The trafficators are missing from my 1935 ARQ Ruby and so I purchased a pair of reconditioned Tex trafficators from an eBay seller, who described them as the equivalent of Lucas SF36 and suitable for an early Ruby. But now I have come to fit them I find it completely impossible (totally wrong fitting). Could you advise, please whether it is possible to obtain a correct pair for this car, or alternatively a pair that could at least be modified to fit?

Location: lancashire

Good afternoon all. According to the Lucas data the first trafficators to be fitted to the Ruby in 1934 were type SF34 whose manufacture is incredibly complicated and these were soon replaced by SF34A. The MKII Ruby was fitted with SF34C. These are identified by their short arm length and very thin arm with a bulge to accommodate the festoon bulb.
I have only seen 2 pairs of SF34's in all my years of Austineering - one incomplete pair which came with my 1934 Pearl and one complete and working pair which sold at last September's Beaulieu autojumble for £400!
A pair of SF34A's were sold on ebay about two years ago for over £200. There is a dealer at the Beaulieu autojumble who specialises in Trafficators but unfortunately I don't have his details.
Perhaps a call to one of our suppliers might yield a result - try Tony Betts first.
Regards
Stuart

Location: Staffordshire

The rarity is what drives the price (no pun)

The Beaulieu guy was probably Greg Davies - He doesn't have a computer but should be available on 01444 450495 during working hours

Location: not yet in bed

i have a pair,here at 7 county austins.

i bought them last year from hershey usa.

they had been removed from a car when it was 3 years old and held in a trico factory/shop,aparently as patterns! along with many other trafficaters.

i`ve not had the chance to test them yet,and sorry to say if they work ok i would also expect £400.

perhaps like stuart i have had maybe 3 sets that have not been broken come through the doors over the years.its just as hard to find them broken,and try to fix them.

you will find that many items are listed on ebay as austin 7,mainly because 7 spares have been rissing in price so quikely.
what can i say (not everything that glitters is gold).

Thanks very much, Stuart, for your extremely prompt, detailed and helpful response. Just one thing puzzles me slightly: in Rinsey Mills' book 'Original Austin Seven' the author states that the earliest Ruby was fitted with Lucas SE26 trafficators followed by SF28A, although I've never seen even a picture of either of these to know what he's writing about. However, I have seen a drawing (on the 'photobucket.com' website) of an SF34, which appears to have the kind of fixing plate that could be inserted through the cavity on the inside of the door pillar (which is not possible with the SF36) BUT the top of the plate would need to be extended upwards by an inch or so if the unit is to reach to the top of the slit in the bodywork. Also, the arm appears to be both too short and, unlike the SF36, lacks the right-angled bulge to take the festoon bulb. From the drawings on the above website it LOOKS as if the SF36 MIGHT be made to fit reasonably well IF the mechanism could be detached from its type 29K fixing plate and fixed instead to a Type 23G. I don't know if this is either possible or makes sense?

Location: lancashire

Thanks very much, Tony, for your very helpful response, although It's looking like, for financial reasons, I might have to settle for some kind of modification if such a solution can be found.

Location: lancashire

hi david,i dont blame you on the price.
i think what also pushes the price up is because they were also fitted to riley saloons and early MGs amongst others.

especialy when you are likely to brake them next time they stick.

what you could do is cut mock trafficators to fill the hole.and then fit proper indicators on the wings.

tony

For a totally mint, or highly original car, then there is no alternative other than to buy the original item that Tony has mentioned and bite your lip at the price!

I'm in a similar position looking for a Rist horn for my RP, but they are making such daft prices, it looks like I'll go for a cheap option that just goes "toot!"

Perhaps some later Morris Minor trafficators with re-wound solenoid coils may be a cost-effective alternative David..

Location: Near Bicester

Thanks very much for your advice, Ivor. My aim is to restore this Ruby to genuinely very good or excellent condition but, sadly, quite apart from the financial situation, there will still be too many non-original details to justify this expenditure. I am considering some kind of substitute or modification but I still have much to learn before launching into any kind of decision. David

Location: lancashire

David - my Mk I Ruby has SF.28A Type B.N. - car was first registered in October 1934, so early on in the production run.

