• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Bugeye steering rack shims

AH THE OLD SHIM QUESTION, it goes on the passengar side only, I think if you try to put it on the driver side you will find that the shaft does not properly line up or seat. Mine had never been out before I dismantled it and I marked it at the time after noticing there was only one.

Mark
 
I have to put my rack in a couple of weeks from now. I think maybe I should try both ways. I'll let you know. Could both ways work?
 
Ok - I'm totally confused now. I am getting ready to put in my refurbished rack in the next two weeks. If the consensus is that there is only one, I think I will try it on both sides too to see which side lines up best. I have a second bug that hasn't been touched in many years. I think I may check it out too. Who knows if that was put in correctly either.

Kevin
 
Mine is on the passenger side and it works.
 
Mine was on the passenger side, and seemed to work fine.
 
My BE had one steering rack shim on the passenger (right) side only when I disassembled it and I plan to reinstall the same way.
Roy
 
Kevin,
The information you’re getting about the shim being on the passenger side (left hand drive) is correct. It looks like the shim you have still has the original tag on it. If this shim was never on your car then I might suggest “loosely” bolting the rack to the car via the brackets on each side.
If you where to tighten the bracket on the driver’s side (LH drive) just to snug, then look to see if a gap existed between the rack bracket and rail on the passenger side. If there was one, measure it to see if your shim is the correct one for your car. If so, install the shim and snug this side.
If the dash is in, slide the steering column and shaft into place to see if all the other point line up along the way (upper bracket, behind dash). If this all looks good and bolts will line up then tighten the rack brackets and turn the steering wheel to see if you feel any binding. If no binding is present then…you’re getting closer to completion.

Dug
 
Back
Top