Now front end and more brake work
 

I have "successfully" removed the front sub frame unit from my 66 3.8. It seems pretty straightforward so far except for the steering box. What a slimy evil mess! I looked at Vintage Jags site and saw $800/ $400 core to rebuild. I cannot see spending this amount no matter the quality of his work. However, the inner and outer seal kits are available at XKs for about $70 give or take. I have never done this job before- digging into a steering box- but I am not afraid of it. Are there any surprise springs or levers I need to be aware of? I don't intend to do more than reseal since the car only has 65000 ish miles so I don't think there should be too awful much wear.
Also, I plan to send the calipers to White Post as I did the rears. I am planning to replace all bushings and steering linkage due to complete absence of rubber on all of the pivoting joints. More to come and thanks for looking....

Hello Jerry
What kind of steering box do you have, is it standard or power steering ? I know off at least 3 types of power steering boxes that Jaguar used.
Mine is the re-circulating ball type, when I took mine apart all the balls went all over the place of course, so if yours is like this, you want to use some sort of tray to catch everything, I used a big cookie sheet.

When re-assembling a circulating ball type the ball bearing are not all the same size, 1/2 of them a about 1.5 thou. smaller (or bigger) and have to be put back alternately _ grease is used to hold them in place.
You will need at least a good pare of Vernier calipers to do this.

The bushings in my box were totally shot, it leaked oil badly and all the internal O-rings were hard.
It was leaking internally and building up pressure inside the box and was getting so hot, it was smoking.

No parts or kit was available for me, I went to a hydraulic place to source the O-rings and had my local machine shop make me some new bushings out of bronze.

A 1966 car if unmolested should have the so called "second type" PS Box with the torsion bar operated valve on the input shaft from the column.

doesn't SNG Barrat rebuild them? or exchange them?

That sounds like the re-circulating ball type then.
A friend of mine (a British mechanic whom is no longer with us) referred to that as a quill valve.

My steering box has "Hale" cast into it, it is power and is recirculating ball type. I am hoping that removal of the end caps one at a time and replacement of o-rings or seals at shafts and under seals will cure the problem. The car has 65000 ish miles so I am hoping there is not too much worn down inside. I did drive the car a short distance before taking it apart and the steering seemed to work properly but is a nasty mess. I looked for a replacement box and as I recall they are unavailable beyond rebuilt.... I will have a catch tray at the ready though. Thanks!

Hi Glynn, do you know if these can be retrofitted easily to a 1966 that didn't have it?

Type One & Type Two are both recirculating ball. The Varamatic/Variomatic was not ~ fitted to only a few final S Types.



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Yes it can as long as you have the crossmember with a large enough detent. As Jaguar were careless with what they fitted you would have to check your car.

Then you need the reservoir, pipework, dynamo with rear take off & the hydraulic pump that mounts on the back of the dynamo.

Going back to Robmans post, mine is Waaaay too oil saturated to have much rust on it. Glad you had the ability to repair that. When I removed the steering gearbox, the bolt hole in the frame seeped oil. Yikes! That's going to be a "challenge" to clean up!
Jeff- How many miles did yours have? Do you know?

I have no idea how many miles, but from the wear on that bushing I mentioned, probably at least 2 or 300 thousand miles, possibly more _ my engine was quite well worn too.
Mine is what is shown in the "B" shot.
And I know what you're going to say Glyn, that it's not the correct box for my 340, but, that's what's in there.

No not at all JeffR1. Second type was valid for 340 IIRC. It is possible that very late 340's like very late S Types ended up with Varamatic from the 420.

I do have a dynamo, pump and steering box kicking about, don't have the reservoir or pipes, I must clean them up and check if the dynamo etc. are all good.

Is that an offer? Too bad your all the way over there. Or is it me who is all the way over here?

Good point Jerry, I'm not sure really, as yet not sure what to do with them, keep or get rid, that is the question, they are getting more difficult to get hold of.

I got some decent weather today so I dragged my front crossmember and steering linkage outside and pressure washed them. Results are generally positive. Bottom plate of cross seems solid under moderate hammer rapping, and steering box cleaned up very nice. Now to coat it and reassemble.

In the interim, I have made much progress. I have the sub frame assembly redone out to the brake rotors. I still need to clean up the engine bay, send the calipers off, and get into the steering box/ linkage/ pump... in any case I wanted to give David Manners a shout out for outstanding service . I ordered front shocks from them on Saturday night. They were shipped the following Monday and I had them At My Door at 11am Tuesday. I am in Michigan City Indiana and I did not ask for overnight shipping. I was - and still am stunned. More than that, I thought I would be getting Monroe brand (yes, maybe I Am cheaping out here) but instead got the Boges which I had tried to order previously from someone else and was told they were discontinued ( no blame there, it's just how it goes sometimes). "Pleased as punch!"

I have now got so far as having all the brake lines run along with installing a new vac booster. Steering linkage, box, pump and reservoir all installed and hooked together with new hoses. Looking over the original lube chart, it appears that the power steering system should use ATF type A, or what subsequently became Dexron. Would anyone care to confirm or deny this conclusion? I have kept the system as originally produced so I shouldn't need special fluids. As far as the brakes are concerned, I had all of the calipers rebuilt by White Post. I believe that the recommendation for this would be DOT 4 brake fluid, but no silicone. Am I on the right track there too? I have not yet put any fluids in either system. Thanks all.