Rack and pinion mounts

[legenmetals]

Has anyone ever questioned the use of the "motor mount" style rubber mounts on the contemporary cars rack and pinion steering? I have two cars and both have the same type of mounts.I am currently installing solid mounts with a vibration damper on the steering shaft.I am hoping this modification will give my car a more precise feel.Any thoughts Guys? Thanks Mark

[mickmate]

I think what you're doing will work fine but I'm not sure you'll notice alot of difference. Rubber bushings are mostly upgraded to urethane these days. I would make sure all the joints are in good shape and you have a good alignment that takes bump steer in to account. That Jag suspension has nice geometry when set up correctly. Welcome aboard you're in the right place.

[legenmetals]

I have noticed that when the car is sitting still and I try to turn the steering wheel the rack will move before the tires will, also while driving you have to bring the steering wheel back to center position after turning.Is this common with wide tires and this type of rack? The car is going in for alignement after the work is complete.Any advice on alignment shops in the san Diego area?

[mickmate]

Don't be doing that to your poor steering rack. With the caster angle you're trying to lift one corner with the steering when it's sitting still! You either flex a mount bushing or you beat on the rack and pinion, what is the lesser of the evils? Better still get the car moving even if it's just a little bit before turning. Manual steer and fat tires as you've seen don't get along too well. Look at the skinny little crossply tires the E used. Setting your caster angle correctly will have the steering wheel returning to staright while your moving. When you pull 50 year old steering pieces apart that's what makes the difference between junk and useable parts, how they've been driven.

[legenmetals]

Thanks, That makes sense to me and thats what I wanted to here,sound reasoning. Mark

[1985 CCX]

Mark,

I have a Jag series I and it works flawless after many years of service. I often think that Contemporary did things right and that the Smith brothers used that premise to use Ford parts on their cars. (good as well)

My car has been on the road for 23 years and early on it was raced and hard I am told. Jaguar based cars are strong and easy to work on. As Mickmate said, update your bushings as it does wonders.

Drop me an email address via PM and I will add you to the CCX group that converses off line via email.

[cobrajam]

By the way, what racks do the Contemporarys use? It has been so long since I bought my rack, I forgot what it was. How do you tell the difference between the series? And how are these for stiffer mounts?
http://www.classicjaguar.com/rack.html

[legenmetals]

This is exactly what I had in mind with the addition of a dampner located in the steering shaft.The mounts shown look to be the same style that I currently have with the exception of the one bolt that appears to be longer.All the studs on my rubber mounts are the same length.

[Shelboss]

I know Jag Series 1 and 2 are what was used in most Contemporary's, I don't know what the difference is with the 12 cylinder cars. I don't understand what damping you are referring to, you should have Borgeson u-joints on the steering shaft and solid mounted at the column. Rack and pinion gears don't tolerate shock well, that's why Jag used rubber as do late model Ford Mustangs. How much force do you think it takes to deflect the stock mounts by 1/16" and do you think that is critical to your car's handling or tracking? My kit came with a set of solid mounts that someone fabricated. I plan on taking the off before I complete the car.

[legenmetals]

The Borgeson catalog shows a rubber isolated connector that fits in-line on the steering shaft, cutting and re-splining the steering shaft would be required. The theory is the rubber isolates some of the vibration transmitted from the road. I did not know that the u-joints used on Contemporary cars are Borgeson. Mine need soaked in oil or replaced they do not move to my liking.

[Shelboss]

My Borgeson U-joints were bought from Contemporary in the mid nineties and have an E7 stamped on them, don't know if that is the part number. I think there was an earlier thread on this. I just tested a stock Jag rubber mount in shear like the tie rods put on it. Each one deflects .015" when loaded with 50 Lbs so the two combined will only deflect by this amount with 100 Lb of load from the tie rods. Isloate at the source and then put some precision bearing U-joints on the intermediate shaft and you can be happy again!

[legenmetals]

I have decided to order a set of billet mounts from Team CJ and give it a try, I can always go back.While I'm at it I will incoporate the dampner with new u-joints and intermediate shafts. I have one other question regarding the spline,first let me say the intermediate shaft dia. is .745 and I haven't measured the spline dia. protruding from out of the rack. Is the shaft protruding from the rack a metric dia.? If so I will have to examine the u-joints closely and see if one is metric and the other side SAE.

[mickmate]

I think you'll find they're 3/4-36 which is MG Jag stuff. I've upgraded mine to Borgeson stuff like Shelboss.

[legenmetals]

The Jag unit is 3/4-48 at the rack,the steering column on my car is also 3/4-48. I ordered one polished stainless steel universal with a dampner built in with 3/4-48 on one end and 3/4-36 on the other as Borgeson rolls only 36 splines on the 3/4 shafts the other universal is a stsndard style 3/4-36 on one end and 3/4-48 on the other. The shaft is 22 1/4" long. All the parts are polished SS and the universals have needle bearings.

[Shelboss]

For reference, the intermediate shaft I bought from Burtis for the Contemporary uses 3/4-48 on both ends. Good deal getting all the pieces from Brogeson in SS!

[mickmate]

They say the memory is one of the first things to go......I forget what the others are! My bad it's 3/4-48 splines. The Jag, MG stuff doesn't come close to the quality of Borgeson stuff.

[legenmetals]

Just an update - Installed the CJ solid rack mounts suggested by Cobrajam (link above), superb quality. I had to install one shorter 5/16 grade 8 bolt in each solid mount. This is a modification that is spelled out in the Contemporary build manual. Thanks for the copy Jeff. After removing the steering column I noticed the steering wheel did not spin as free as I liked so we fabricated two bronze bushings with a shoulder on one end of each bearing and press fit them into the column. Now the wheel spins smooth and tight. We also milled a flat spot on each end of the intermediate shaft to allow a flat surface for the set screw to mate against. We milled this spot two theads deep so if any set screw backs off it will snag the end of the lip of the shaft created from the milling process. All allen set screws were Loc-tite when installed. I also turned a collor that set screws onto the steering shaft as a saftey measure so the shaft won't pull through the column if their is a seperation in any of the steering componets. The end result is a precise and tighter steering, now off to the alignment shop. Any recomendations for the San Diego area? Thanks for everyones input and help. Legenmetals

[cobrajam]

So what does the Contemporarys use, the 6 cylinder or the 12 cylinder mounts? And where are your pics?

[legenmetals]

The contemporary uses the XKE-6 rack. I will get pics posted later of both cars. I came across a picture of my cammer car. It was posted on this site by someone else, but I can't seem to find it again when doing a search.

[legenmetals]

Ah Ha Found it! Go to CC main menu click on the cars for sale link search for sohc and first car that pops up is mine.