Fixing The Manual Steering Rack

There was a small play on the steering rack. Initially I thought it was the rack end but after removing the steering rack and on closer inspection, the movement was lateral and not longitudinal along the axis of the rack.  The small play was a result of a worn out bush in the rack housing and not the ball joint on the rack end. It was my first time having a look at the mechanics of the manual steering rack and I was surprised that the bush was made of plastic. I had no problem in getting the replacement part and since it was plastic it was cheap too.

I had no clue on how to remove the cylindrical cover of the pinion without hurting it. It was not the problem so I left it alone

Job done and dusted, also replaced were the rubbers on the tie rods

Now the small problem with the steering rack had been fixed, I’m on the next agenda that is to make the steering of the old car more firm. The handling of the old car is not as good as the handling of new cars of today. While the control arms are solid, it doesn’t have a front anti-roll bar. Aftermarket front anti-roll bar for the old car is not easy to find. At least what I can do is to install a strut bar to improve it.

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