The trafficator fits into the housing that is built into the door post and the unit/housing are as shown in the pictures





click on the thumb nail to enlarge.

I have blanked off the trafficator slot externally on my car, which is why there is not any daylight showing through the door pillar! You will see from other threads that I am fitting flashing indicators, hence the modification!

I don't know how the SF.28A compares with the SF.34, but I hope my picture shows what they look like!

Good luck, Gary

Location: Saltdean, Brighton - sunny today

And then as if by magic...

Ebay has a pair here, from some posts above the price has a way to go yet..x 100..

Now shall I run a book on this?


Edit, I like this description for one of them :-
'..a skilled metalworker may be able to undertake a repair.. '. Especially the words 'skilled' and 'may'

Location: Just west of Watford Gap

Hi Gary, could you take some measurements before they sell! As I think I may lend up having to make them somehow
Thanks
Bryan

Location: Nz

Hello Bryan

The dimensions are as follows: -

Arm - overall length from the pivot point to the tip is 225mm, the circular section has a diameter of 15mm and this is spaced 45mm from the tip and 165mm from the pivot point. Maximum depth (where the bulb is located) 50mm.

Assembly - 25mm wide and 185mm long (there are two projections to either side and these are not included in the dims)and it has an overall depth of 53mm.

Looking at a "standard" trafficator, the arm is about twice as thick at around 10mm, which will involve cutting of the slot in the door post to get adequate clearance - it is probably the slenderness that cause these to break so easily.

I would have thought that remaking the arm from brass sheet formed over a metal profile would not be beyond the abilities of someone experienced in metalwork fabrication - I image these were just pressed out were simply and cheaply when new.

Hope that helps.

Location: Saltdean, Brighton - sunny today

Thank you very much, Gary, for the most helpful information, especially the photos, which confirm just what the correct fixing plate looks like. Along with the other answers I have received it is helping to guide me towards what I hope will be a satisfactory solution. David

Location: lancashire

Many thanks, Algernon, for the information about the eBay advert, which appears to have come and gone in double quick time - certainly before I got a chance to look at it. Anyway, thanks to you, I've now seen it and it provides an excellent view of what the correct unit looks like in just about every detail. Your help is much appreciated, David

Location: lancashire

This is really a reply to all those who have responded so generously to my initial enquiry, to whom I would like to offer my sincere thanks. What a terrific sevice this website offers!

Whilst the experience hasn't resulted in the perfect solution to my problem - that would certainly be expecting too much - it has provided a considerable insight into the problems of trafficators for the early Ruby models. I've now decided to 'take the bull by the horns' and adapt the pair of reconditioned SF36 trafficators (actually mine are the Tex equivalent). It was clear all along that the main problem was the fixing plate, which I have modified and, although there are still a few more adjustments to make, I am confident that it will ultimately be successful. The end result will fall slightly short of being a perfect substitute for the original units in that the arm is 2cm shorter and painted rather than plated, BUT if it results in a pair of working trafficators that only the experts will recognise as non-original then I'll be happy.

As it seems that the SF36 units are easier to obtain, if anyone would like the details of the modifications I would be more than happy to explain, David.

Location: lancashire

Hi David,
Yes please, I've got 1 sf36 and am trying to locate another a present,

Thanks
Bryan

Location: Nz

to whom it may concern, if you type in "vintage lucas car arm" into the ebay search box, there may be something of interest. Sorry I don't know how to link. cheers russell

Location: qld

HERE

Location: Saltdean, Brighton - sunny today

Russell, it is quite easy, just copy the address from the browser, paste into the message and if you look at the line above this box you will see "bb code and html allowed" - click on the bb code and you will see a table of how to do it - just look at the "Example" and all you have to do is add a bit to the web address to make it into a link - just type "[url=" at the start of the web address and then type "HERE[/url]" at the end, job done! Have a go!

