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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Frogeye horn pencil/brush

There seems to be something odd with my (original I think) Frogeye steering wheel. I obtained an earlier horn pencil/brush and it won't fit - far too wide. It's the plastic tube with spring and brass hexagons at each end. My steering wheel has a hexagonal hole at one end for which I have the original brass insert (slightly smaller than new pencil) but a round hole at the other which will take a small spring only. I'm in the middle of trying to make a custom fit pencil from the bits I have. Could it be I have an A35 wheel or something? Are they similar (2 spoke with the radial lines)?

Another 5 minute job that's taking hours.....
Bill Bretherton

No radial lines on the A35 wheel.
Dave O'Neill 2

Hmm. It could be that the original pencil is broken off in the hole although it just looks like a black plastic part of the wheel. Will take a closer look. Looking at pictures on the Internet there should just be a wider round hole to accept the pencil/ brush.
Bill Bretherton

I gave up with the standard brush. I found a spare carbon brush from a motor, with attached spring. Soldered a contact on the spring for the horn button, and made an insulator tube from rolled up plastic sheet. It works OK as I have a relay for the air horns.
Les Rose

I have a NOS pencil in the car and it simply fits into the hole in the steering wheel. Beware the repro ones can have quite a strong spring and can 'squeak' when rubbing on the brass ring of the column boss. The NOS one is silent. Before I found it, I reduced the tension on the spring by unsoldering the end connection and reducing the number of coils on the spring
Bob Beaumont

Well I've cobbled one up from the disassembled brush tube and the old spring which I still had. Bit of cutting, filing and soldering. It did seem that the existing hexagonal hole at the back of the boss and the smaller round hole at the front were part of the s/wheel. I dug out some disintegrating plastic bits. This may well be the original steering wheel from Oct '58 so I wonder if the early brushes were built into the wheel boss. It does work as well, without pushing out the (new) horn push!


Bill Bretherton

well done Bill.Another job ticked off!
Bob Beaumont

Thanks Bob. I hope it's all ok now. I did have to slightly move the outer steering column sideways to align with the cowl (dash wouldn't move) so hope I've not disturbed the inner column to rack alignment too much. I presume if the column slides on and off the rack pinion with relative ease, it is ok.
Bill Bretherton

Hi Bill

yes if you can engage the rack pinion easily then all is good!
Bob Beaumont

The aftermarket one I have has such a strong spring that it keeps shooting the horn button at me - usually when negotiating a corner! It's a bit distracting!
GuyW

This thread was discussed between 12/08/2021 and 14/08/2021

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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