Mikeo632

Very nice, looks great! It will be nice to be able to take her out without comingh home feeling like I've had an upper body workout!

Cheers Pete. Got all of the parts from a donor car I bought. Purchased new high & low pressure pipes & new pipework from Chris Witor, so was just anxious about the internal seals. Feedback from Chris is that stripping & replacing seals might be awkward, am tempted to trust in what is already in place, but a part of me thinks it might be sound sense to replace the seals whilst everything is off the car! Mike.

Hi all. I am the proud owner of a 2500TC estate which I am slowly working my way through fixing/updating as I see fit. The latest area for attention is the steering. Currently un assisted, but I have all of the parts required to fit power steering from a slightly later 2500S. Before fitting, it would seem to me to be common sense to replace the seals in the pump & rack, but on investigation, this looks more complex that I had originally hoped. I am reasonably competent, but might have problems if special tools or knowledge are required! My questions are: Has anybody out there rebuilt the rack/pump, & if so, how hard is it? Are specialist tools needed? Does anybody know of anyone out there who undertakes rebuilds (& possible cost??) Or, as the system was working ok on the donor car is it best to leave well alone?? (There is alot of gunk on the pump/rack/cross member, but to the untrained eye it looks like old engine oil, & that it to be expected of a 40 year old car). Any help/advice would be appreciated. Mike.

Thanks all. Will wait for the leather seal to arrive from CW before hacking out the metal ring & replacing the seal. Flanges currently with a friendly engineering firm. Mike.

Sorry Nick, just re-read your post. So, the new bearing should be ok, but I need to replace the oilseal, & it would seem that the one supplied by Rimmers is incorrect as it will not fit within the metal ring? Will order the leather one from CW which should hopefully fit ok. Will talk to Rimmers re the one supplied.

Have replaced the quill shaft bearing with a replacement from Rimmers. There was a reasonable amount of oil that came out of the quill shaft extension when I (a) seprated the diff from the extension when lowering the diff, & (b) when I removed the extension from the car. Is the diff oil supposed to go into the extension or does this mean the front (pinnion?) oilseal on the diff has failed? If so, how do I replace the oil seal? Does the oilseal currently in place just pull out of the casing? As mentioned, the one suppled by Rimmers appears to be of a larger diameter then the one fitted, but is the right part according to Rimmers website.

Hi again. Have now dropped the diff (seperate to extension), removed the extension & replaced the quill bearing. Both driveshaft output flanges appear to have slight leaks, although to be fair, there was so much crud covering the underside of the diff, it could be a real small weep over many many years! But, having got it apart, seems sensible to try to resolve, so have new oilseals from Rimmers. Will try to find somewhere with a press to remove the flanges tomorrow! Have also got a replacement pinion oil seal (Part No 137346) from Rimmers, as oil seemed to be collecting around the quill shaft extension front flange, meaning it was possible that the leak was coming from the front (pinion shaft) oil seal? Possibly supported by the quantity of oil that came out when I seperated the diff from the extension?? According to Rimmers, the part number is correct, however, when I compare the new seal to the current set up in place, it appears too big a diameter. (See pics). The old seal appears to fit inside the metal ring with the number stamped on it, the diameter of the new seal would seem to match the outer of the metal ring with the number stamped on it? Anyone any experience of this? If fitting the new seal means I have to dismantle the diff, then I think I will leave well alone. Mike.

Pete: Once you have 14 or 15" wheels, is the upgrade to Stag calipers/pads/discs a straight swap or do you have to mess with the caliper brackets? M.

Good point, makes sense, thanks. Brakes are good, far better than when I picked the car up & drove home, so all told, a good result me thinks. M.

Thanks for all of your help. I spent a pleasant afternoon removing the servo, splitting the canister & replacing all of the bits. I was very surprised as to how easy removing the servo was, once the underdash shelf was removed, easy access to all the required bits. Shows good thought in design. As suggested, once taken (carefully) apart, most of it was common sense. I found a small split in the diaphragm, hopefully that was the issue. The hardest part was twisting the 2 halves of the canister back together....it won't quite twist as far as it was originally, but I will damage the canister if I'm not carefull. One worry. when taking apart, a pool of what looked like oil came out from the canister, quite a lot actually. I almost had a deep end & shallow end in the canister. Can't see any reason for this, it didn't look or smell like brake fluid, but reckon it must be? The pipe from the manifold to the servo is clean & dry inside. The only thing I can think of is that there has possibly been a problem with the master cylinder in the past, which has been resolved, but the fluid remained in the servo? Any thoughts of anything else I should be looking at before I fire her up? Pics attached. Mike

Anyone know of any articles on how to strip/re-assemble a servo? Mike.

Ok, so have had all wheels balanced, & after a quick drive, the difference is significant! Much smoother, no nasty vibrations at low speed, will check at a higher speed once I have sorted the brake servo! Mike.

Unfortunately the LD servo is a stag item only (nice very helpful guys though!) Quillers don't have, so have bitten the bullit & ordered a service kit for my current servo.

Hi Pete. Tried to call Chris Witor as the "Go-To" option several times this morning, no joy. Hence desperately looking at all other suppliers! Makes it harder with me not having the servo off the car to make direct comparisons. will give them a call, see what they think. Mike.

Hi. Tony: Have checked the pipe from the manifold to server, looks good all round. Pete: Will go for that if they can confirm that the servo shown via that link is the same as mine. The part number I keep coming up with is 518698. They're closed now, but will call them tomorrow! Mike.