My 77 XJC has started consuming power steering fluid. I had the hoses replaced last year, so based on prior experience from two cars and decades ago, I think it’s safe to say I need a new rack. Car has 100K chassis miles. It came with a V8 conversion so I’m not concerned with as built replacement. Before I get into it, is there a suitable and better replacement from Series III or XJS models?

 

As far as I know, the racks are the same Series 1 to Series 3, but the later ones may have better internal seals. The XJS rack is probably the same, but check part numbers.

 

I believe there is a difference in the height of the "tower", pinion housing, between certain years. I'm sorry I don't know the years for this change, but someone will chime in with much more experience or you can put in a search in this forum. If you go with a rack with different pinion length, the steering shaft will be an issue.

Some have said that the S3 steering is a little heavier than earlier units.

Dave

 

Yep.

There is the "tall pinion head" and the "short pinion head".

Somewhere in 1976 was the change, but I dont remember it being up to and after.

I have not seen a tall pinion head on an XJS.

There is/was talk of different "feel", between years, dunno.

It yours is a tall head, then the steering shaft, the one with the uni joint is mated to that head height.

Same goes for the short head, the shaft is longer to mate up.

I have had little issued with racks in my time, BUT, I change the steer fluid annually, maybe that helps??

 

If you get the later short tower rack from a series 3, or an Xjs, you will need the lower part of the steering column from a series 3 to make it fit and depending on the rack you choose maybe the pipes. The steering feel is down to the turn ratio and the torsion bar diameter and the "best" will depend on your own preference.
I've got a later series 3 rack to fit at some later stage....after I've rebuilt my XJC shell!

The following link gives a lot of information about jaguar racks
RackPinionHeads

and some more info on fitting a later rack here
https://forums.jag-lovers.com/t/stee...ability/373086