S3 Power assisted steering

Technical advice Q&A
User avatar

Topic author
Mosboss
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:51 pm
Location: Melbourne
Australia

#1 S3 Power assisted steering

Post by Mosboss » Wed May 10, 2023 12:43 pm

Hi All
In the process of converting a LH drive car to RH drive
So far so good in converting the existing rack to Rh drive with the advise and help of Bill in Ballarat
I am curious to know if any one has attempted the following
On the S3 rack the trunnion is at 90 degrees to the rack as it has a straight cut gear, It is known that a helical cut gear there has some distinct advantages
If the trunnion has a helical cut gear it is mounted to the rack at the appropriate angle, so looking from the front of a RH drive car it will be tilted to the Left
The question arises, after studying a power rack on a very early 1971-72 XJ6 which has a helical gear it has that tilt on it
It appears that it was made by the same manufacturer as the S3 rack it also appear that the trunnion may be a direct bolt on to the S3 which of course will facilitate the piping to the steering pump
I want to find out has any one ever attempted or did such a modification as it seems that it may finish up extremely close to the frame
Not that in the XJ6 it has any more than about 1/2" clearance from the internal skirt as they used a double universal joint to the steering shaft so as to prevent it fouling the skirt I guess or to line it up from the rather acute angle the shaft protrudes from the fire wall
I bought an XJ6 which has a good 4.2 L engine that is in pretty good state not that I needed it but it has a triple SU set of carbs out of an E type,
The price of the wreck was way bellow what a triple set of SU's are going for out there besides a lot of common parts that may come handy, mainly Lucas relays and toggle switches from the center panel of which I needed a few as the after market ones in one of my cars left a lot to be desired
Anyway,
Once we took the engine out and for no other reason other than curiosity we started looking at its power steering setup, the similarities of the rack stared at us there fore the question
I will be taking that rack out and investigate the above further in the meantime I thought i will put it out there just in case
No point going down a blind alley or barking up the wrong tree on the one hand, on the other hand if the investigation bares fruit it may be another option available for ppl undertaking the conversion
Cheers
and
Best
Chris
1969 S2 2+2 manual, 1970 S3 Auto, 2005 Ferrari 360, XR8 Ford Ute, plus to many motorcycles

Link:
BBcode:
HTML:
Hide post links
Show post links