Safety fast

John is sometimes a hazard in himself, so equipping his MGB with hazard lights seems entirely fitting

1973 MGB GT

I use my ‘B GT regularly as local transport and one of the things I’ve always intended to do, but never got around to, is fit hazard flashers. Then someone recommended that I take a look at recently launched company Retronics (retronicsonline. com), which specialises in making electronic additions for classic cars.

The kit costs £50 and arrived well packed with clearly-worded instructions that even I could understand.

I used heat shrink insulation to cover all my properly-crimped connections, in order to prevent them from failing and generally neaten it all up. There were only four wires to connect and one decision to be made – where to get the 12v feed from. I have taken my feed off an ignition-fed side of a fuse box circuit because it had a spare spade connecter. I will move that to a non-ignition circuit when I fit a new larger fuse box in the near future because the car has so many upgrades on it now that four fuses is a recipe for confusion and even disaster.

The wiring was simple: two Scotch Locks into the indicator circuit (heat shrunk for longevity) then a 12v feed and an earth. A quick test showed that they worked fine once I’d finished the wiring. The problem came with mounting the switch.

A gap in the centre console seemed like the logical place to put it, so I drilled a hole in the wooden panel and through the plastic behind. Unfortunately, the wooden panel was too deep for the switch to feed through. The MG had the aftermarket wooden dashboard when I bought it, and to be honest I’ve never liked it. Removing it would, however, mean removing the dash, welding up all the holes then painting it – a lot of time, a load of money and the potential for more dastardly failed items of electrickery.

I’ve never really had cause to think about the fact that it adds 7mm or so to the depth that the switches have to fit through. In the end, I attempted to drill a much larger hole halfway through with a 25mm flat drill bit and made a right mess of it, badly scratching the panel when the bit slipped and making a distinctly oval hole rather bigger than 25mm.

In the short term I’ve epoxied in a washer, bolted the switch to that and then covered up the whole mess with a sticker. It looks awful but I don’t have time to remove the wooden trim panel from the centre console and restore or replace it.

Still, at least I can now have a breakdown knowing that I can tell the world that I’m immobile.

John drilling the dash and – by his own admission – making a right pig’s ear of it.

MG badge sticker covers up dash damage but looks odd. Restoration is on the cards.

Retronic unit is small enough to hide behind dash is held in place with cable ties.

Kit and instructions.