BT7 stator tube

[Deleted member 21878]

good point. i will give it a try. seems they would know. also want to send them a note and ask.
there is a lip inside the boss that is flat and the screws come in just in front of this lip. the backing plate is up tight against that lip.
adjustable steering column so i can pull the boss out or push it in. the distance remains the same which made me thing it was not an issue with the stator tubes. but again, i may as well give it a shot. i could certainly be missing something.
thanks for the suggestions.

 

[steveg]

As an additional verification, you could color the rim of the flange with a sharpie, then push it back in and see if any of it rubs off on the lip inside the hub. If that's true, then Moss has sold you a hub that isn't deep enough for a standard trafficator.

Also check out this document to see if your trafficator has been somehow assembled to be too deep.
https://www.healey6.com/Technical/Trafficator Repairs.pdf

 

[John Turney]

i thought the small tube went inside the lower tube? but i also measured the distance to the lip the backing plate will hit. i am pretty sure it is in all the way... as far as it will go anyway.

Easiest way to tell is pull the steering wheel toward you (away from the dash). If the gap closes, it's not the steering wheel hub, but the lower stator tube. If the gap doesn't close and the trafficator moves with the wheel, it's the steering wheel hub..

 

[Deleted member 21878]

John
Exactly my point above. I can pull it all towards me and it still does not change.

i have tried to send a note to moss a few times but I keep getting an error on the site. They say they are working on it. I will have to try and call them I guess.

 

[John Turney]

there is a lip inside the boss that is flat and the screws come in just in front of this lip. the backing plate is up tight against that lip.
....

I happen to have mine apart since I just replaced the seals in my steering box.

On mine this lip is 1 3/16" below the rim of the boss or 1 1/4" below the top of the steering wheel ring.

The depth of the trafficator is 1 1/4":

 

[Deleted member 21878]

i will get some measurments and come back. just got my block, head and crank back from the machine shop yesterday so working on getting those parts in the shop and ready to go. exciting time....

 

[Deleted member 21878]

john
yes, thatis the lip i am talking about. i am pretty sure my trafficator is also 1-1/4" like yours. i measured that already and i know the original boss is 1-1/4" from the 3 flats to the rim. i measured my new boss and i do not believe it is as deep as yours. but i want to measure again.

 

[steveg]

If the hub is made incorrectly, you should report this back to Moss. From their catalog, pg A5:

 

[Deleted member 21878]

depth gauge says the lip is 1.1215 from the outer edge of the steering wheel plate. the cover plate actually sticks out a little more than the boss. i tried to take a picture. hard to hold everything so i iused tape to make a line between the sides of the wheel. it shows between 1-1/16 and 1-1/8 inches... which is what the depth gauge shows. so doing the math, i have a little over an 1/8". i have tried to send them an email to question it, but nothing seems to go thru for me. i keep getting an error that says they are aware of the problem and are working on it. maybe tomorrow i will get a chamce to give them a call.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

oh the picture

 

[steveg]

depth gauge says the lip is 1.1215 from the outer edge of the steering wheel plate. the cover plate actually sticks out a little more than the boss. i tried to take a picture. hard to hold everything so i iused tape to make a line between the sides of the wheel. it shows between 1-1/16 and 1-1/8 inches... which is what the depth gauge shows. so doing the math, i have a little over an 1/8". i have tried to send them an email to question it, but nothing seems to go thru for me. i keep getting an error that says they are aware of the problem and are working on it. maybe tomorrow i will get a chamce to give them a call.

You and John T have clearly demonstrated the manufacture of the part is defective.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

update on boss:
AS i was talking to the Moss rep... it suddenly occured to me that maybe the thickness of the steering wheel and trim ring are different. (mine coming from AH Spares) the Moss rep, very helpful, went out and measured his boss's and also a trim ring with wheel. well that was the issue. their steering wheel looks to be the same thickness as mine but the trim ring i have is about .05 thinner. add that .05 on to my steering wheel and trim ring and it would be about .03, or less, from the bolt heads to the turn signal switch.
cased solved. did not want anyone to think Moss was selling defective parts. since the boss appears to be a cast aluminum it was not likely this one was an issue. but i figured they might have run in to it before and had a suggestion.

anyway looking in to picking up a different trim ring from them or maybe making a 1/16" spacer for behind my wheel.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

by the way their boss is exactly 1" from the lip to the front edge of their boss. the steering wheel with plate sticks out past the lip.

FYI

 

[John Turney]

Good to know.

 

[steveg]

update on boss:
AS i was talking to the Moss rep... it suddenly occured to me that maybe the thickness of the steering wheel and trim ring are different. (mine coming from AH Spares) the Moss rep, very helpful, went out and measured his boss's and also a trim ring with wheel. well that was the issue. their steering wheel looks to be the same thickness as mine but the trim ring i have is about .05 thinner. add that .05 on to my steering wheel and trim ring and it would be about .03, or less, from the bolt heads to the turn signal switch.
cased solved. did not want anyone to think Moss was selling defective parts. since the boss appears to be a cast aluminum it was not likely this one was an issue. but i figured they might have run in to it before and had a suggestion.

anyway looking in to picking up a different trim ring from them or maybe making a 1/16" spacer for behind my wheel.

Moss sells trim rings: PN 499-077 $7.99 - maybe stick another one in underneath the wheel. Hard to relate to the dimensions without pix.

 

[Deleted member 21878]

update on the steering wheel:
i made a rubber gasket for behind the wheel. i went rubber because i thought i may have to slit it to slide it behind the wheel since i did not want to pull the wiring back out. as it turns out, i could slide the trim and the steering wheel over the trafficator once i pulled it out about an inch. but since i had the 1/16" rubber i went with it. this is about as close as you can get the wheel without going to a flat head screw. i do have some plexiglass that is about .02 thicker than the rubber but not sure i want to change the screws yet.
So if Moss has a thicker ring, then their boss probably works fine with their wheels. otherwise you need to build them out.
i will let this sit for a while and see if it bothers me. right now i am fine with it.

 

[John Turney]

You want the trafficator lever to be as close as it can be without hitting the steering wheel or screws. Looks fine to me.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Lin--

I am going to attempt to reinstall my rebuilt trafficator tomorrow and when I clicked on the link you furnished (https://valvechatter.us/?p=3391) it came up dead.
Does your article appear anywhere else or is there any way you can send it to me? I feel like I am about to undergo a rite of passage and would like to be as prepared as possible.

 

[Lin]

Sorry, Mike. I have changed my website from Valvechatter.us to valvechatter.com. When I have a chance I will have .us also directed to .com.

Anyway. This is what you need: https://valvechatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Trafficator-Repairs-Low-Res.pdf

 

[Michael Oritt]

Many thanks. Curt Arndt did a great job on refinishing the Bakelite and cleaning up the unit's innards. I will hopefully install it in the next few days.