Land Rover Tex Magna canceling dohickey

    Some time between the trafficators time period and the Tex Magna indicator period there was a time when indicators were controlled by a switch on the dash. With the introduction of mandatory indicators the steering wheels had to be redesigned as to make for a self canceling switch.
    My 109 came with the dash style vacuum switch. However I much prefer the Tex Magna style and my old switch was caput. Alas and alack I do not have the correct steering wheel for the canceling device.
    I figured I could make one like the factory ones(a cup shape) and I had done so for my 88, Ignotus. Lying in bed one night I saw in my minds eye that I could make one the next day with materials at hand. I was tired of turning off the indicator some half block after my turn and going through the gears.

   Then BLAMMO!   I saw that I could make something different and easier to put on. So follow my pics;

First I got out my spare banjo wheel for a template.

After some measuring I found I needed a 2" square piece of 1/8" steel, in this I drilled a 9/16" hole since this is my largest bit, I had to use my dremel tool to enlarge the hole to 7/8".

here's how it looked on the wheel;

Then I needed a bit of 2" tubing, I searched high and low and finally cut a bit out of some exhaust down pipe for a 200tdi Discovery which I got with my engine. I cut a 2" long piece and cleaned it up. Here's how I set it up;

    Next I set about making some ears to weld to the plate and have the wheel clamp bolt go through. These took a LOT of work to make and fit as I did not have any material the right width, plus there had to be a right and a left...

Once those were ready I bolted it and clamped it all together and tack welded it in place.

For some reason I spent a long time doing finishing work on the welds and the circumference as to not have it look 'cobby"

Then it got primered and painted.

    Of course when I went to put it on it didn't fit my wheel............ I cut 1/2" off the length and had to do some trimming to the ears and to the steering wheel hub to make flat matching surfaces. In the pics you can see where material was removed.

Now it is night time and the paint is once again drying. It should all go together in the morning. It will take a 2.5" x 5/16" bolt to replace the 2" x 5/16" one. Pic to follow!

   Well it didn't turn out as easy as I thought. I had to loosen the lower inner steering column clamp and pull about a quarter of an inch up so the bolt would go through the groove in the inner column and match up to the holes in the steering wheel.

And here's how it looks;

I drove it last night and it works!