TRIUMPH TR2 RESTORATION

Steering Conversion

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I had been keen to convert to a rack & pinion set up and considered the many option from the home grown aussie version to the commercially available versions. In the end the special that Rimmer Bros were offering on a full conversion with column sold me but first I sent off some questions which I duly received answers for including confirmation that the unit was still on special. I sent off my immediate order and received confirmation of its shipping. When I checked the prices I realised I had not received the discount so I fired of an email to which I got no response. I followed this up a couple of times through different contacts and received the same response - none! That was the first black mark.

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I received the kit and removed it from the packaging and checked the contents, everything seemed to be there so I removed the instructions and read them through. They constituted 2 or 3 pages and after carefully reading them realised that there was no way I could work out how to assemble the thing using the instructions. Now many would say that I may not have had the mechanical comprehension to do the job but I thought the 4 year mechanical engineering degree should have been sufficient to follow a set of instructions but I think the 15 years I spent designing steering systems for Ford, General Motors and Toyota would have given me a qualification better than the average punter so I sent of a note to Rimmer Bros to that effect. In return they sent me a 15 page document that was from Moss Motors. Black mark number 2.

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I started to assemble the gear and managed to fit the steering rack and suspension arms. Having threaded the ball joints onto the steering rack as far as they would go the wheels still point outward, not too much but enough to know I will not have tyres for long so I will need to trim the steering rack threads. Black mark no 3. oh by the way, yes I did reverse the steering arms from one side to the other as instructed. 

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I then thought I would have a go at assembling the steering column and duly lubricated the supplied bushes and tried to fit them to the supplied tube. Not a F...ing hope in hell of those going in so I started with a file to remove the seam of the tube and provide a lead in, after 10 minutes of that I got out the die grinder and seriously got stuck into the tube just to get the bush to start. Black mark no 4. I got the bottom bush in and then started to do the same on the top bush. I got this into the tube and tried to slide the steering shaft through the bush but the bottom spline is larger than the inside diameter of the bush!! Black mark no 5. The only way to install the shaft was to hammer it through the bush (or gently tap according to the instruction). I did this and got the shaft in up to the shoulder of the top shaft which now has the lower shaft barely protruding through the column. Reading the instruction - 'gently tap the steering shaft to drive the bush into the column'  Now as I had to use a socket and a massive mallet to get the bush into position and the shoulder of the steering shaft was tapered the only outcome of this action was not going to be pretty so I drifted the steering shaft out with a metre long steel bar and mallet. Black mark no 5. 

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The top bush needed to move down about 40 mm into the column to position the steering wheel at the top of the column I got the socket  and mallet out and started to hammer it down the column. I managed to get to 28mm and that was as far as it was going to go even with lubrication. I also found that even with the shaft in I couldn't actually rotate it so decided on plan B.

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Plan B was a fitter that worked for me when I was managing the steering column business who had set up his own business doing steering conversions. I took the lot into him and we agreed that the best outcome was to bore out the supplied bush now firmly wedged into the column and machine bushes and shaft to produce a running fit that will allow me to steer the car with purchasing steroids and spending 3 years in a gym.

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The long and short of this story is don't bother buying a Rimmer Brothers conversion unless you have similar expertise and equipment available to re-engineer the bloody system.