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MG MGB Technical - Moto Lita horn button

When I bought my car, it had this Moto Lita steering wheel. Looks sharp, comfortable to hold, drives fine, but the horn button is garbage.

When I got the car, I had to stick some rubber bumpers under the contacts to make the horn work at all. A few years later, the whole assembly fell out in my lap, so I wedged some scrap between the hub and steering wheel to keep it in place. Now the plastic hub has gone out of round so the center jams in it.

Other than the horn button on the turn indicator stalk, have any other Moto Lita owners found a decent alternative to the supplied horn button?

Thanks in advance,

Matt K.
Matt Kulka

Strange. I've had a motolita leather wheel for years and the horn push is just fine. I would say it's better than the MG original button. The only slight problem I had when it was new was inadequate ground contact - soon cured by scraping off a little paint on the inside of the hub where the springy contact rubs.

Mike
Mike Howlett

The Motalita horn push does have a tendency to pop out occaisonally and in my opinion doesn't look too pretty either.

The MG Owners Club produce a replica of the early horn pushes (the ones with a BIG MG sign in it) These horn pushes are beautifully detailled and the extra weight keeps them sitting pretty.

It looks so much better in the car, i'd recomend the change to anyone
Red Neck

Mike,

I've had this car since 1997, and the wheel came with it. Like yours, mine is a leather wheel. (14" slotted, flat). Perhaps mine was built on a Monday. I hope you continue to have good fortune with yours. As I said, the steering wheel itself is very nice. I'm glad it came with the car, as I probably wouldn't have bought one myself.

Red,

I saw the horn push you're talking about on the MGOC web site. It would do on a full size wood wheel. However, mine being small, leather and flat, I think it would stick out like a bunion on a ballerina's toe.

I hate to spend $65 on the Moto Lita billet horn push. This car is a driver, not a show car. I'll surf around the hot rod web sites and see if there's some other horn push I can adapt.

Thanks for the replies.

Matt Kulka

Matt, I have a Moto Lita on my '68 GT. On my car, the horn push is on the stalk, which was the first year they put it there. The Moto Lita has a simple flat plastic center with a MG logo and does not have a horn push at all. Although the center cover is not that great, it looks OK. I do have an early (pre-'68) horn push and it does fit the center of the Moto Lita wheel, but as you say, it really sticks out a long way.
John Hubbard

Matt

My wheel is a mounteney (cheaper alternative to a mota lita most likely!) but rather than the horn push that sits pround of the wheel that you see on some wheels, mine is a flush centre cap/horn push with a slight dome to it - it does have an MG badge glued on, but one assumes any number of badges could be stuck here....

Action is a bit "primitive" but it works. I think the MGOC sell them, but may not be obvious from their phots as they tend to show only the proud fitting (which IMO looks awful). Can't really suggest where you look, but an email to the club may help, otherwise any *boy-racer* chop where they sell these wheel types would likely have an adaptation you can use.

A friend broke his centre horn push and fitted a stalk version cos it was cheaper than all teh gubbins for teh centre push. His new Mounteney has a flush fit centre cap/horn push like mine too however, although the wheel is much much smaller (for a midget/sprite)

Good luck looking anyhow


~PHIL
Phil

This thread was discussed between 24/04/2003 and 25/04/2003

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