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In the process of rebuilding a few Mk1 racks and come across this in a 63 dated one (yes, racks are dated )

I've seen bush sleeves both wide (I think Mk2) and narrow but this one had one of each fitted over the bush ?!

Is this correct ? It doesn't appear to have been apart before.

I'm not looking to do any modifications, just rebuild with a new bush (and anything else they need) which will last for years, bearing in mind how little most of us use our cars now .

Nope....., never seen such a system before either. I can't see what it achieves either. Maybe the double bush sleeve idea was replaced by the single washer that now sits between the bush and the inner shoulder of the rack.

Can I take it that the punch mark is from where the retaining screw has held it? I can't remember having a bush that came out cleanly....

I've not seen that before either and in 1963, MKI Racks had a felt bush. Just going off memory here, there was a 'plastic' bush introduced to them but way after 63.

Yes, the indentation is where the screw bites into it to hold it in place Peter.

I’ve just done one that had the felt bush and the sleeve was even longer and went right up to the shoulder in the housing . Previous ones I’ve done (a while back) had just one sleeve and set back 40mm from the end of the housing .

That’s a new bush I’m fitting… of the washer behind the bush /sleeve and drift out works well but find a bit of gentle warming with a propane torch makes it even easier.

Andrew . you have kick stared this search for the Date Code on a Steering Rack .. But where is the Date stamp showing up on a mk1 Steering Rack?

Polarsilver wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:25 pm Andrew . you have kick stared this search for the Date Code on a Steering Rack .. But where is the Date stamp showing up on a mk1 Steering Rack?

Sorry Norman ..

Here's a couple pics showing the dating area and date styling. Seems they used a letter for the month .. possibly

Andrew1967 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:43 am Yes, the indentation is where the screw bites into it to hold it in place Peter.

I’ve just done one that had the felt bush and the sleeve was even longer and went right up to the shoulder in the housing . Previous ones I’ve done (a while back) had just one sleeve and set back 40mm from the end of the housing .

That’s a new bush I’m fitting… of the washer behind the bush /sleeve and drift out works well but find a bit of gentle warming with a propane torch makes it even easier.

Ah so you were asking if that assembly is OK to use, not if that's original !!!

Yes, that should be fine. All you need is a means of holding the bush in place and not have it floating about in there !

Spider wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 8:22 pm

Andrew1967 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 10:43 am Yes, the indentation is where the screw bites into it to hold it in place Peter.

I’ve just done one that had the felt bush and the sleeve was even longer and went right up to the shoulder in the housing . Previous ones I’ve done (a while back) had just one sleeve and set back 40mm from the end of the housing .

That’s a new bush I’m fitting… of the washer behind the bush /sleeve and drift out works well but find a bit of gentle warming with a propane torch makes it even easier.

Ah so you were asking if that assembly is OK to use, not if that's original !!!

Yes, that should be fine. All you need is a means of holding the bush in place and not have it floating about in there !

Thanks for the reply and confirmation

I've refitted it and all seems good.

I suppose it's safe to assume that the 'C' month is March and the 'L' month is December, unless someone comes up with an W registered steering rack!

I can already imagine some of the concourse car owners scrambling underneath their cars now, making sure that the manufacturing date on the rack matches the remainder of the restored car.

I've often wondered why the rack manufacturers have to use a date code and not simply the day or week and year

Andrew1967 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 19, 2024 8:09 pm
I've refitted it and all seems good.

Good work mate

Peter Laidler wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2024 10:18 am I suppose it's safe to assume that the 'C' month is March and the 'L' month is December, unless someone comes up with an W registered steering rack!

I can already imagine some of the concourse car owners scrambling underneath their cars now, making sure that the manufacturing date on the rack matches the remainder of the restored car.

One of mine has the letter ‘S’ Peter !! But yea, I assumed C was March

Just month and year on this one.

Mine was sitting on the work bench Peter.

Date codes provide a degree of ambiguity to the buying public who cannot instantly see that for example the rack fitted is several months earlier dated than say the wiper motor, and both are a couple of months earlier than the declared heritage cert build date and that pre dates the cars registration date by a year! It just avoids tiresome questions from that front justifying why supply chain issues did occur (Or the car was reworked within the build process)- without any true consequence to the user.
But, OEM's do want to know when highish and upward or prone to failure parts are manufactured because there have 'always' been claw back clauses in supply contracts, so if we see rising claims in warranty we can be assured that liability is paid for, and also if required when a recall/free replacement is declared the boundary piece points can be defined. Today of course we have had mission creep and legislation dictates we know the individual serial number of the exact part we fitted to each individual car, for certain components.