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Hello all, i have found, rebuilt and installed a Marles Variamatic steering box in my MK2 but i am unsure which way round the hoses are supposed to be. I have made new hoses, one high pressure hose rated to 2500psi and a low pressure or return hose rated at 300. In the pictures you can see the cloth covered high pressure hose going to the fitting on the left. Is this correct? High pressure hose currently on the left of the shot. The hoses route to the Volvo electric pump mounted in the front arch i dont think i need the steering stop bolt shown in this shot. pic taken before i made the hoses. the high pressure outlet is not visible, it is just below and around from the return hose fitting. The big plug socket is for the 6 gauge wiring.
I have yet to fill the system as i am still working on the rest of the front suspension.
Just looked at some strip down photos of my S Type which is fitted with the Adwest. From the photo it looks like the high pressure hose goes to the left side of the box when looking towards the front of the car. Mine is RHD but if you follow the hoses in photo 1 you will see the left hand steel hose is slightly thicker in diameter than the right hand steel hose. When you follow this thicker hose back it goes into a pressure connection which fits on the back of the pump (which has been removed). The smaller hose on the right side of the steering box goes to the oil cooler at the front of the car then returns to the reservoir where there is a jubilee connection indicating low pressure which can be seen clearly in the third photo.
Last edited by Cass3958; Mar 28, 2024 at 07:20 PM.
I've looked at mine and the drawings in the service book. If you look down on the box so you see it in plan, I'm fairly sure that high pressure in is the hole that's slightly forward, closer to the front of the car.
Thanks Cass3958. So, if everything is a mirror image for a LHD car then my hoses are the wrong way around.
No the pump is the same for RHD and LHD it is just the length of the hoses that are different. On a RHD the hoses are longer to reach the other side of the engine. How they attach to the steering box should be the same so the hose fitting on the left facing the front of the car is the high pressure feed from the pump and the hose fitting on the right is the return hose to the cooler and then on to the reservoir.
Is there more than one type of Varamatic box used on our cars? Both of yours seem to have the fluid lines coming in from below. The one I bought (from a 420) and the one shown in the drawing in the service manual have the lines coming in from above.
Is there more than one type of Varamatic box used on our cars? Both of yours seem to have the fluid lines coming in from below. The one I bought (from a 420) and the one shown in the drawing in the service manual have the lines coming in from above.
I thought the S Type and 420 used the same Adwest steering box but the one from the 420G was different. We had some one recently who had bought an Adwest box from what he was told was a 420 but we think it was a 420G and the bolt holes did not match the pattern on the Mk2 front subframe. Not sure if the body of the steering box has altered though. As you can see from the photos that is how mine is set up and it is a factory fitting being a 1967 car.
I have the 420 and Mk2 service manuals. In the drawings that show fluid inlet and outlet ports, they are on the top of the valve housing in both manuals. There are some other drawings where I'd expect to see the ports, but they aren't shown (perhaps they are like yours?). The box I bought is from a 420, certainly not a 420G. Apart from the seller's word, it's attached to a 420 front subframe with 420 brakes.
Hello all, i have found, rebuilt and installed a Marles Variamatic steering box in my MK2 but i am unsure which way round the hoses are supposed to be. I have made new hoses, one high pressure hose rated to 2500psi and a low pressure or return hose rated at 300. In the pictures you can see the cloth covered high pressure hose going to the fitting on the left. Is this correct?
I want to do the same update as you. My 1960 MK2 has no power steering and in over 4 turns lock to lock. I'm interested in where you found the Variamatic box. I've been looking for one (I'm in Florida) in the states. Also you mention a Volvo electric pump with integral tank. Where did you get this and what might be a part number.
I have been trying to find a complete 420 front carrier, but no luck. Are you using your original MK2 front suspension carrier?
Did you buy this as a kit or piecing it together?
What amp alternator are you using?
Looks like vey nice work you are doing.
Thanks in advance for anyinfo you can provide
jjsandsms High pressure hose currently on the left of the shot. The hoses route to the Volvo electric pump mounted in the front arch i dont think i need the steering stop bolt shown in this shot. pic taken before i made the hoses. the high pressure outlet is not visible, it is just below and around from the return hose fitting. The big plug socket is for the 6 gauge wiring.
I have yet to fill the system as i am still working on the rest of the front suspension.
I want to do the same update as you. My 1960 MK2 has no power steering and in over 4 turns lock to lock. I'm interested in where you found the Variamatic box. I've been looking for one (I'm in Florida) in the states. Also you mention a Volvo electric pump with integral tank. Where did you get this and what might be a part number.
I have been trying to find a complete 420 front carrier, but no luck. Are you using your original MK2 front suspension carrier?
