Self cancelling indicators?

Post by **MinorMoments** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:37 pm

Being so new to owning a Minor and in fact new to owning a classic car I am having trouble in remembering to cancel the indicators.

Are there any upgrades/modifications that anyone knows about that will give me self cancelling indicators?

Please help because I am annoying my fellow South London drivers with this...

Post by **bigginger** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:42 pm

They're self cancelling already (if it's a car with them on a stalk, at least - don't know about the others). Usually don't work because the pin on the steering column isn't correctly aligned with the two 'teeth' on the switch, which can be sorted out if you remove the wheel and the cowl that hides the gubbins.

Post by **MinorMoments** » Mon May 12, 2008 7:08 pm

Hmm, my car does have them on a stalk but was expressly pointed out to me that they were not self cancelling when I got the car. My car was first registered in 1968 so I wonder....

Post by **bigginger** » Mon May 12, 2008 7:13 pm

They are then, honest. Odds are it's what I said - it's hella fiddly to get it set up right.

Post by **Alec** » Mon May 12, 2008 7:28 pm

hello MM,

it's not really that difficult.
Assuming you are happy with the tracking (Which actually is usually the reason that the steering gets maladjusted as most 'professional' mechanics cannot be bothered to adjust both sides when doing the tracking)

You need to take off the cover from the indicator switch, and centralise the steering, i.e. have the wheels pointing straight ahead.

Release the clamp from the steering column at floor level, and remove the clamp bolt. Slacken the support at the top of the steering column at dash level. Then pull up the column to disengage it from the rack and rotate the steering wheel until the little trip bolt is between the two little arms on the indicator switch. Push the column back down onto the rack and secure. Tighten the column clamp, and refit the switch cover. You will now also have to remove the steering wheel to re-align it?

Alec

Post by **MinorMoments** » Mon May 12, 2008 8:09 pm

Cheers guys, will pass your comments onto my mechanic. Yes I know shame on you MM for not doing it yourself

. Why own such a car if you give it to someone else but honestly left to me she would be scrap in no time. just give me a year or 10 to get the hang of all this

Post by **mickessex** » Mon May 12, 2008 8:58 pm

Release the clamp from the steering column at floor level, and remove the clamp bolt. Slacken the support at the top of the steering column at dash level. Then pull up the column to disengage it from the rack and rotate the steering wheel until the little trip bolt is between the two little arms on the indicator switch. Push the column back down onto the rack and secure. Tighten the column clamp, and refit the switch cover. You will now also have to remove the steering wheel to re-align it?

Alternatively, slacken the two screws on the indicator stalk clamp and just rotate the stalk. You'll still have to remove the steering wheel though.

Mick

Post by **Packedup** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:45 pm

You also need to align the outer column so the indicators sit nicely over the bolt/ nub on the inner column. When doing the top column bush on my Minor I noticed the odd little nub and spring loaded parts on the stalk and realised they must self cancel - They didn't when I got the car! A bit of tweaking (such as the drop the column off the rack and refit as mentioned above) saw them canceling nicely

Which is good, as with the non standard steering wheel fitted I struggle to see the tell most of the time...

Post by **bigginger** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm

Told you it could be fiddly

a

Post by **Packedup** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:28 am

It's not *that* bad (or am I just used to messing with steering bits?). I forgot to say, the bolt/ nub has a locknut on it. I don't know the correct procedure, but I wound it all out and locked it so the rounded end was a good 3mm or so inside the "sweep" of the springy bits on the stalk. It works, isn't vicious, and doesn't foul anything, so it can';t be far off

Post by **buellzebub** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:50 pm

Woohoo!!

You're absolutely right! I now have self cancelling indicators! The problem on mine was that the arm bracket was too high on the column so the little nut thing was below the cancelling 'bits'. I moved the arm down a bit and now it all works, yipee!

Mick

'65 Smoke Grey Tourer

Post by **bmcecosse** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:17 pm

And the little green light in the end of the stalk should remind you anyway if the indicators are not cancelled. It's hard to miss there - dunno why modern cars don't have the warning there - it makes so much more sense than hiding it away on the dash.

Post by **Packedup** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:22 pm

bmcecosse wrote:And the little green light in the end of the stalk should remind you anyway if the indicators are not cancelled. It's hard to miss there - dunno why modern cars don't have the warning there - it makes so much more sense than hiding it away on the dash.

Whereas I can't see the light on the end of the stalk at all, the Mountney wheel I have blocks the view entirely. So I'm thinking of wiring it to the blocked filter light on the speedo instead!

Post by **bmcecosse** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:27 pm

Well - it's doing nothing else - so go for it!