Hi Everyone

I'm a little unsure which steering rack to buy for my Libra

I have a metro rack in it and I have searched the site and believe that I need a MGTF LHD rack to speed the steering up a little

Can someone tell me the part number and where is a good supplier and an approx price for a non exchange new one.

And people that have done it is worth the cost of the upgrade?

Cheers Lee

Hi all

So judging by the lack of response no one has changed to the MGTF steering rack?

Hi Lee,
I've not done it but from what i understand it is an MGTF lhd rack with a orange band that you need. I think they might need shorter steering Arms, 156mm instead of 176mm but this appears debatable if its required, as the shorter arms require a different castor setting and increases bump steer.
As for sourcing one you might try Martin @ Reylands. You could also try and have a chat with Dudley @ Talon he'll at least be able to clear up the steering arm debate and even gove advice on whether its a worthwile upgrade?
Juls

Re-erecting this thread - I've just bought a Spyder and the steering does feel a bit slow so I'm guessing it is running the standard LHD metro rack.

I'll start looking out for the MGTF orange band ones but guessing they don't come up very often in the UK in LHD! not in a rush though.

There seem to be a few RHD ones - can they convert or is it a completely different casting?

For those that are using the 2.7 turn rack - does it make the steering overly heavy? Is it a bit twitchy?

Main reason I'm thinking of changing is on my way home from picking it up I booted it a bit firmly exiting a roundabout in 2nd and the rear broke away. I found it a bit unwieldy spinning the steering wheel wildly to get some opposite lock on to catch it so thought "must get a quick rack before I do any track days" swiftly followed by "must remember to be a bit gentler on the throttle" and also, maybe the 1.6 is plenty!

I can't answer specifically for the Libra but if you are converting from Metro to MGF/TF geometry it seems you need to change the rack, track rod ends, steering arms and lower ball joints.

If you have a RH MG rack and want left hand you could look at the modification I did on a Mini R-H rack when I could not find any Mini bits here in the back of beyond west Africa, I posted pictures of R-H and converted to LH on Kano Coupe thread. I was able to turn the pinion around in the housing to pass through a hole in the shim plate, which I bored to accept a shaft seal, the down side is that the pinion is turned in towards the car centre line about 4 degrees, but can be corrected by using a universal joint.
John

Okay, I've sourced and bought a LHD MGTF rack, 2.7 turns. I'd assumed that I could just re-use the existing Metro track rod ends (which seem in good condition) but checking various websites it seems the internal threads are different, 1/2" UNFx20,000 on the Metro ones and FM 12X1.25 on the TF - must have changed to metric! The other spec change seems to relate to the cone size. Metro 11.5 and TF 11.9. It looks like I'll need to get some TF track rod ends to fit the thread on the rack. Anyone know whether the cone size will make a difference or will the slightly bigger cone just come tight less far into the arm?

Are you sure you are looking at the correct metro I think the older a series engine ones would be imperial but I think the rover100/metro should be metric same as mgf .I have just bought a mgtf lhd 2.7 turns to replace mgf rack that is about 3.2turns that replaced the lhd rover 100 rack that was about 3.6 that I got with kit. The track rod ends from 1st rack fitted second but have not tried on 3rd one yet as it only came yesterday was going to keep 3.2 one but 2.7 lhd rack £116 delivered inc vat from Mike Satur seemed too good to miss

Got mine from Mike Satur too. I also couldn't resist that price and now I see he's out of stock so we may have had the last ones.

I'm hoping you are right, I've now found some rover 100 track rod ends listed as 01/1995 on that have the m12x1.25 internal thread so hoping that is what was used on the GTM supplied rack. I can't find anywhere that is listing the cone size/pitch for the later ones but I'm hoping the taper is the same. I'm now planning to use new track rod ends so I can make absolutely sure both are the same length so the tracking shouldn't alter. The part number for the rover 100 ones seems to be different to the part number for the MGTF ones but can't see what the difference is.

Hi Chaps,

Doing a bit of research on fitting a quicker rack to my libra and this thread popped up.

I seem to have a 3.6ish turns lock to lock rack in the car at the moment which I'm thinking is probably a Rover 100? Now you guys have had a chance to convert yours I have a few questions:

1. Is the MGTF LHD rack a straight swap (no modifications)?
2. Do you have to fit different track rod ends or do the rover 100 ones fit straight on?
3. Different steering arm lengths were mentioned. Is this a problem or are they the same as the Rover 100 and thus don't alter the geometry?

Thanks in advance.

Jamie

I haven't actually fitted mine yet Its part of my winter upgrades so may happen in the next few weeks. When I realised you need to take the carpets out of the footwells and remove the blanking pieces from the holes to get right into the very tip of the front section of the tub, and that will mean lying on the floor of the car to get your finger tips to the nuts on the rack U bolts I decided to wait and do it as part of the other work I'm doing as the seats will be out to change the gear selector.

I have been looking into it though and it seems the kit came with rack extenders as there is an extra bit of metal between the tie rod and the track rod end. It would seem that this should simply remove (along with the TRE's) and screw onto the new rack. My TREs seem okay so I'll re-use them for now.

AFIK other than the ratio the racks are identical so a straight swap.

This is the part: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MGTF-MGTF-LE5 ... SwFnFV9cNq

Thanks for that. That's the exact part I'm watching on ebay so will probably go for it.

Be interested to hear how you get on fitting it along with the cable gearchange. Probably going to fit a cable change myself when I have the engine out to replace / investigate the head gasket - the current gearchange is nothing short of ridiculous (like stirring thin porridge with a stick of liquorice).

my MGF cable gearchange is also terrible. I'd suggest getting in contact with http://www.ringspann.co.uk/en/Products/ ... 374d69440& for a proper cable set up

Is a Mike Satur change mechanism a good idea to tighten things up? Been reading good things about that set up with MGF cables......

Noticed Mike Satur has the LHD racks again at a good price: £100 inc vat. New
http://www.mikesatur.co.uk/index.php?ro ... ch=tf+rack

Does anyone know if you have to add oil to a new steering rack before fitting? I've seen reference to syringeing in oil on older cars but not sure if new racks come ready lubed?