazed knuckles etc....

No it doesn't, this isn't the part that requires the subframe dropping to make it a quick job.

 

The extra height of the rack body makes it difficult to get out of the engine bay sideways like a non-pas rack.

 

When I fitted mine the engine was out & even then getting a pas rack in without dropping the subframe was awkward. For the sake of two bolts its not worth the hassle imo.

 

Graham.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

For the sake of two bolts its not worth the hassle imo.

 

Graham.

 

True, but I was always under the impression that those two bolts can snap and make the job more painful.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

True, but I was always under the impression that those two bolts can snap and make the job more painful.

I think its the two on the inner wing that can snap but you shuldn't need to undo those imo to lower the subframe enough to get the rack out.

 

I fitted some new ARB bushes last year & only had to undo the rear mounts & the subframe would drop a couple of inches to replace them & that should be enough to get the rack out imo.

 

Graham.