Taking the steering box apart was a necessity as it was obvious the oil seal needed replacing. The steering drop arm was amazingly difficult to remove and was eventually cut as I had no press with which to remove it from the splines. Since the track rod is of a later style, the drop arm will need replacing anyway as the taper is different. It is important not to use excessive force or shock to remove parts as the bearing & pin faces can easily be damaged.
Looking into the unit it became clear that some wear has occurred due to the oil leaking out. However, these internal parts were not too bad. the L piece had some wear on the shaft, which will cause issues later.
This seal had become largely ineffective so a new one will be fitted along with fresh gaskets.
The main wear seems to have occurred on the worm drive of the steering rod. A lot of the case hardening has worn through. So, once again, it is into the parts pile to find a replacement.
A much better example was found, although the splines for the steering wheel were damaged. This was cured by the use of my Dremmel with a cutting disc and a magnifying glass to re form the channels.
With the unit re assembled it was given a coat of paint, filled with oil and stood to one side. It will be quite a while before it gets re fitted and when that happens I discover the wear on the L piece is such that the oil seal lets the oil past. I will eventually pack the steering box with moly grease to avoid this problem in the future. A set of high tensile steel fittings have been found ready for when the unit gets fitted to the chassis.
The original steering wheel was chipped and corroded. A bit of work and a coat of paint brings it back to life. The horn push featured the blue Reliant logo, which was a later style. Originally it would have had the red "3 Rs" style logo that matches the exterior body badges. A NOS one has been sourced.