All about steering racks

[nametooshort]

Well, my 305 PAS conversion is coming alone well, now I have the pump mounted and running and stuff, I just need to find a rack.

Fat chance of finding a righ-hand 305 XUD pas rack (I think even the UK Peugeot specialist guy doesn't have one), so may need to look into an alternative.

This, it seems, is not quiet as easy as it seems. When i first decided to convert my car to PAS, someone I know who was into French cars said ''it will be easy, because all their racks are really similar''. Well, unfortunately he was correct only on a very basic level, in the fact that all their racks are similar in that they have one input shaft, two output joints, and they are used to steer vehicles. Everything else is different, so more mix-and-matching and research is required.

So, here is what I understand so far:

-The 305 is unique in the fact that the transmission shifter linkages (both the X and the Y rods) both pivot on the steering rack. There are castings that stick out of the rack for them to pivot on. As far as I know, no relatives of the 305 have this system. Is this correct? The 205 and 206 and BX all don't have this? I think I can solve this problem by making a clamp-on bracket that will clamp onto any round steering rack and provide the two pivot points tho. It will not be hard to make and will allow a rack with no pivot points to be used.

-Because the PAS rack has the valve assembly, and the manual rack does not, the rack input shaft on a PAS rack is longer, which means the universal joint shaft (which goes between the pinch-joint at the rack to the pinch-joint at the bottom of the column) is shorter. However I can get around this problem by either finding the correct shaft, or shortening the existing shaft. So this is not really such a problem.

-Looking on the First Line catalog, it looks like a lot of French cars (205, 206, 306, 406, Xantia) have the same steering rack ends (its the length of the rod that is different). They are all M14x1.5.

So that narrows down the candidates to 205, 206, 306, 406 and Xantia.

-Next we have the mounting bolts. The ones on my car are 320mm apart, and the rack's outer casing is 380mm long, which is pretty big. Looking on ebay, 205 and 306 racks look much smaller, however the 406 and Xantia racks look more the correct size. Of course this is just visually looking at the photos, but, still.

-The only critical piece of information which I don't know yet is the length of the rack, the distance between the inner joints. I assume that all racks with 380mm long casings will have the same length of the rack, however obviously you can't be sure. I can't measure mine yet, since to measure it I would have to rip the dust boots off, and I don't have replacements,

So, from what I gather so far, as long as I: 1) find a rack with the same mounting bolt dimensions as my car (320mm) and the same length (so far unknown), 2) Make an adapter to mount the transmission pivots, 3)shorten the steering universal joint shaft and 4) Fit my old rack end joints, everything should fit and work?

I think I need to go to the junk yard with some measuring tape!

Anybody got any input/opinions about any of this?

[addo]

Peugeot 405s with PAS have their gear linkage pivots on the rack housing. I can't tell you offhand, the rack bolt spacings.

Is this going to the UK or US? An Australian rack is going to be better after twenty years than its English equivalent.

Inner rack ends are relatively simple to shorten, so track width is not a concern.

[jgra1]

I think I have a 406 rack at home, if measuring and pics are needed..

John

[nametooshort]

Oh, that would be very useful! Could you measure the length of the actual rack (so the distance between the two inner rod end mounting flanges). I think I already know that the bolt spacing is 320mm, but would be nice to confirm.

Thanks!