Technical Turn signals for Model A's

When I first built my sedan I installed turn signals by installing LED lights inside both headlight buckets wired to a flasher/toggle switch mounted on my steering column to tank brace...worked well but reaching around /thru the steering wheel became a pain in the arse...after cleaning the garage and looking for something productive to do I decided to see if I could utilize the old spark advance lever to work as a turn signal lever...here is what I came up with... the stainless box I made with scrap metal I had laying around, the actuating link I made from an old factory control rod that I cut to length and coupled back together...the switch I cant remember where I got it but I found the EXACT same one from Walmart (believe it or not)... used a die grinder to shape the toggle switch lever into a ball end.....I'm sure I'm not the first to try this and some probably much better than mine but I can tell ya....this was a great little project that works exceedingly well...Just make sure clutch and brake pedal arms clear when done...mine cleared easily.......got indicators coming so will be working on a way to install them inside...somewhere.

 

Absolutely brilliant, it is so well thought out and executed it almost appears as though it was stock.

This would win my vote on any tech week! HRP

 

I'm with HRP. Really good thinking here, right down to the geometry of ratio on the lengths of 'short arms' (spark to toggle arms)

 

Old Henry is in his grave saying "why didn't we think of that", very cool Ron!

 

Nice job


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thanks guys...hope some of ya'll can use all or part of this for yourselves...

 

Awesome and just the kind of things I like seeing vs credit card built vehicles. Makes me want to show how I made window switches using common on-off-on toggles.

 

My best ideas are borrowed, this is going to be one of them

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Wow. That's ingenious. Good job.

 

I am always amazed what I find on the HAMB. Great job.

 

I've got an old swap meet find. (trashy turn signal switch)
I was thinking of utilizing it in a similar fashion.
Thank you for adding to my thought process.

 

@Ron Brown a great mechanical solution with a direct connection to vintage innovation...

I take it there is a lever aside the Column near the wheel as a Factory/Aftermarket style? Can we see a pic of your driving point of view? I assume they do not self cancel...My Aftermarket inspired definitely doesn't. Again great mechanical sense and genius on your part and thanks for sharing.

What is the other sprung lever for? My only other question is strengthwhen pushing up or down to actuate the switch...is there a need for stops to minimize breackage at switch level...I will say signals as a rule are handled fairly gently.

Here a reality and I'm sure you have it covered and that is 4-ways. The inspired vintage switch I have has a 4-way integrated but most Newbie cars have it as a switch elsewhere. Is that what you did and I guess another way of looking at it might be in 29 it may not require them...

 

Toggles are traditional as apple pie...no doubt with an Aviation Connection...

 

Very clever!

 

That's brilliant, I see myself copying this for sure. They're sticklers for signals down here.

 

Stogy...The Model A has factory spark advance lever on left and throttle lever on right. I never removed them and they are right where you would normally find a turn signal lever. They attach to a pair of long rods that go down the steering column and terminate at the two springs you see. A linkage goes from left lever to distributor and right lever to carburetor. I am running dual Strombergs and electronic distributor so no need for the linkage. Nice thing is the lever at the steering wheel comes out of the column thru a port that only allows it to move up and down a very short distance and actually creates it own stops, so no need to worry about breaking the switch, no matter how hard you pull on the lever. They are not self cancelling.

here are a couple pics from the drivers seat...the lever on the right is not used so I may find a use for it later, like maybe a drag chute release...

 

Thanks Ron yeah that's fantastic and there's that funny Model a Dash Face always Hollering away to someone and this one is a she as there is the added bust below...

 

No prob...yeah I made the dash extension so I could get a couple more gauges in....funny thing, spent all day making one for a single gauge then realized I wanted 2 gauges so spent next day making another for 2 gauges....good thing I have lotsa spare time as I usually spend more time redoing stuff that I didnt get right in the first place...gota luv it

 

Final chapter...finally got the turn signal indicators...built a bracket, again out of scrap stainless I had, to hold them and installed...wired up and everything works well...

 

Really innovative....I might steel that. Question for you. I thought you replaced the banger with a flathead in this car or was it another car you own???

 

I have the flathead all done as well as a 37 tranny all rebuilt, even bought all the Clings adapters to make it all work, but the banger runs so good I've decided to leave it as is for now...the trans and engine is just sitting in a stand for now.

 

You could always use one of these. It self canceling when u make the turn and it only takes a double thro signal contact switch to work. I bought mine on evil bay

 

Great idea Ron. Maybe I will use my A Steering column .......

 

Damn Ron I absolutely love this. Along with dang near anything else you post. Thank you!

 

heck mighta used that if i knew before doing all this work...... lol....but the main reason I did this is to utilize the existing dist adv lever for activation.

 

great...hoping it motivates some guys to use their imaginations...I luv this stuff.

 

thanks Tim.....I try to please........lol

 

Great idea. Thanks for sharing.

 

Absolutely brilliant idea!

 

Great work. Now you got me thinking again!