H - Steering
The steering is completely standard, which for a 503 means Power Steering. The PAS rack comes from and early Ford Granada, Mk1. There are no parts available for these units, except for the seal and gaiter kits. My PAS rack was rebuilt by Western Power Services in Bristol for a very reasonable £125. All that needed doing was a change of seals and gaiters.
Overall the following has been done;
| new track rod ends (You must use the rod ends specified for the PAS rack. They are different. |
| Rebuilt PAS rack |
| Reversed mounting bolt for the top adjusting bolt on the pump. This bolt has to be slackened and re-tightened to adjust the PAS pump belt tension. On the original design it is a pain in the arse when its all installed in the car, so I reversed the bolt, making it infinitely easier to place a long 3/8" drive socket onto the bolt head. Now you just have to hold it in place rather than try turning the socket plus extension bar etc, and the nut is now accessible from the front of the engine with a standard spanner. Simple! |
To fit the 2.2 litre 912 engine requires a mod to the PAS pump mounting bracket. You can either pay a fortune for the correct Series 2 part or you can get the arc welder out and modify the Series 1 part. Basically it is a cut and shut job, which is best done with the engine out. The changes required are fairly obvious when you offer the S1 part up to the engine requiring judicious use of a hacksaw, drill and welder.
New! Steering column Lock change
One day the electrics kept cutting out and it became apparent that the ignition switch had failed and there was no key positioning or spring return for 0, I, II, III
I concluded that both lock and switch needed changing. Here comes the lesson!
The steering column lock assy is totally obsolete and unavailable and I don't know which other cars used it. The lock and castings are made by Waso; the ignition switch is Lucas and is available from Christopher Neil etc., The switch is easily removed as it is held in place by a small grub screw, but the lock requires removal of the whole assembly. The Workshop Manual tells you to take out the steering column first, which is ridiculous (ish!). Remove the shroud, column stalks etc and it is all very exposed. The problem is that the assy is fixed by two shear bolts which you cannot get access to for removal, which is why Lotus tell you to take out the column so you can use a stud extractor to remove the bolts. What an utterly stupid idea to use shear bolts in the first place, as if this would make the car less desirable to steal - rant over. I decided to hack of the clamp casting which was not difficult, but totally destructive. Bad idea, because I don't know what other cars it was used on, therefore I had to buy another as a second hand Elite/Eclat part, thanks to Mike Taylor.
The Waso casting that contains the lock and switch is part WGB 622. This is attached to another casting that is fixed, with the clamp, to the steering column. WGB622 was used on Triumph TR6, so I bought a complete new steering column lock assembly, with switch from Rimmer Bros. Unfortunately you have to seperate the two castings and attach the Lotus column casting because the Lotus column is bigger than the TR6. Worse, you have to remove the lock to replace the lock bolt that goes into the steering column and replace it with the Lotus one because it is much longer. Worse still everything is held together by small roll pins that are extremely difficult to extract.
After much butchery I ended up with what I wanted, new lock and ignition switch, and fitted it to the column with socket head bolts. New roll pins, now long enough that they can be gripped for removal.
The ignition switch had a different contact layout, but once I worked out the connections it all went back together fine. Now for the sting:-
The loss of key position and return spring is all in the ignition switch. It has nothing to do with the lock at all and I was blindly and stupidly convinced it was a faulty lock as well. A lot of work and expense for very little return, except that I now have two ignition keys. We live and learn!