1102 replies to this topic

[Shiney005]

Lets see some in car footage of the trip home eh Mat???

[Bigfella237]

Sounds like it's coming along Mat, but I really hope you reconsider adding those cheap-looking clearance lights.

 

Firstly because they just look damn ugly, but also because they're clearance lights not blinkers, so I think you'll find they won't be bright enough during the day?

 

If you absolutely have to have them, maybe take a walk around a wrecking yard and find a pair of factory repeater lamps that you like the look of, but don't forget to either buy the mudguard as well or take note of the shape of the hole they mount in?

[Bigfella237]

Yeah they're two completely different systems between LH and LX.

 

LH (as with HQ and earlier models) had 3 wires going to a floor-mounted dip switch, which was heavy duty enough to power the headlights directly, so power was supplied to the dip switch from the headlight switch, then directed to either the high or low beams depending on the position of the dip switch.

 

LX is more complicated, the floor-mounted dip switch is replaced by a "latching" changeover relay under the bonnet, and the signal from the stalk-mounted dip switch that tells the relay to change state is simply a momentary earth signal.

 

So you're using an LH steering column, but remind me what wiring harness you have? I think it was LX, in which case, do you have one of these relays mounted near the driver's side headlight...

 

 

...if that's there (I assume it is if your headlights work at all), you should only need to replace the stalk/switch in the coffee pot, feed the wires down through the column and plug 'em in to the harness?

[Bigfella237]

That picture above is from an LX, you can see the microswitch at the base of the stalk...

 

 

If you buy an LX combo switch it should plug straight into the LX wiring harness without doing any modification, it's all in the one single plug.

 

You feed it down through the coffee pot, down through the plastic sleeve below that, and connect it to the wiring harness down next to the ignition switch (the switch itself, not the key).

 

Should be easy as...

[Bigfella237]

Okay so you've ONLY bought the stalk and microswitch that I circled and not the whole assembly pictured?

 

There's my confusion, I assumed it would all come as one assembly.

 

Would the round plastic blinker switch part from an LH even have room to mount that microswitch from the LX? I've never tried to mix'n'match, I assumed the connector would have more pins on the LX model?

[Bigfella237]

Oh P.S. Yes the extra black wire is just an earth, if you look at the LX wiring diagram it clearly shows it earthed on one side of the switch (No. 11)...

 

[Bigfella237]

It's not that hard to wire the wiper switch from the UC combo switch, I did one many years ago and if I remember it was just a case of extending a few wires down to where the LX wiper switch was removed, I did this on a mate's car and I think we added a rotary intermittent / dwell controller where the original switch was.

 

But you need the UC coffee pot and ignition barrel as well because the hole in the side was in the wrong spot, I recall we opened it out to suit with a die grinder but then the stalk didn't fully cover the enlarged slot and it looked damned ugly so we ended up changing the whole coffee pot.

 

You also have the option to replace the factory headlight switch with the combo switch from a VL Commodore too...

 

 

...apparently it's a direct bolt-in replacement for the UC/VB/VC/VH/VK style wiper switch but obviously different wiring. Note that I've never actually done this style but we looked at it as an option and went for the wiper switch instead.

 

Anyway...

 

Looking at you photos above, I'd say the LX stalk will fit the LH blinker switch as it has that extra bracket that puts it off to the side, but I can't remember if that means the slot in the coffee pot moved as well?

 

I'll have a look in the parts catalog and see if the part numbers changed... hang on a minute...

[Bigfella237]

Well that's weird, the coffee pot (or "HOUSING - Steering column") is listed in the LH catalog but it's missing from the LX catalog? However both catalogs have the same superseded part number (9945882) written in pen so I would say they're the same?

 

What's also strange is that there's no mention of trim colour, I'm sure these were painted different colours depending on the trim, or were they all black?

 

Also both LH and LX appear to use the same part number (9929792) for the blinker switch assembly.

 

So I'd guess that it should still all fit together, I think you'll be right.

[Bigfella237]

I don't remember it being difficult to convert the wiper switch, but it was probably 20+ years ago so maybe my memory is not as good as I remember!

 

Thinking more about the VL headlight switch, the only thing you would have to consider is that the Commodore had a separate wheel/knob for dimming the dash lights so you would lose that ability if replacing the Torana headlight switch.

 

Anyway, quit spending money on accessories and get the damn thing on the road first (still waiting for the road test video)!

[Shiney005]

Looks $1,000,000