Did you buy this as a kit or piecing it together?
What amp alternator are you using?
Looks like vey nice work you are doing.
Thanks in advance for anyinfo you can provide
jjsandsms
I am not 100% sure but the plate that the inlet and outlet pipes screw into is a square plate held on with four bolts. This plate looks from the photos I took when I disassembled mine can be rotated 90 or 180 degrees so the inlets can be either up, down or sideways. This might allow for RHD to LHD or even between models such as the S Type and 420 as the steering pumps are on opposite sides in these models. The S Type pump is on the left of the engine behind the generator whilst the 420 pump is on the right above the distributor. This would allow the hydraulic lines to be run correctly for each pump.
I don't know if the 1200psi Saginaw pump makes any difference to the Varamatic casing as fitted to the 420. I would doubt it. It's easier to make pipework fit than re-engineering the casing. The rear of generator pump on the S Type runs at 1000psi for Varamatic.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Mar 30, 2024 at 09:47 AM.
Rob - that makes a lot of sense. I guess I'll find out more when I get around to taking mine apart. I hadn't initially planned to dismantle it as it seems quite dry and clean and I can adjust out the play at the drop arm. However, there's a small amount of lost motion at the input shaft. I'd guess it would amount to 5mm at the perimeter of the standard steering wheel. I appreciate it's almost negligible, but it's sufficient to make me want to find the source.
I find most of the info in the old service manuals to be excellent, but there's the odd item that's either missed or seems to have been written by someone who never actually took the item apart. The section on Varamatic boxes seem to fall into the latter category.
JJSandSMS - the usual sources for these boxes and associated gear in the UK are eBay, Jaguar breakers and secondhand parts dealers, and ads in the Jaguar Clubs. I'd guess that you'd have to follow the same sort of route in the US. UK eBay has a couple at present, but transport to Florida might be prohibitive due to the weight.
Yes, that was me. I initially bought a 420G box i which was totally wrong. I was ignorant to the differences. The seller would not take it back which is a bit annoying. I will clean it up and put it on Ebay or something and see if i can recover some of my $$!
I bought the box from Jaguar Heaven in California. They do seem hard to find though. The Volvo electric power steering pump is from Ebay. there are dozens of ways to go with this part of the project. MR2 spyder is what i have seen others using for various projects but it doesnt really matter what you buy. I choose the Volvo one for price and the fact that it only has 2 connectors. One is direct power and ground from the battery, the other is switched ignition voltage that turns the pump on. I have a large circuit breaker wired into the power wire. The fittings and hoses are bits i bought and assembled from various places. To fit the box you will need to cut a notch in the frame. Pic attached.
The alternator is a GM style 150 amp unit on a custom bracket. i had to swap the engine pulleys to get rid of the weird double V pulleys my car had originally. i used an aftermarket crank pulley from a 289 ford I have since made a tensioner bracket.
Rob - that makes a lot of sense. I guess I'll find out more when I get around to taking mine apart. I hadn't initially planned to dismantle it as it seems quite dry and clean and I can adjust out the play at the drop arm. However, there's a small amount of lost motion at the input shaft. I'd guess it would amount to 5mm at the perimeter of the standard steering wheel. I appreciate it's almost negligible, but it's sufficient to make me want to find the source.
Peter the small play is likely due to wear on the plastic/nylon rollers in the plunging CV joint if you are fitting that part of the column which should be required for length.
What wear does ultimately.
Column kit.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Mar 30, 2024 at 12:08 PM.
The block to which the lines from the pump attach is the valve housing. There's also a small pipe that runs into it; I think it's a return line from the piston. This attaches to the top of the valve housing independent of where the pipes from the pump go. So the valve housings are different, not just rotated. My guess is that it's a matter of arranging easy access and convenience for installation of the lines for the different pump locations.
There is a possibility that there are two end caps. Both with the return pipe at the top but one with the feed pipes going to the bottom in the case of the S Type RHD and one for the 420 and LHD cars.
For adjustment there are two screws that you can turn to tighten up any play. There is one on top with a locking nut and on the left side (Making it impossible to get to on a RHD car without removing the steering box or removing the engine.) there is a grub screw which pushes against a mushroom shaped metal bar that in turn pushes up against the worm drive cutting out any play.
Peter the small play is likely due to wear on the plastic/nylon rollers in the plunging CV joint if you are fitting that part of the column which should be required for length.
Yes, there was play there and in a UJ. I decided against using any of the 420 column that came attached to the box. There's a pin that connects the splined input shaft to the torsion bar. I suspect the wear is between the pin and the torsion bar. Of course, all that is assuming a small amount of lost motion isn't intentional.
Steering box pressure inlet
