Michael Sands (sands@kaleida.com) writes:
> The steering rack appears to be off a Triumph. It has the flanges at
> either end of the rack. The pillow blocks (right term?) that attach the
> rack to the frame are mounted just inside these flanges. This prevents
> side to side motion. The clamping force of the aluminium pillow blocks is
> supposed to prevent rotation.
The steering rack in my Lotus 7 is a Triumph (Herald?) type. It is
mounted to the chassis on two "rack and pinion mounting blocks".
Each mounting block has a top part and a bottom part. In the top part
on each side there is a "rack and pinion locating dowel" which fits
into a hole on the "rack and pinion steering assembly". These dowels
prevent the rack from moving sideways and turning.
The Lotus design is well known to be inadequate and I beleive that
Caterham made significant modifications to both the chassis mounting
points and the size of the mounting blocks. I have a drawing of the
Caterham design somewhere. I'll try to dig it up over the holidays.
I have given much thought to making mods to the front suspension and
steering on my Seven, but I am always torn between keeping it original
and making it right.
I don't have any problem with interference between the universal joint
and the frame. The frame is in the garage and the steering rack is in
the bedroom closet.
- -- Flemming "one of these days, maybe..." Larsen
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