steering wheel, horn and turn signal

[Murray]

Hi:

 

I have rack and pinion in my '60 TR3A and would like a smaller steering wheel. Now the horn and turn signal wires are loosely wrapped around the solid shaft that is part of the rack and pinion. Just wondering if any others have done this modification.

 

Thanks,

 

Murray

[Benny]

Hi:

 

I have rack and pinion in my '60 TR3A and would like a smaller steering wheel. Now the horn and turn signal wires are loosely wrapped around the solid shaft that is part of the rack and pinion. Just wondering if any others have done this modification.

 

Thanks,

 

Murray

 

Could you tell me what type of rack & pinion you have on your tr.

Benny

[Murray]

Hi Benny:

 

I bought the rack and pinion from BPNW in Oregon. I think it was made in Germany. When I got the shipment the directions were in two languages, German and French. I called and got something (not much) in English. It ended up being a good product and the car handles like a different car. If anyone is going to do this upgrade I could save them a lot of time and grief.

 

Murray

[mike3md]

Murray,

 

I know of one rack conversion where the owner has wrapped the cables around the column like you, but first fed them through a piece of flexible plastic cable duct which he then wrapped around the column. Works for him and probably reduces stress on the wiring.

 

Mike

[pfenlon]

I presume you are trying to retain the original horn and indicator unit in the steering wheel.

 

I have rack and pinion on my TR3A, but have modified a tr4 turn signal switch made my own cover and use a mota lita steering wheel.

 

As a matter of interest how many turns are there from lock to lock on your R@P systems. the loose cable method seems a bit dodgy.

 

In this day and age I would have thought someone would have perfected a fly by wire, esx, or some kind of wireless system so we could keep the horn push without the problems.

 

I would love to retain the original wheel and centre push.

 

where are the wonderkins! come on boys find a solution.

[mike3md]

The boys at Bastuck appear to have some sort of solution to the steering rack/original horn & indicators problem, judging by their website:

 

http://bastuck.de/web/liste_classic.asp?un...g=11600#hinweis

 

Anybody tried this??

 

Mike

[pfenlon]

The boys at Bastuck appear to have some sort of solution to the steering rack/original horn & indicators problem, judging by their website:

 

http://bastuck.de/web/liste_classic.asp?un...g=11600#hinweis

 

Anybody tried this??

 

Mike

Mike I cant see what you mean am I missing something

 

Peter

[stuart]

Mike I cant see what you mean am I missing something

 

Peter

Peter on the parts list, 4 up from the bottom is L97bTR3 Indicator/horn contact, rack and pinion steering with original horn and flasher unit E145.61 so they must have come up with something. The rack kit looks very much like the one that TR Bitz supply. I have fitted one of these and I think I prefer it to others I have used although if fitting to early 2s they do need a bit of fettling.

Stuart

[Bernard Mishkin]

I presume you are trying to retain the original horn and indicator unit in the steering wheel.

 

I have rack and pinion on my TR3A, but have modified a tr4 turn signal switch made my own cover and use a mota lita steering wheel.

 

As a matter of interest how many turns are there from lock to lock on your R@P systems. the loose cable method seems a bit dodgy.

 

In this day and age I would have thought someone would have perfected a fly by wire, esx, or some kind of wireless system so we could keep the horn push without the problems.

 

I would love to retain the original wheel and centre push.

 

where are the wonderkins! come on boys find a solution.

[Bernard Mishkin]

I have just had R & P installed and I'm at the same point as you.

Did you ever find out if there was a way to keep the turn signal on the steering wheel?

[Dave Larnder]

Hi Everybody

 

I fitted a stalk switch for the indicators as mentioned in an earlier message I posted.

 

Dave

[Menno van Rij]

I bought the rack and pinion from BPNW in Oregon. I think it was made in Germany.

The boys at Bastuck appear to have some sort of solution to the steering rack/original horn & indicators problem, judging by their website

 

I think that the R&P steering you have, is in fact from Bastuck! If you go to the Bastuck homepage, you'll find a link to the part of the website that's in English.

 

A lot of people in Holland, Belgium, France and off course Germany buy products from them. I think that their products are good value for money. For the last one and a half years, buyers tended to buy in the USA, due to the low prices. Now the exchange rate dollar vs. euro is changing again, I think Bastuck's sales will pick up again.

 

Menno

[Steve_Dyne]

I fitted rack and pinion (TR Bitz version) 6/7 years ago, and wanted to retain the original wheel, boss and functions, so I brought the braided loom out at the top UJ and retained it with a rubber-lined 'P' clamp. I then allowed enough slack for it to wrap and unwrap around the column, and used another clamp to fix it to the inner wing, just below the point where the bullet connections are sited on the offside wing.

 

This kept the horn and indicator functions, but I lost two things:

1. self-cancelling, but it is now second-nature to manually cancel, and I never give it a thought

2. the boss now turns, as one of the functions of the long tube which was held captive down by the steering box was to hold it still. Again, soon becomes no problem.

 

The other issue was how long the cable would stand the winding/unwinding action, especially as it's near the manifold and the work-hardening would be aided and abetted by heat. Here I am able to give absolute advice: The answer is about 6 years, and the breakdown of the cable will result in a horn which sounds continuously in Tesco's car park on a very busy day in absolutely torrential rain Remember the horn is fed from a permanent live so switching the ignition off doesn't help!!

 

On the last run of this year, the deteriorating cable broke down again with occasional toots on the horn and both indicators packing in, so I have some serious work to do to graft in a new section, and devise a better way of relieving the stress on it as much as possible.

