TECH: Discreet turn signal switch

The owner of a 32 three window I was building insisted upon using an original column with his 38 banjo steering wheel. I asked “what do you plan to use for a turn signal?” He replied, “Since I don’t like the looks of add on turn signal switches, I’ll just use my arm.” I thought this was kind of a waste, since I had already bought a fuse panel with built in turn signal circuitry.



He wanted to retain the original column because he liked the drop with the key (which was locked) and the on/off switch. The car was set up with a mustang steering box, so a spacer would have to be made to return the wheel to a comfortable angle. I was looking at the column drop and noticed the 3/8” hole through the left side.



The hole got me thinking, a whammy bar type of lever could be inserted into this hole controlling a GM remote turn signal switch on the other side. I knew early chevelle tilts used a cable actuated switch mounted on the column mast. I looked up that switch at one of the chevelle houses and it was about 60 bucks (ouch!). I tried napaonline.com, and that was a dead end, so I tried epay and found a picture of this switch.



It was for a 1963 corvette and 60-62 big Chevrolet, and was 12 bucks. I just needed to figure out how to make a somewhat attractive lever that was also light enough not to move when the car went over bumps. I had recently bought a Mastercool hydraulic flaring kit and was just itching to use it. I bent a length of 3/8” stainless tubing and put push to connect flares on both ends. I cut the head off of a 5/16” bolt and inserted it into the pivoting end of the lever and welded into place.



I linked the lever to the switch using a piece of welding rod and I realized that some kind of detent would need to be made to center it in the “off” position. I got a ¼” ball bearing from the hardware store and a spring. I had also made a 1” aluminum spacer to drop the column, so I drilled a hole, inserted the spring and bearing and staked the assembly in place with a center punch.




I made a detent by filing a depression in the edge of a fender washer, and then I cut off the area that wasn’t needed.



I attached the switch to the back of the drop by carefully tack welding tabs to the switch and screwing it using the existing 6-32 holes left by the original ignition switch. For some reason, I didn’t take pictures of this.

I also cannibalized a billet dash insert and mounted the indicator lights in the column drop spacer. I just wanted to make the whole unit more compact rather than drill through a nice engine turned stainless insert. I finished off the end of the lever with a vacuum port plug, just to give it kind of an industrial feel.



When it was all said and done, the labor on this little project probably cost more than a limeworks column with the turn signal drop. I think this is less noticeable in a 60’s looking 32 ford, which was the idea.

 

Great idea and Class "A" work. I like the concept and the workmanship is top notch. Brian

 

anyone else only see little red x's for the pictures?

 

Yep

 

no pics here...........

 

I can see them now. That is a great idea! Really looks nice. I too hate the look of the clamp on switches and wanted to mount one out of sight, but I didn't know about these. I just might have to pick up one to work with.

 

nice job.

too bad there is no way to bill for all the mind fuck time thinking of where to get the parts to make it work.

 

sounds cool - but yeah big red Xs.

 

Wishing for pics.......

 

Hmm, red X's here, but at least he knows what they are.

 

For whatever reason, the pics didn't show up for me at first either. I had to hit refresh and suddenly they were there.

 

Hmm, thanks for that Mr. Frank, but still no go. I'll try it later from another computer.

And yes I do mean thank you.

 

Tried hitting "Refresh", but no go. Still just lil' X's...........

 

Shit, my comcast webpage is down for maintenance this week. Bad timing for tech week, I guess. I'll try to fix this tonight. I was just trying to avoid the clickable thumbnails at the bottom of the page in no particular order.

Right click on the images and select show picture. That got them to work for me. This is kind of embarrasing.

Dave

 

very cool... love the detents!

 

Well, thanks for the post anyway, the description is good. Looking forward to the pics when Comcast gets it together (down for a WEEK, dang).

 

Right click on the x's and select "Show Picture".

 

no pics here, I,m a long way away so perhaps they,ll get here later.

 

That is a great idea, and very well played out.

 

No pics here either... YOU TEASE!

 

Big Red X's

 

I tried the re-fresh and the "right click show picture" and still get red x's.

Sounds really cool anyway

hopefully you can get that web page fixed - or maybe host the pictures on a different photo site?

 

Still Xs here too. Would really like some visual aids here!

 

XXXXXX

 

pictures all work for me. ill repost therm

 

Might need to rehost them - you may have exceeded the bandwidth on your homepage. Try photobucket or something similar.

Thanks for the pics, SK, would like to see them re-imbedded...

 

Now THAT'S some neat thinkin'!!!!