Agreed! If my car were pristine original, I'd not mess with it, though I might be afraid to drive it or more precisely leave it parked. Apart from the radiator and the radio, my Daimler is original and its restoration is aimed to keep it like that within practical limits. The fact is, there are a lot of MK1, 2, S type, 420 that most commercial shops would consider too corroded, accident damaged, or generally worn out to work on. Their only chance is as a labour of love (or lunacy) for an amateur. I think that amateur has to have degrees of freedom relative to factory original both to contain his costs and maintain interest over a long time scale. I can guarantee that it's worse if you've spent your life as a professional engineer: it's incredibly difficult not to want to improve almost everything that you're repairing on the car.

 

Try & get an entire front subframe as the crossmember requires an indent to accommodate the steering box. You can weld in an indent. Orlando from this forum & the S Type Register has done it.

Fit a Bendix Marles Varamatic steering box made under license by Adwest. Originally designed in Australia by Arthur Bishop for an aircraft nose wheel & commercialised by Bendix Corp for automotive use. The best of the bunch. You could then reduce the size of your steering wheel to 15" should you wish. Beef up your drop arm & idler or you can bend them if you turn against a curb. Easily found.

You would need to find a generator or upgrade to an alternator that can accommodate the PAS pump on the rear.(look identical) Don't waste your time trying to fit a Saginaw 1200psi pump. Not necessary & a pain to mount in a non 420 engine compartment. Stick to the S Type/340 arrangement.

Your steering will be far more direct. No mad winding of the steering wheel. Far better ratio.

 

I'm in exactly the same position! Mind you, it's much easier decider to modify things when the transmission comes in a couple of milk crates of broken and cracked parts. After sitting apart for 20 years I had no idea if the seller knew if he still had all the pieces - and he was the third owner and second city since the car had been taken apart. The engine was a write off, it had been sitting on a pallet beside the car with the plugs out; when I took the head off there was 2" of water on top of the pistons. The head was scrap due to corrosion, but I was able to save the block after resleeving it. I gather it took 20 tons on the hydraulic press to push the pistons out of the bores, the rings had completely rusted to the sleeves.

 

For PAS, my opinion is that there are three attractive routes.

The first is that advised by Glyn above. Of the factory original systems fitted to our cars, it's by far the best. In the UK, complete late model (420 type) front subframes with steering and suspension come along on eBay from time to time. I guess they appear in the US, but it might be a bit hen's teeth. You will also have to arrange a steering pump. OE was a pump on the back of the dynamo (generator) - see Glyn's comments above.

As your car is a MK1, it should have a high ratio steering box with about 3.5 turns lock to lock. It's much quicker, but heavier in use than the standard Mk2 box. If the box is in good condition, a very good option is electric power steering. There are a few systems around. They are usually fitted to the steering column under the dash. Most reports are very favourable. In fact, at least one of the Mk2 owners on this forum has decided to buy a new replacement high ratio box to use with one of these.

The last option is the one that steps away from originality and raises a load of questions and discussion on these pages about bump steer and loss of Ackerman. It's to use a power assisted rack and pinion. There are several kits available in the UK using XJ racks with their tie rods shortened. Some say they are great; others that it's impossible for a rack to work well with the amount of trail on the wishbones of our cars. I'll leave it at that now and wait for the sparks ...

If I were you with a MK1, I'd start by thinking hard about the second option.

 

The Electric option requires some metal cutting under the dash. Not a big deal and are not cheap but work very well. Especially those that are now speed sensitive. There are plenty of 420's in the US. Either in scrap yards or abandoned. There was a whole field full of them within a couple of miles of our offices in Dallas. Down the Northwest Highway just out of the Baptist area where the booze stores start on the right. We were in Irving. It was popular by Jag standards in the US.

The 420 Varamatic steering is 2.75 turns lock to lock. Nice & direct ratio. Great on traffic circles.

https://www.sngbarratt.com/English(U...rnedDown=false

I'm not getting into the Ackermann angles argument. People that suggest that Ackermann angles are of no consequence are lacking in common sense or worse.

You will still need to beef up your drop & idler arms.

I would fit the wider rear axle, Vastly improves the handling. The rear track is too narrow. It worked on a front wheel drive like a Citroen but not a Jaguar. It also looks stupid.

Awful Ace Turbo wheel trims that were an option & wider tyres than standard..

 

Peter
My Mk1 is a gunmetal grey. It is actually a GM colour called "Torana Grey"
Cheers

 

Bill ~ Jags have always looked good in Gunmetal Grey. And please explain to these people just how large Australia is for 25 million people. (2022 census)

 

Bill ~ see Edit above.

 

Glyn
I suppose for some it is difficult to imagine the sizes and distances we Australians take for granted.
My state is Queensland with an area roughly 7.5 times the size of the UK. (1,853,000 vs 243,000 sq.Ks
It is 2760 road Ks from north to south and roughly 1700 road Ks east to west
Australia has a land area of approx. 7.7 million square kilometres versus the whole of Europe's approx. 10.5 million square kilometres
It takes approx. 6 hours in a jet to fly from the east coast to the west coast of Australia
The inland distances between towns mean that vehicle reliability is very high on any wish list.
If you do have a breakdown, it may take many days to get parts. A lot of the remote areas only have a once-a-week mail service.
That is why it is recommended to carry a few "critical" spares as well as water and oil and if venturing into the very remote areas a PSB (personal survival beacon)
Cheers

 

That is big, I never really thought about it much, Canada is just under 10 Million square km, if the info is up to date.

Japanese tourists come to Vancouver Island here on the far West Coast, and want to visit the Ann of Green Gables house on Prince Edward Island.
They think it's just a touring bus ride away.
Our population density is that of California, but at least we have somewhat quicker mail service.

 

Jeff
We are both fairly sparsely populated.
Canada has 4.0 persons per square kilometre
Australia has 3.38 per square kilometre
The United Kingdom has 281 per square kilometre

In Canada you can get frozen to death
In Australia you can die of heat and thirst.

 

Thank you Bill. While living there I tried in vain to see as much of the country as I could. It's what I like doing. I was staggered by the distances. Thank heavens I had a free company car & free gas. Also did some flying to see things. And my good old Holden Berlina never missed a beat ~ was given her new. (I learned a very long time ago if you are an expat buy local. A Benz or BMW that I was entitled to would have put many noses out of joint. Fit in with local norms. When in Rome etc------

SA is not exactly small & has a population of 60,6 million people vs your 25 million (both 2022 census).

We are only 1,22 million km²
The whole of Africa is only 30,37 million km²

I just wanted you to put things into perspective which you have done admirably.

 

I like Perth, Western Australia, and the area around it. One of its many positives and only negative is how far it is from anywhere. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are not all that much closer than Singapore.

 

Perth is great especially South down in the Margaret River area. Wine/vine growing area. But even Melbourne, Sydney (inner harbour) & Brisbane (gold coast & sunshine coast) areas are most pleasant.