Dear All,

According to the original parts catalogue, there is a heat shield protecting the rubber coupling in the lower steering column from heat from the exhaust down pipes. This heat shield is missing in my car.

Can anyone provide some information on the heat shield eg. drawing or photo?

Regards,
Dave

 

I have an S Type and I don't have a rubber coupling in the steering shaft. My car has a steel universal joint. I had a very original parts car I took apart and I don't recall seeing a heat shield there, or on my car. Can you give the part number for the Mark 2 heat shield please?

 

The heat shield was obviously only needed on left hand drive vehicles.
I remember seeing one on a LHD drive which was imported to Australia from Holland over 20 years ago. The car was later converted to RHD..
I think the USA members might be able to help.

 

Those rubber couplings were short lived & rubbish. Soon to be replaced by a proper steel UJ.

 

The heat shield assembly part number for the Mk2 is C.16512. Thanks for your help.

The lower steering column inside the engine compartment from top downwards consists of steel UJ, then rubber coupling, then steel UJ, then steering box. The rubber coupling is actually a sort of rubber and steel sandwich. It seems to be very stable on my car but I don’t know if it has suffered major heat load...

Dave

 

On the S Type they put a plunging CV joint at the top & a steel UJ at the bottom. Thats it. Sorry I did not fully understand your comment. Some Mk2's had a rubber coupling at the top now that my memory is working as it should I hope.





This is the Mk2 column with the top rubber ~ later moved toward the S Type arrangement but no plunging. Presume this is what you have ~ early type. Later shown bottom Right. We had trouble with that "rubber" coupling No 2 in diagram in our hot climate.

 

The rubber coupling was a bit of a problem in the MK1s and early MK2s.
They decayed in sub-tropical climates and I replaced a number of them in the cars I have owned.
My current 1960 Mk2 was modified by a previous owner to a later all metal system

 

No surprise Bill. We had the same trouble here. They literally fell apart. Hope the OP finds his shield otherwise I would manufacture one in today's vastly better materials for shielding heat.

 

Looking at my RHD car, I can appreciate a heat shield seems sensible for LHD. The rubber coupling, I guess it's to isolate the steering wheel from shock and vibration, sits close to or just below the manifold to exhaust pipe flanges. My question is what was it attached to? Do LHD cars have different manifolds with lugs? If it attached to the exhaust pipe to manifold bolts, I can understand why the shield would be omitted, accidentally or deliberately.

 

Dave the volunteers finally had a chance to go to the Foundations MK2s. Our very early one has no shield but it has been restored where as our very original 61 does have the heat shield. It is a simple metal shield with no trace of any other materials present. It mounts to two of the exhaust downpipes holding nuts. There is a slight bend in the top inch or so (to clear the nuts for access) . Here are two poor pics as that area has very limited access. Hope this helps.

 

BTW this car was purchased by the owner when it was one year old. He drove the cat until the 60th anniversary of the purchase and donated it to the foundation on that date. The records are very complete for those 60 years and there is no mention of the steering joint being replaced. What is documented are the many trips cross country and up and down the east coast. So if that joint is original the heat shield must have done its job. Several of the trips were through the desert.

 

That shield should be easy to manufacture in a modern heat shielding material.

 

Just a heavy piece of aluminum should work, that dissipates the heat the best ???

 

Aluminium sandwich probably best & affordable. Could do it with gold laminate like a certain hyper-car manufacturer does.

The Aluminium comes in 2 forms. A sandwich with insulator between aluminium sheets & then embossed or just embossed aluminium.

Refresh page if youtube tries to take you to other subjects

 

Thank you all for the excellent help and interesting information!
I plan to renovate the lower steering column as a winter project, replacing the UJs and rubber coupling and installing an own-build heat shield based on the photos. I will add a final contribution to complete the thread.
Dave