Newby here with some questions please !

[Fredomusicman]

Okay thanks ! So if i will feel play in the steering, it will not necessary pull to high costs (?). It can be fixed.
I had PAS and not PAS oldtimers. Not PAS cars give me a more sporty sensation, as I better feel the grip, if the tyres grip or loose. I will decide after a while if I ad PAS or not. May be some more important things have to be done at first

[cass3958]

Some movement in an older car is acceptable at purchase and the parts to repair are available and relatively cheap. The problem with the steering box and arm system is there are a lot of wear areas. Just 1mm of wear in each joint means you are looking at 6mm of movement in the arms and the steering box could easily add another 5mm to this so a little wear is noticeable and a lot of wear is quite scary but fixable with new joints and bushes.

The Marles Adwest Variomatic power steering fitted to the late S Types from Sept 1967 on and to the 420 is the better system to have. Easily repairable, has more feel and a smaller lock to lock ratio. It is fitted to my car and has allowed me to fit a smaller 15 inch steering wheel with no adverse affect to turning the steering even when stationary.

[Fredomusicman]

If not natural (again, like old US cars.. ) and it could be fixed when too much play, it's fine !
Not available in new I guess the Marles Adwest Variomatic ? May be I will ask you then for some contacts in the UK where I could find one

[cass3958]

Your best bet is to search for someone who is breaking a left hand drive 420. There are quite a few as they are not worth restoring once they pass a certain point of deterioration. If you find one you need to buy the whole front subframe with the LHD power steering box and idler arms. You need the subframe as there is a notch cut out of the cross member that the Variomatic steering box sits in. You will also need the steering fluid reservoir but the 420 has a different steering pump which sat separately on the right side of the engine. The pump for the S type sat on the back of the generator and was powered from a coupler which joins the generator to the pump.
There are several topics on this forum that discuss the steering boxes and cross members you can read.

[Glyn Ruck]

The 420 had a 1200psi Saginaw pump with integrated reservoir.

[John Quilter]

Didn't late S Types run the Marles Varomatic steering box with the generator mounted pump?

[cass3958]

Yes all S types from beginning to end ran the PAS pump off the back of the generator. The early cars ran the Burman type 2 PAS steering box but from Sept 1967 they changed to the Adwest Variomatic steering box but had the same pump on the back of the generator and same reservoir mounted in front of the heater box.

The 420 had a separate pump mounted over the top of the distributor with its own built in reservoir as the 420 ran an alternator not the generator.

[Glyn Ruck]

S Types ran the following steerings in both LHD & RHD all PAS with Generator driven pump

1) Manual Moss Box with & without OD ~ Long tail OD
2) Manual Jaguar box with & without OD ~ Compact OD
3) Type 1 PAS 850psi & later 1000psi pump
4) Type 2 PAS 1000psi pump
5) Varamatic 1000psi pump

[John Quilter]

Not sure what pressure generator mounted pump on my November 1964 build S has, but it seems to run my XJS sourced ZF steering rack just fine.

[Fredomusicman]

Hi, I have a new question:
The only catalog red is "Carmen red" for "S", I saw a little few in "Regency red", who was on Catalog for "E" and "MK2". Do you think this choice was possible at the factory ? or only by repainting.