Upon realising that yesterday actually happened, I continue my assessment of the Morris Minor.
August 23rd 2019
A nice rest and a clear head. I think I should prioritise the jobs I need to do in order to get this car back onto the road and the first of those jobs might as well be to get those indicators working. I plan to fix the trafficators too but the indicators are important for safety, not to mention legality!
I head to my garage and set out all the tools I think I will need. Let's take a look at that old Bakelite trafficator switch. It moves to the left and right with a satisfying mechanical click and the little bulb in the switch illuminates but there's no life elsewhere in the car. Hang on, what's that funny noise?... It looks like the left trafficator has managed to lift itself up about a quarter of the way. I give it a little nudge and it pops out fully and lights up! A little coaxing and the other one starts doing the same. It seems that the mechanism and solenoid inside each unit has become pretty crusty over the years so I'll have to remove them and give them both a proper service sometime. As positive as this is, it isn't getting any life from the indicators though. I need to go out with the family for a couple of hours but I'll investigate further when I return.
When I was out, driving down the motorway, I was thinking to myself... If I had fitted those indicators then how would I have wired them up? Well I would have wired them to a completely separate switch and used them independently of the trafficators. That's when a little light bulb went on in my head, I'll investigate when I get home.
Returning home I get my inspection lamp and have a good look around under the dashboard and hey presto, what's that? Another Bakelite switch which looked like it
used to be screwed in next to the trafficator switch but had snapped off and been thrown to the back of the parcel shelf. Could it be that easy? Ignition on, flick the switch and... The indicators started to flash! Switch the other way and the other set of indicators start flashing. Fantastic news, all I need to do is remount the switch using a sturdier bracket than the last person used.
I found a perfect small aluminium plate for this task which I'd liberated from a sunken Cessna aircraft while Scuba diving several years ago (long story). At least I can now say my vintage car has aircraft parts in it!
I used the old broken bracket as a template and after around 30 minutes of sawing, drilling and filing the aluminium plate I had a brand new sturdy mount for the indicator switch. I made a note of the wiring order inside the switch before disconnecting everything and re-wiring it onto the new mounding plate and screwing it securely under the dashboard. Beautiful job!
