Seal kit-PAS Rack, have you installed that yourself?

[kmckmc]

There is some leakage in my S2's steering rack. I also have a set of Lotus' A100H6023S Seal Kit-PAS Rack Elan 1989 on.

Have you carried out those seals installation on your own? Is it easy? Pictures?
Please advise.

[Monty]

Micheal,

IIRC the S2 rack is on the sales list for approx £120

At that price it will be worth fitting a new one, but still carry on with refurbing the other as a spare

BTW, i`m sure the section in the manual on fitting the PAS seal kit

[bobbrown]

Micheal,
BTW, i`m sure the section in the manual on fitting the PAS seal kit

There is and also mentions special tools and shims

steering.jpg

Bob

[kmckmc]

My local steering rack repair expert refused to replace new seals for my S2 steering rack. He said that without those special tools, the job can not be done properly.

What to do?

[bobbrown]

My local steering rack repair expert refused to replace new seals for my S2 steering rack. He said that without those special tools, the job can not be done properly.

What to do?

Good question, as I have no idea what the tools look like I can only hazard a guess.

I would think the T000T1072 is a tapered piece to allow the teflon rings to be expanded as you slide them down the pinion and into position and then T000T1071 is another tapered piece this time internal, bit like a piston insert tool that allows the assembly to be slid back into the valve body as putting them on will have stretched them a bit so they need squashed back.
If I was doing it here I could work out what is required and machine up the necessary tools.
Unfortunately I do not intend to pull my perfectly good spare rack apart to find out.

Your best bet may be to get a rack from the sales list or someone over here to get it and ship it to you as no doubt you need to be careful of the import taxes.

Bob

[tigerdog]

This is a real bummer. Smaug's rack has leaked since I got the car and I don't think Fed racks are available. I was planning to get it rebuilt but now I'm somewhat dismayed. Oh well, I'll just top up the resevoir and wipe off the underside every so often.

[Specky]

This is a real bummer. Smaug's rack has leaked since I got the car and I don't think Fed racks are available. I was planning to get it rebuilt but now I'm somewhat dismayed. Oh well, I'll just top up the resevoir and wipe off the underside every so often.

Doug

Could you use the PAS RACK & PINION for the LHD S2 (G100H0003F)

$250 Lotus aftersales, didn't LGM do this...(Rack change that is)

TTFN

[bobbrown]

This is a real bummer. Smaug's rack has leaked since I got the car and I don't think Fed racks are available. I was planning to get it rebuilt but now I'm somewhat dismayed. Oh well, I'll just top up the resevoir and wipe off the underside every so often.

I supose that depends on where it is leaking as it could be as simple as a pipe connection.

There are a few racks available on the after sales list

steering racks.jpg

It looks like more LHD racks than RHD ones including a FED SIR

Bob

[tigerdog]

Nice catch, Bob. If they really still have 13 of them, that would be great. Not sure if the LHD S2 rack would fit and wouldn't chance it if I had a better option. I've checked the pipes and they appear to be OK. Had a look from underneath and it's pretty apparent it's leaking around the steering gear or rack body, not the hoses. I'll check with friendly local Lotus dealer to see if they can handle aftersales with the same ease as UK dealers.

[RayD]

Expanding on what Bob said earlier...

For anyone desperately wanting to renew the seals themselves...

T000T1071
T000T1072

The first one is used for fitting the 4 Teflon seals into 4 grooves on the piston. A tool is needed to bridge over the first 3 grooves in order to fit the 4th one, then the first 2 to fit the 3rd one and so on. In the absence of a special tool this would normally be done using a piece of shimming around the piston...with them being Teflon I’d be searching for a suitable piece of plastic sheet rather than steel shimming.

As Bob says the other one is to guide the new seals back into the cylinder...because the manual suggests using the same tool for fitting the thrust washer, it must be relatively short and only capable of getting the seals just into the cylinder. Again, something could easily be contrived to fit the bill.

While steel shimming has always been used for this job you need to have a close look at the cut edge to make sure it faces inwards (it naturally does when cut with tin snips) otherwise it’ll neatly slice the new seals in two.

Ray

[bobbrown]

Ray, how do you get the ring onto the shim/plastic with out it crushing the shim/plastic.
I tried this method with the rear caliper piston locator ring and failed; resorted to making up a taper to fit on top of the piston to get the locating ring on.
May be in this instance a combination of both, taper to get the ring expanded enough to get it on to the shim/plastic.

Bob

[kmckmc]

Do you think ADWEST sell those 2 tools?

[RayD]

I’m imagining if there were only one seal it would be possible to fit it by hand. If this is the case it’s more a problem of bridging the grooves than expanding the seal and there’d be no need to hang the shim over the end of the shaft.

I've not seen them so I don’t know how tight they are.

This is the sort of thing I had in mind for the 71...

Ray

[Specky]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Ray...

I thought exactly the same...

I was thinking of a similar principle for fitting sprag clutches or free wheels...(same insertion principle except used internally)

I wouldn't bother contacting Adwest as you could locally manufacture the tools in your part of the world...

TTFN

[bobbrown]

May be if there was one the correct size a plastic drinks bottle with the base cut off would do the trick and the neck would provide a guide to get the rings on.
Even if one could not be found quite the right size, then fitting it over a madrel of the correct diameter a small amount of heat would allow it to shrink to fit.

Bob

[RayD]

The tapering neck of plastic drink bottle would be perfect for #72.

Somewhere along its length it would be exactly the right size.

In my picture you're looking at part of a set of high quality precision instruments made by a German manufacturer and sold in exclusive outlets by people who don’t know what to charge...the telescopic plastic sleeve on the other hand is a feather duster cover available at Poundland with a free feather duster...for a pound

Ray