Rack refit

[caduceus]

I've had my rack refurbed and will be putting it back in shortly.

Now when I took it out, the pipes were already removed, and the pinion. So it was easy enough to get out. But nows its all rebuilt, I obviously don't want to be taking it apart.

After a very quick attempt before going out on sunday, I realised it wasn't going to as straight forward to put it back.

Has anyone put a refurbed rack back in before? Pipes 'n' all...
Any tips welcomed, as I assume there is a nack of tackling this a certain way

Thanks
Cad

[Budaholic]

Have you tried brute force and ignorance? Always works for me.

Bud

[mikesr]

Looks very nice

I'm pretty sure you will have to remove the pipes to get it back in. Mine has the Goodrich style stainless hoses which fit much closer to the rack but it was still very tight getting it in and out. And I think in the end I removed the hoses.

I think its described similarly in the pdf manual but these are Trackcars instructions: -

You need to feed the N/S end of the rack in through the O/S of the chassis from the top ie feed it in over the O/S wing through the chassis and out into the N/S wheel arch. Take it through until the O/S track rod clears the chassis so you can lower that end and pull it back towards the O/S and into position.

I also tried the washers underneath the rack to raise it slightly which supposedly improves bump steer but the hose that connects to the PAS pump fouled the chassis so I took them out again.

[HRG]

Not sure if the Cerb engine bay is similar to the Griff, but on that you can get it in from above feeding it through the chassis rails one side at a time once the cat is removed. Still bloody tight though.

[BLUETHUNDER]

Just out of interest.How much to re-con the rack,and where?.

[caduceus]

Thanks for that Bud

Cheers Mike, yeah, it looks nice. Remains to be seen whether it works as well as it looks. I'll give the method you suggested a whirl on the weekend.

Thunder, I got it done through TVR Centre in Barnet. Ask for Terry, he's a top bloke, and very helpfull. About 220 quid from memory. Will dig out the receipt and let you know exactly if you wish.

[BLUETHUNDER]

caduceus said:

Thanks for that Bud

Cheers Mike, yeah, it looks nice. Remains to be seen whether it works as well as it looks. I'll give the method you suggested a whirl on the weekend.

Thunder, I got it done through TVR Centre in Barnet. Ask for Terry, he's a top bloke, and very helpfull. About 220 quid from memory. Will dig out the receipt and let you know exactly if you wish.

Cheers

[edhorne]

Hi there

I'm 99% sure you will need to remove the steel pipes to get it back in.

I reckon I had to do that when I put mine back in. I think it was quite straightforward once you've done that.

Good luck

Ed

[ridds]

Another vote for pipes off.

Mine was a pig of a job with just the track rods and pinion in place.

Also you may well need 2 people to do the bolts up due to no captive nuts.

Also, if it was already apart you may well suffer from the pinion not being put back inline with how your steering column is lined up. The UJ's only fit one way and this could well mean that your steering wheel may face an odd direction. Then combine that with a steering column with only 6 splines and it's quite tricky to get your steering rack central and your wheel facing up.....

[brogenville]

I did my rack without taking the pipes off. Took a bit of jostling and articulating of the rods, but it does go in. As was mentioned above, the worst bit was fluffing about with the non-captive retaining bolts.

[caduceus]

Oh joy. Lots to look forward to at the weekend then

Thanks again for the input guys.

[plasticman]

You can fit and remove with the pipes on , you will have to remove the track rod on the drivers side and move the rack as far to the passenger side as possible , David

[brogenville]

plasticman said:

You can fit and remove with the pipes on , you will have to remove the track rod on the drivers side and move the rack as far to the passenger side as possible , David

Honestly, you dont "have" to remove anything- I refitted mine when it was in exactly the same state your one is right now. You just feed the rack down throught the engine bay and as far through between the wishbones (n/s I think) as it will go (wheels removed). There should then be just enough room to drop the other side down. Then just centre the rack up and bolt it down.