At 08:33 AM 3/15/2006, you wrote:
>I remembered you had mentioned your quicker rack in some earlier discussion.
>Is anyone still making the parts for it, or complete assemblies?
>
>Best regards,
>Theo
Besides the pieces made in the San Diego area, Ken Mattice and Bill
Miller manufactured some quick rack components of the same
approximate ratio in the 70's time frame. These were not copies of
the rack used in the #55 car but were spur gear pieces that fit the
OEM housing without machining. Ken also made another production run
during his residence in France. These pieces featured helical cut
gears and were made in two configurations. One used the OEM tie rod
ends and the other used rod ends from a TVR rack. I don't have
production figures for either of these runs, but I'd guess that they
were in the range of 20 to 40 each time. I've had a quick rack in my
white Tiger since the 70's. They are not common, but they are sought
after by dedicated Tiger enthusiasts. They are also totally stealth
in that you can't tell by looking, you have to turn the steering
wheel lock to lock.
A couple of years ago, I purchased the remains of Ken's inventory of
quick rack components. I currently have three unassembled rack and
pinion sets in inventory, one set of which is sold and being
assembled as I write this. One of the interesting challenges the
helical gear design produced, is the increase in side thrust on the
rack gear. This in some ways, has made this design less desirable,
as it can cause the thrust damper to bend and cause an increase in
steering effort. I have designed and installed improvements to this
helical rack system and this has substantially reduced the occurrence
of this situation.
The MG rack system is similar in ratio to the Tiger quick rack, but
it does limit the steering angles and increase the turning radius,
particularly when used with the MGB steering arms. This is one of
the reasons that the claim is made that it reduces the Ackerman angle
error inherent in the OEM design.
Tom Hall
ModTiger Engineering LLC
www.tigerengineering.net
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