Steering column

The column is from a MK1 Capri. The bare columns appear fairly regularly on UK eBay, and are not expensive.

DeTomaso retained the ignition switch assembly and the turn signal stalk assembly from the Capri column.
Those two assemblies are not common on eBay and are expensive when offered. The two-piece shroud for the two assemblies is also from the Capri, and it is also a bit rare.

Wilkinson does offer a reproduction turn signal assembly, and likely has the ignition switch and shroud.

BUT, DeTomaso actually shortened the Capri assembly for the Pantera. Not sure how much was taken out.

Hope this helps on your search.

Larry

BTW - I have a two-piece shroud and ignition switch available for sale if needed.

Since I recently have just done this one would think I would remember the amount? Not so fast Bunkie. I do think that it was about 8" that was cut out?

I can understand that if you would be looking at a full Capri column, you would think, no way that can possibly fit in a Pantera? Way.

They cut out the maximum amount that they could with only one cut.

There are some steel sheet metal tabs that you will need to fabricate and "dimple weld on to the tube.

They were added for the Pantera and are not on the original Capri column so I guess you need to say that a Pantera column is unique?

The Capri unit does not have them...and no, I did not document this with pictures. What'a ya' think I'm smart or something? Nah.

I have a spare bare upper column I would sell, not the lower slip shaft section though.

Julian

I went a completely different direction. I took a speedway motors simple tube column with removable wheel. I made a housing to mount which fit the dash. I think it looks pretty good.

For turn signals, I made my own light controller. The first worked off of an optical encoder I made at the back of the column. This is used to keep track of the steering wheel motion and cancels the turn the way a mechanical cancel works.

From there I designed the same light control system to use inertia to cancel the turn which works extraordinarily well. Thus there is nothing on the column.

The switch is a momentary left right on the dash. I have since gotten a patent on both methods.

I think the column looks better than the Capri:

Can this be installed on the existing column in place of the existing switch assembly? What is the cost and availability?

quote:

Originally posted by over50:
Can this be installed on the existing column in place of the existing switch assembly? What is the cost and availability?

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I was away today.

I keep them up on ebay. The basic model is Mark II which is $205 + $15 shipping:

http://www.gasautosolutions.com/

This is a light control system which controls turn signals, marker lights and flashers. It is completely independent of the existing turn signal system.

Auto cancel is done by inertia. It accumulates forces in a turn in an algorithm which determines when a turn has been made. If you put a soda on the dash and you make a turn, the soda slides off the dash. This unit monitors these forces and filters out multiple forces and determines when a legitimate turn has been made and cancels the signal.

I took the demo unit and plugged it into the cigarette lighter then drove around. It has no other connection to the vehicle other than being powered by the cigarette lighter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...7QI&feature=youtu.be

As far as putting it in a Pantera, here are the issues. The unit needs to powered by a dedicated line. You would be surprised how many hot rodders have hooked it up to the flasher circuit which only turns the power on and off to the unit.

But the real issue is all the light wires have to be re-routed to this box. That is sometimes easier in a custom car than an existing oem vehicle.

To give you an idea, here is the light hookup:




And here is the switch hook up:

BTW, it is controlled by a solid state micro controller. It does not care if the bulbs are LED.

I am thinking of making a budget version this winter for race cars. It would not be auto cancel but would still control the lights. I was thinking since race cars do not have a dedicated electrical system, this might be a good solution.

The micro controller has 25+ pages of programing so I need a week of winter snow to go through it and make the changes

I can drop the price $20-25 without the inertia sensor.

Would anyone know the number of splines and diameter of the steering column shaft?

Thanks
Mark

quote:

Originally posted by comp2:
BTW, it is controlled by a solid state micro controller. It does not care if the bulbs are LED.

I am thinking of making a budget version this winter for race cars. It would not be auto cancel but would still control the lights. I was thinking since race cars do not have a dedicated electrical system, this might be a good solution.

The micro controller has 25+ pages of programing so I need a week of winter snow to go through it and make the changes

I can drop the price $20-25 without the inertia sensor.

Very impressive!

Cheers, Tim.

Mark,

9/16"/ 36 spline.

Dave.
Thanks
Mark

I looked at the website and video. It still wasn't clear how this integrates with the existing system and switches. Do I use my existing turn signal lever to initiate the lights flashing or do I have to mount your toggle switch somewhere? What about the existing flasher button?

It doesn't use the turn signal stalk at all. It uses a L/R momentary switch on the dash. The flasher is just used as a switch connected to the box. It just reads a high/low voltage.

The micro controller controls the flash rate so nothing goes through the flasher itself.

quote:

Originally posted by comp2:
It doesn't use the turn signal stalk at all. It uses a L/R momentary switch on the dash. The flasher is just used as a switch connected to the box. It just reads a high/low voltage.

The micro controller controls the flash rate so nothing goes through the flasher itself.

Seems too awkward for normal driving to reach for a switch on the dash. Can the switch in the turn signal stalk be used for the momentary? Mine is functional, it just doesn't self cancel.

The arm would need to not catch. It would need to bounce back to center. I would be careful about making irreversible mods to the internals.

I have been working on a Stalk. It works well and looks good but unless i sell them by the thousands, having the body injection molded is not practical.