Is there anyone that has their 4.2 Series 1 2+2 dismantled to some degree, or anyone at all, willing to compare the Trafficator assembly with the following pictures and tell me which component pictured it matches? I believe that the Trafficator assembly of a 4.2 Series 1 FHC is the same also.
The first picture is an original part, the second, a new replacement part. You will note that the winged shield in the second picture is further away from the centre line of the Steering Column by dimension "B" than the original part. Dimension "B" for the new part is circa 6mm and Zero for the old, original part.
I have three other 4.2 Series 1 2+2 cars in work for comparison and all are as shown in the first picture. Despite this, I'm being told that the new parts are being made to correct, original drawings. I doubt that I have in my workshop, the only four cars in the world with non standard trafficator assemblies, not made to correct and original drawings. Accordingly, I'd like to know how the Trafficator assembly on other like cars in the world are configured.
The New Trafficator assembly, with the winged shield further out from the centre line of the Steering Column, has the shield foul with the Steering Column Shroud, preventing the attachment of the assembly. The only remedy, apart from dismantling the new part, altering and repainting it, is to make the obround hole in the Shroud larger so that the shield can pass through and sit on the outside of the Shroud. One, this is going to look rubbish and two, I refuse to mutilate an original part to accommodate an After Market part made incorrectly. Decent Restorers try, wherever possible, to preserve original parts, not destroy them.
The issue with altering the new part, is that this is an expensive part and the time to make the alteration and repaint it, considerable. When you tell a client, “this is the price of the new part and by the way, I have to charge you that much again to make it fit”, they would have to think that you’re having a lend of them. Buying this part and then having to alter it to make it work, is tantamount to buying a dog and having to bark for it.
Regards,
Bill