The steering rack and its mountings

E-Type steering is by rack and pinion, and on a healthy car it is one of the pleasures: light, direct and full of information. Vagueness or play in the system is not character to be tolerated; it is wear or perished rubber to be found.

Where play comes from

• Rack mountings. The rack is mounted to the front frames in rubber, and perished mounting bushes let the whole rack move under load, producing a dead, wandering feel.
• Track rod ends and inner joints. Wear here shows as free play at the wheel rim with the car jacked, felt in the horizontal plane.
• The column and its universal joints. Free movement with the road wheels held still points above the rack rather than at it.
• Rack wear itself, which shows as tight and loose spots across the travel, is the least common cause and the most expensive.

The simple test

With the car on the ground, have an assistant move the steering wheel gently around the straight-ahead while you watch each joint and mounting in turn. Anything that moves before the road wheels move is lost motion, and its location is visible. This test costs nothing and locates most steering complaints in minutes.

Alignment

These cars are sensitive to front alignment, and a car that darts or tramlines on worn tyres is often simply maladjusted. Alignment belongs after the joints and bushes are right, not instead of them.