 

I'm also aware that electrical shorting/sparking just underneath the carbs is not a good idea!

 

But, all in all, I like the original look so that's the way I'll go.

 

Hope this may be of use to others...

 

Steve

[Steve R]

I have seen a slip-ring device fitted to a 3a in Germany, here are some pictures that I received from a friend in Frankfurt when I was thinking of converting my car to R&P

The price a couple of years ago was 120 euros, I don't know if it is the same as from Bastuck but it's a very neat solution

 

Steve

 

 

Edited October 25, 2008 by Steve R

[Kiwifrog]

The page in English

 

http://bastuck.de/web/liste_classic.asp?un...amp;id_hg=11600

[jean]

As far as I know some people opt for a Austin Healey control assembly, it fits Moto Lita steering bosses, seems to be smaller than the Triumph item.

On my part I did fabricate a slip ring for the horn pusch. This just required a pice of plastic tube some electric wire and a horn contact. For the horn contact I made a fibre glass holder mounted to the now redundent steering column bracket. It works very well up to now.

[Bernard Mishkin]

Steve

 

Did you ever find out from your friend in Frankfurt if this slip ring solution was from Bastuck?

 

I am looking for the same solution to keeping the turn signal on the steering wheel after rack & pinion conversion.

 

Regards

 

Bernard

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have seen a slip-ring device fitted to a 3a in Germany, here are some pictures that I received from a friend in Frankfurt when I was thinking of converting my car to R&P

The price a couple of years ago was 120 euros, I don't know if it is the same as from Bastuck but it's a very neat solution

 

Steve

 

 

[Steve R]

Bernard

Although he got the slip ring from another company, he says that the Bastuck product is identical. I first saw it around 6 years ago, it looked well made and very neat, although it does not self cancel and the whole horn push rotates with the wheel.

Steve

[jean]

Now I' m puzzeled This system is not a big help if the whole direction indicator switch rotates, must not be very handy

[Bernard Mishkin]

Now I' m puzzeled This system is not a big help if the whole direction indicator switch rotates, must not be very handy

 

 

I called Bastuck and this slip ring unit is not available until "sometime" next year.

I cannot wait so does anyone else have another solution??

 

Bernard

[Steve R]

Bernard

I'm told the one in the picture was bought from http://www.car-trim.de/ Perhaps they have one.

I think the only problem with the whole thing turning is that it doesn't cancel, it will be in the normal place when you use it. I was going to fit a little piezo buzzer in the flasher circuit to remind me to turn it off.

I've got the buzzer, I've just never got around to getting the R&P kit

Steve

[jean]

OK, fair enough, but when activating the switch when upside down there is a risk to turn it in the wrong direction to say when you turn left you have to move the switch to the right or am I wrong.

By the way, I have fitted this kind of buzzer, did locate it under the dash, works very well, just had to wrap it in foam because it was rather loud. Everyone was looking as it sounded like a truck reversing

[stuart]

OK, fair enough, but when activating the switch when upside down there is a risk to turn it in the wrong direction to say when you turn left you have to move the switch to the right or am I wrong.

By the way, I have fitted this kind of buzzer, did locate it under the dash, works very well, just had to wrap it in foam because it was rather loud. Everyone was looking as it sounded like a truck reversing

Thats always a good idea for a sidescreen car to have a buzzer on the indicators as the dash light isnt very obvious especially when head up into a late winter sun.

Stuart.

[Dave Larnder]

I fitted rack and pinion (TR Bitz version) 6/7 years ago, and wanted to retain the original wheel, boss and functions, so I brought the braided loom out at the top UJ and retained it with a rubber-lined 'P' clamp. I then allowed enough slack for it to wrap and unwrap around the column, and used another clamp to fix it to the inner wing, just below the point where the bullet connections are sited on the offside wing.

 

This kept the horn and indicator functions, but I lost two things:

1. self-cancelling, but it is now second-nature to manually cancel, and I never give it a thought

2. the boss now turns, as one of the functions of the long tube which was held captive down by the steering box was to hold it still. Again, soon becomes no problem.

The other issue was how long the cable would stand the winding/unwinding action, especially as it's near the manifold and the work-hardening would be aided and abetted by heat. Here I am able to give absolute advice: The answer is about 6 years, and the breakdown of the cable will result in a horn which sounds continuously in Tesco's car park on a very busy day in absolutely torrential rain Remember the horn is fed from a permanent live so switching the ignition off doesn't help!!

 

On the last run of this year, the deteriorating cable broke down again with occasional toots on the horn and both indicators packing in, so I have some serious work to do to graft in a new section, and devise a better way of relieving the stress on it as much as possible.

 

I'm also aware that electrical shorting/sparking just underneath the carbs is not a good idea!

 

But, all in all, I like the original look so that's the way I'll go.

 

Hope this may be of use to others...

 

Steve

 

Hi Steve

 

I did the same thing as you for my TR Bitz conversion except that I fitted a very mild spring to the excess wire so that it returned when the wheels were straightened. I am fortunate that mine is a LHD here in Spain, so I don't have the heat problem from the exhaust.

I have ordered from Bastuck their catalogue but have yet to receive it.

 

Dave

[boggie]

Hi all,

 

Did anyone find a source for the slip-ring solution for horn / indicators? I have been searching for half an hour and am getting frustrated, I am sure I saw it somewhere here.

 

Thanks,

Ian