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AARRGH! Steering-rack variations


Myles

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My rack was damaged in the Anglesey incident - I need a new one.

 

The car is ex-Academy and i) my paperwork file states it had an 8% rack and ii)CC tech-help say that that was the regulation rack.

 

It did do some grad work afterwards though (not sure about the regs, but wouldn't have thought anyone would bother changing the rack).

 

Anyway, the rack does approximately 1.8ish turns lock-to-lock. CC say it *is* hard to identify which rack is which - but that 1.8ish turns is about right for the 8% and 1.65ish would be right for the 22%...

 

...however, a trawl through techtalk throws up a huge variation in figures - some reckon 1.8 turns is a 22% item, others agree that it *is* an 8% after all...

 

Unhelpfully, by owners manual talks only of 'standard' (2.13) and 'race' (1.80) - this was printed in '01 - by which time the '8%' rack should have been standard...

 

 

Can anyone shed any light on this? I had been offered first-refusal on a 96-spec rack - and this is reportedly around 2.25 turns...

 

Although my rack is clearly damaged (by feel, I'd say the pinion was damaged), it would appear that I am still getting full deflection on it.

 

*confused*

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com


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There's very little difference between the figures CC gave me for the 8% and 22% versions though - 1.83ish vs. 1.65ish... - just under 1/4 of a turn (or 1/8th at each extreme)...

 

How much trouble would it have been to stamp the bloody things with a simple code - or stick a coloured tag on as they do for ARBs etc...

 

 

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com


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Yeah, I don't think the colour-coding works these days, unfortunately.

 

I've only driven a 22% rack once - and I was trying to keep (upto) 244bhp in a reasonably-straight line on a country road at the time (V7SLR just before he sold it) - I do remember commenting on the steering when I got back... I guess you'd get used to it, but mine was quite a handful over bumpy roads as it was...

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com


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Myles,

 

Simple calc. A std steel cased rack is 2.25 turns lock to lock.

 

An 8% rack (which has been std on all models since about 1997) is 2.25 x 92% = 2.07 turns lock to lock.

A 22% rack (which has been optional on all models since about 1994) is 2.25 x 78% = 1.75 turns lock to lock.

 

We expected you to know this.

 

 

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Uh, thanks Arnie... *wink*

 

...CC tech-help seem to think that an 8% is 1.8ish and a 22% is 1.65ish though - if they can't give a sensible answer.... *confused*

 

If a 22% is 1.8ish, then my rack was changed between the car competing in the '01 Academy and it reaching me - not at all impossible, but undocumented.

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com


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A rack that has been fitted to a narrow track cycle winged cart may have been limited in its travel.

 

If you have racks of a similar vintage, the pinion can be simply swapped to get the change in ratio. This allowed me to get a widetrack 22% without having to swap track rods, before they started speccing the 22% racks with the longer track rod arms.

 

8% with full travel is over 2 turns.

22% with full travel is ~1.75 turns

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Myles, given the race history, and the amount of documentation you have with the car, I'd be very surprised if you had anything other than the standard rack. Want me to try mine (if I make it home from work this weekend?)

 

G for Geoff

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Yep - basically we seem to have three options for cycle-wings. 2.13ish, 1.8ish and 1.65ish.

 

Basically, anything under 2 will be 'good'. Thanks.

 

There's no rush - I've still not got a date from CC Midlands as to when they can pick the car up for the Arch work - so I'm not going to order a rack yet...

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com


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