The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I have used both standard and quick rack (3.25 turns) on my race car I must admit that I really can't pick the difference.

We have been considering if it is worth the effort and cost to have a batch of 7 tooth pinions made, for the little gain. A standard rack is 3.7 (3.75?) turns lock to lock, the quick rack is 3.25. The change is around 12% less turns which means that if you turn the wheel 90 degrees for a turn you will only reduce it to 79 degrees. On the race track (not that I have time to count the turns) I believe that I rarely turn the wheel more than 90 degree and maybe 120 on a hairpin. If you use plenty of load pedal, you can reduce the amount of steering wheel turning. A hillclimb might be a different situation and if the car suffers from terminal understeer it might reduce the steering wheel turn in angle required.

Any thoughts?

Mark

Hello, for taking roundabouts is the 3.25 ok. It is slight difference but enough to feel it for road use.

Jeroen Rothman

milesinfront wrote:The hard part is sourcing a FWD rack or pinion...

My fwd drives a lot better with a dolomite rack..... Try to convince some fwd owners.
When they don't believe it they can call me.

Jeroen Rothman

The racks are the same its the pinion alone that differs and can be identified externally by the width of the securing nut beneath the gaiter. Problem is for the last thirty years or so the recon game has not differentiated between FWD or Dolomite and all exchange racks have been reconned as Dolomite ones. I've now had over 20 racks reconditioned this year (5 in stock by the way) and all have been dolomite pinions The Quicksprint was purported to have a Quickrack...but it wasn't!

The recon folk I use have sourced a supply of OE Vandervell tube bearings and are quietly confident they will eventually find someone somewhere with a box full of FWD pinions...

However, with Sprintparts experiences is it worth it?

I'm just sick of my Dolomite feeling like a bus on the track...

milesinfront wrote:I'm just sick of my Dolomite feeling like a bus on the track...

You are maybe steering with a slow rack????

Jeroen Rothman

xvivalve wrote:The racks are the same its the pinion alone that differs and can be identified externally by the width of the securing nut beneath the gaiter. Problem is for the last thirty years or so the recon game has not differentiated between FWD or Dolomite and all exchange racks have been reconned as Dolomite ones. I've now had over 20 racks reconditioned this year (5 in stock by the way) and all have been dolomite pinions The Quicksprint was purported to have a Quickrack...but it wasn't!

The recon folk I use have sourced a supply of OE Vandervell tube bearings and are quietly confident they will eventually find someone somewhere with a box full of FWD pinions...

However, with Sprintparts experiences is it worth it?

The first 26530 1850s had the seven tooth pinion (according to the July 1974 parts book 520502/B), please bear in mind, that is the total for both RHD and LHD.
Early Sprints also had them fitted (I don't have the parts book for a Sprint to confirm the total number).

On standard shocks, tyres and bushes the difference between racks is noticeable, however I reckon you get used to the lower ratio version quite quickly (well I did anyway).

You could well be right about the FWD pinions Alun, just very short ago I purchased a NOS 1500FWD rack from a former BL dealer's old stock clearance, at a bargain price.

jeroensprint wrote:You are maybe steering with a slow rack????

More like definitely!

A very kind member on here knew I was looking for a quick rack.
He spotted a recon FWD old stock one.
I was the only bidder and got it for £25 (min bid)
I compared it to my sprint rack(3.75 t) and it moves exactly the same for only 2.8 turns.
I cut 11 mm off the arms to match the sprint one, bingo the same.
I got it Monday and drove it last night and it makes a big difference but the trade off is heavier steering.
We have the Club Triumph autosolo on Sunday so it will have its first use

thats the kind of thing which makes this forum great, very pleased for you Jon.

You is a star David.

I failed in the Autosolo cos I have no brain and kept getting lost

David6214 wrote:thats the kind of thing which makes this forum great, very pleased for you Jon.

Exquese Me..... But I started this thread, and I still have no Quick Rack, so my opinion of this site doesn't match yours....

Err...calm down

Neil907 started this thread, he has a quick rack now (I know this as I pm'd him to offer him mine) on the way Trackerjack has requested one and has been sorted out (I know this as he has mentioned it)

Thats two people happy, the one who started the thread and another one. thats not bad going.

As it happens I have another quickrack.....

I am sorry you do not like the site....opinions vary

The wink at the end of my text is supposed to let readers know I'm joking...

I thought this was the thread I started, but it's not, sorry. I'm sure I did start one yonks ago looking for a quick rack... Probably just searched and came across this one...

Just so everyone knows, I want a quick pinion, and I'm prepared to pay for it.... Cheers! Rick

Looking at a copy of the Homologation papers for the group 1 Dolomite it says that the heavy duty high ratio rack should be fitted and gives 3.28 turns lock to lock. I've a reprint of an original road test that compared the standard, group 1 and group 2 cars and I'm sure it said that the standard car had a six tooth pinion, the group 1 a seven tooth and the group 2 car eight tooth. that would mean that the GP1 had what is now considered the quick rack and the GP2 something quicker still. Of course, sods law clearly states that I now can't find the article in question but it begs the question, what had an eight tooth pinion? Triumph rarely had special parts made if there was already something they could use lying around. My 1850 certainly has the 3.75 turns rack and my Sprint has something quicker and much heavier to use so while I havn't yet checked I assume it to be the 3.25 turn rack. It just failed the mot so I'll be looking at rebuilding it rather than getting another. However lets not get carried away with 3.25 quick racks. That is really just bringing it back to something acceptable. My old Sunbeam Ti had a 1700 Group2 engine and was a right twitchy little bugger, a lucky buy from a local rallycrosser got me an ex works 2.2 turn rack that was about the best mod I made to that car. We need to looking for something around the 2.5 mark, my guess would be that the eight tooth pinion will get close