Steering column plus 2

[Dieschelan]

Hi

I?m mounting the steering column in my plus 2 and my question is it?s necessary that the steering column is in the centre of the engine bay hole. Also if there is a rubber that protects the cabin from humes and dust.

Best regards

Diego

[Foxie]

It's not necessary to be in the middle of the opening in the bulkhead, but it should not be in contact with the fibreglass. There should be a rubber sleeve/grommet to seal the interior from the engine bay. The closing plate secures the rubber sleeve. This should be central on the steering column. It may be necessary to slot the mounting holes to get it central.

?Saludos!

[mbell]

I'd say it should be closer to the middle. Have you the spacer washers (4 thick ones) under the column mounts?

Seal is basically a rubber sheet I believe.

[EPC 394J]

I?m not overly qualified here, but hypothetically speaking, the precise positioning of your steering rack might affect the position of the column in that hole?

Which rack clamps are you using, and are you certain the rack is positioned correctly?

[mbell]

I?m not overly qualified here, but hypothetically speaking, the precise positioning of your steering rack might affect the position of the column in that hole?

Which rack clamps are you using, and are you certain the rack is positioned correctly?

Good point, column is of to one side not up and down. Could the rack be mounted using the holes for the rhd rather than lhd?

[rdssdi]

Another variable is the body position. The body must be shimmed where it attaches to the chassis in order to have clearance between the closed bonnet and the engine valve cover.

If you are placing the body on the original chassis you might have forgotten about the shims. If it is a new body and or chassis adjust the body height to clear the closed bonnet. I repaced my damaged chassis with a Spyder chassis therefore I had to set the body correctly. It required many shims. I made rectangular metal shims with a hole for the mounting bolt. Another +2 owner who replaced his chassis with a Syder unit neglected this important step and as a solution when after all holes were drilled and the body attached to the chassis decided to lower the engine mounting brackets. I felt a poor solution as the driveline angle would be altered.

If you have an oroginal body/chassis remember that the other mounting holes must align. If it is a new chassis the front height should be set first then the other mounting points drilled. Good luck.

Bob

[Frogelan]

Bob, thanks for your last comment.

This is of huge importance to newbies like myself who assume that the main alignment issue is with the chassis and the wheels.

[Dieschelan]

I have a picture of the steering rack clamps. I don?t know if it?s correct.

[mbell]

I don't think it is. Believe the clamps should be on the in side of each of the raised sections.

See:
lotus-suspension-f42/steering-rack-mounting-t16847.html#p86925

[pharriso]

Also is there is a rubber that protects the cabin from fumes and dust.
Best regards
Diego

This is the rubber seal that goes under a plate to be clamped to the firewall:

Steering Column seal from 2 different sources

Not sure where I bought these...

[Frogelan]

Several observations (NB I do not have a +2 so perhaps I'm wrong !) and so this applies to the baby Elan and are not necessarily a lot of help for your body / column issue

- there is one fitting / set of holes for LHD and one for RHD - do you have the correct one ?
- I think the original clamps fit flush to the small 3/4 moon flanges on the rack, but if you have aluminium TTR or Triumph clamps then these to not touch.
- When I recently bolted up my LHD Elan, I was surprised at this TTR design oversight and indeed, I note that in the US, aftermarket clamps exist for Triumphs to avoid the steering rack potentially floating about. I plan to make up my own clamps borrowing the US aftermarket approach but making them look more authentic.

[Peter +2]

I think I would ask myself, why do you need an inch diameter hole for 1/2 inch steering rod?

Answer, good old Lotus body tolerances, as it allows whoever drilled the original hole in the first place some leeway.

As long as you have your steering rack mounted correctly then fit a rubber gasket like ones shown in an offset position to seal the hole and it will be fine.

[Bigbaldybloke]

Easy check to see if your rack is in the right position, turn the steering fully left and right and the front wheel angle should be the same both ways, if as suspected the rack is wrongly mounted side to side you will have much more movement one way than the other. I?m pretty sure that the rack is should be moved towards the right hand side of the car and the right hand clamp should be on the inside of the flange on the rack, but the above check should confirm it?s mounted too far to the left side of the car at present. The link already provided shows clearly how it is on a right hand drive car, you need the mirror image of that.

[EPC 394J]

Easy check to see if your rack is in the right position, turn the steering fully left and right and the front wheel angle should be the same both ways,

Isn?t that only correct if the pinion is centralised on the rack when the wheels are straight ahead? Which if the car has been stripped and rebuilt, may not be the case?

[Bigbaldybloke]

Doesn?t matter where the steering wheel is, you are moving the rack to its stops in each direction which are unlikely to have been changed and certainly not by the inch or so the rack looks to be out of position. You can also turn the steering wheel from end to end and count the turns, then turn it to mid point, should have the wheels pointing straight ahead, only caveat on that is that the previous owner has not tried to compensate for the rack being out of position by big adjustments of the track rods linking the rack to the hubs, they should both be near enough the same length, if they are wildly different then you have more than one problem as someone has tried correcting one error with a second one. From the photo supplied, looking at the gaiters on the rack, the one on the left side of the car is much more compressed than the one on the other side indicating that the rack is not central in its housing, indicating that the rack is too far to the left of the car which ties up with the original problem of the column rubbing on the bulkhead.