Location: Saltdean, Brighton - sunny today

I'm sure all that makes sense to most people, but I got lost after browser!
Doh!

Nick

If you want to be clever and just have 'HERE' on the page then you have to do the following:-

At the website you want to refer to, in this case right down to the actual Ebay item you want to direct people to, at the top of the page is a 'window', whilst your reading this, at the top of this page it will say something like http://pub25.bravenet....... etc.,

Place your mouse arrow/hand over this and click the left button once (on the mouse), the web site reference will then have a blue backgroung, press the 'cont' and 'c' keys together on the keyboard (for copy).

.....and for want of a better phrase, leave to one side, we will come back to that soon.

On this page in your Reply, type something like :
Hey guys seen this super thing and at this point type in

after the equals sign without a space and don't press return either, bring back what you copied by pressing the 'cont' and 'v' together and that whole website reference will follow the = sign.

Then still without a space type ]
(This was left out in the previous post by Gary)

so that what you will have is:-
[url = http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-LUCAS-CAR-ARM-INDICATOR-IN-ITS-ORIGINAL-BOX?item=330702629787&cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7061061403425281424 ] NOTE, the couple of spaces within this url address is so that it will appera here as an examp;e of all the lettering - there are NO spaces in the actual web site address.

Now type in HERE then type

and you should end up with this:-

Hey guys seen this super thing here

Location: Lands End - UK, nearby

Sorry about a couple of spelling mistakes etc, the system wen AWOL a couple of times and I'm not going to open that reply up again too - argh......

Location: Lands End - UK, nearby

Thanks Sandy, that is a lot clearer, I think the lack of '[' was definitely misleading me. Now I only need a chance to show I've learnd my lesson and can use it.
PS Don't know how long the days in Cornwall must be for you to fit in all you do in a day!

Hi Bryan

A lengthy email reply complete with photos has now been sent to you. Good luck if you decide to proceed!

David

Location: lancashire

Hi David,
It looks like the SF36 trafficator isn't a very good replacement either As the coil is to low when the arm is lined up with pillar slot.
Regards
Bryan

Location: New Zealand

Is that new woodworm?
Some of the holes look a little bit clean..

Location: West of Watford, through the gap

Sadly not only the cars were imported from the uk . The borer beatle also got imported. The activity has stopped but I'll be replacing these shall pieces as well. ( our native Beatle is a lot bigger and loves hardwoods and can't resist lemon trees

Location: Nz

Bryan,
Your neck of the woods, call Bert Munrow, he peed on his Lemon Tree, was that to get rid of his beetles




Sunny Surrey

I can feel a 'going off topic' coming on....
My wife insists I pee into a bucket when the Badgers are becoming active! Apparently they don't like the smell of it....
I haven't seen any reduction in their activities, but of course to ensure there's sufficient 'supply' I have to take on-board larger quantities of fluid, fortunately our local Inn, is willing to assist in this matter.

Location: West of Watford, through the gap

This is a reply to the message from Bryan Walker dated 25 March, now several mesages down the line!

I apologise for not responding sooner, Bryan, but my computer has been out-of-action for the past four days.

Like I explained in my long email to you, the SF36 is not a PERFECT replacement for the original Ruby trafficator, but by cutting off the fixing plate at the positions shown in the photographs I sent, the unit slides easily into the cavity inside the door pillar. I agree that when you line up the wider part of the arm (where the bulb is located) with the oval widened slot in the door pillar it leaves a 2cm gap at the top. What I am proposing to do to deal with this is to fasten a small metal plate of appropriate size inside the door pillar (using Araldite or similar) and then, when set, fill up to it using body filler. When sanded smooth and the pillar repainted it should be pretty close to invisible if done carefully and who is going to notice that the slot is a bit shorter (unless there is another Ruby alongside for a direct comparison)?

It does seem to me to be a reasonable solution when the original trafficators are almost impossible to locate and, even then, known to be unreliable.

I hope that makes sense.

Good luck!!

David

Location: lancashire