just wondering....
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timmo
- Minor Fan
- Posts: 172
- Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:11 pm
- Location: nr Lands End Cornwall
- MMOC Member: No
just wondering....
While i was welding in new rear foor sections, i was looking at the steering column. Remembered on the old minis you could lower the column with a bracket...losen the 4 bolts holding the rack and then add the lowering bracket.....is it the same on a Minor?
No, unless you modified the steering rack a little. Where the rack pinion comes through the hole in the body, the area around it on the rack is flat, and it is this flat in contact with the body which positions the rack correctly, so you have the right angle for the pinion to meet the column shaft.
I'd say it's theoretically possible to 'shave' this flat area to the correct angle suitable for a lowered column, but it would be trial and error - shave a bit, put the rack back on, connect the column, see how it's going.......take everything off, shave a bit more........Then you might need to fabricate a little wedge with a hole in it to insert between the rack and body, because as you shaved away, a gap would be growing between the rack and the body.
A skilled engineer would probably be able to work it all out with maths in not many minutes.
If you are good at micro panelbeating, you could reprofile the area around the pinion hole, from underneath, to enable the rack to be rotated as required. I think you'd still need the wedge.
But I personally think life's too short as it is.......easier to modify the seat if you want a driving position which suits you better.
I'd say it's theoretically possible to 'shave' this flat area to the correct angle suitable for a lowered column, but it would be trial and error - shave a bit, put the rack back on, connect the column, see how it's going.......take everything off, shave a bit more........Then you might need to fabricate a little wedge with a hole in it to insert between the rack and body, because as you shaved away, a gap would be growing between the rack and the body.
A skilled engineer would probably be able to work it all out with maths in not many minutes.
If you are good at micro panelbeating, you could reprofile the area around the pinion hole, from underneath, to enable the rack to be rotated as required. I think you'd still need the wedge.
But I personally think life's too short as it is.......easier to modify the seat if you want a driving position which suits you better.
The lowering of Mini steering column is very dangerous - for the driver. The column mount is designed to buckle the wheel forwards away from the driver in a hard frontal - when a daft lowering barcket is fitted, all that careful design is lost - it will spear straight back at the driver. Madness! So - best not to copy that idea I think!
