Hi,

Can anyone tell me if it is a simple process to retro fit a 73 1303 with steering box type steering to the later 75 1303 Rack and Pinion set up?

Cheers

Simple? nope.

Not a huge job but there is a bit of fabbing involved.

Mounts for the rack need fitting into the inner guards, (I'm using nutserts for mine) reinforcing panel under the spare wheel well removed, hole under the fuel tank for the unishaft enlarging and possible frame head clearancing.

Some need it some dont but if you do unless you want to cut the wheel well out and weld back in it's a body off job.

Have you got all the parts you need? they are very hard to find in Aus being only made for 5 months.

Some people need the steering shaft too as stock one can be too short.

Steve Carter (1303steve) did it to his old 1302

Maybe PM him for the low down

I have a complete 1975 1303 that is a wreck due to a tree falling on the roof so yes i have all the neccessary bits. The rack seems nice and tight without any play so i thought it might be a good exercise given the box in my 73 has some wear and will probably need replacing soon.

Thanks for your reply Joel

other option is to contact Classic and see when theyy will next get new boxes in

https://www.classicveedub.com.au/cvd_new/part_detail.aspx?parts_id=11495 

Hi

Its a fairly big commitment to fit a rack & pinion to an earlier car. If your up for it, the rack steering is far superior to the steering box.

This is a post that I made on another forum about fitting one to my old 1302

Rack & pinion in a 1302

It’s a hard job but I believe the benefits are worth it. First find a 75 1303 that has a rack fitted. Take some measurements to get an accurate idea where the rack will bolt to the chassis rails. This is important because the inner guard has some stiffening in it that weaves around the stock steering box and idler arm mounting points.

There is a cross brace that needs to be removed that runs across the base of the spare wheel well. The depression in the 1302 chassis that the rack fits into is not deep enough so you need to make this depression much deeper. I heated mine and flattened it down with a mallet. If I ever did again I would cut the section out and weld ½ circle of heavy wall tubing in there. The job on my car was made a little easier because I have no spare wheel well as it has been removed to fit a radiator. To hold the rack in place you will need to fit some captive nuts in the chassis rail, I just cut a slit in the outer side of the inner guard, fitted some captive nuts and then re-welded the slit. I have seen these mountings fitted another way, make some sturdy 90-degree brackets to bolt to the existing the stock steering box and idler arm mounting points and then the rack can bolt to these.

The 1303 steering shaft will also hit about ½ way along so the body will need a small amount of clearancing.