Lotus Europa Community

When undoing the long 1/4" UNF nuts and bolts holding the rack to the 2 clamps, one of those pairs of bolts has the 7/16" head inside the chassis. It is a pig to get at to stop it turning. There are 2 ways of stopping the bolt from turning when undoing the 7/16" nylok nuts.

1) Get a long 7/16" combination spanner (wrench) and bend it into a C shape so you can get the O part of the spanner onto the bolt head inside the chassis.

2) Cut a slot in the threaded end of the bolt with a thin hacksaw, and put a thin screwdriver into that slot to stop the bolt turning and undo the nut with a ring spanner.

If those bolts come out of the chassis, they are a real pig to get back into place.

Mark the position of the rack where it meets the two clamps, as its position should be absolutely central so that the arms on the ends of the rack are exactly the same length, or else the steering will not feel right and you might get bump steer.

I was told by a Lotus employee that the length of those arms is critical to the millimetre to get the car to handle properly over bumps.

Can the rack be removed without taking half of the inside of the luggage bay apart? It certainly looks like it's a question of undoing the four retaining bolts and the pinch bolt on the pinion and it should come off. Is that right? I did see about undoing the lower part of the column to assist in sliding the rack forward, but I think that was referring to an S2

Yes, that sounds about right but personally I'd take off the closing plate to give you clear access to everything. It might be a struggle but will make putting it all back so much easier.

When I've done it I've had to move the bottom universal joint an inch or more to get it clear of the rack and the easiest way is to slacken the clamp holding the lower part of the steering column from inside the footwell.

On the "rumbling" I don't think mine's that smooth either if I do as you've described. The leverage is all wrong, you're pushing the rack/pinnion at an angle whereas with the steering wheel everything is lined up properly. Depending which road wheel you're turning, a worn rack support bush would make it even worse by letting the end of the rack move up/down as well.

Other things to look for - that univeral joint breaking up/loose bolts (never seen it personally but possible) or marks from where a bolt head/clamp has been binding ?   

Well, the good news is the pedal box is out. The bad news is it won't be going back in - the pedal box is seized and cracked, so another thing onto the list.

Banks make and sell them. 

Very, very common.  You can buy new or build your own if you are handy.

Instrument voltage regulators come in two "flavours".  One that puts out 10V and the other then puts out a pulsing 12v.  It is very common to buy duds.  Sounds like your original one was working just fine.