Custom Indicator Mounting

I bought some turn signals off of an auction site, but they were not as described. Instead of a 1 inch long 7 mm mounting stud they have a 1/2 inch long 10 mm mounting stud. Before I send them back I was wondering if anyone had any clever ideas in regard to getting them mounted.

The rear is not an issue (custom tail I can simply drill in to); only the front.

The stock signals are 8 mm and fit through the polished inserts shown in the photo below. The hole in the insert is therefore 8 mm and they are 1/2 inch thick. I have a spare pair of inserts by the way. Even if I drill the hole in the insert out to 10 mm, the studs are not long enough, let alone with washers to consider.

So, any ideas?

Check some hardware stores that have threaded rod and see if you can find some extentions that may fit. Basicly they're longer nuts so maybe you could add a short piece of threaded rod onto what you have now

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I actually just solved the problem and I should have tried this before posting. Initially I dismissed it, but I just tapped the 8 mm hole to 10 mm threads and the signal screws in very securely. Tapping new threads always makes me nervous, but I guess it is easier than I thought because I didn't even have to drill the hole out bigger.

Hopefully this is somewhat useful though, as 99% of the cheap turn signals of, likely, chinese origin are 10 mm. I know, I spent hours looking!

Don't the inserts sit at a particular angle? (haven't looked in a long time) If so, how are you going to get the lens to face the right direction when screwed in?

Last time I had to modify signals it involved drilling a hole through a 2" carriage bolt to replace the short one that come on them. Talk about a PITA.

If that works out for you- Great!. I had a similar issue with my new indicators. I Made a cutter out of a piece of round tube that just fit over the stud on the indicator and using a drill, cut around the stud into the rubber of the indicator until the stud came out. I removed the original stud embedded in the rubber. I then epoxied a new, longer stud into the rubber. In my case, the stud was 8mm, just too short.

Ebola Monkey said:

Don't the inserts sit at a particular angle? (haven't looked in a long time) If so, how are you going to get the lens to face the right direction when screwed in?.

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They do sit at a particular angle, but I believe the rubber that the inserts go in to can be rotated with some muscle.

HoughMade said:

I then epoxied a new, longer stud into the rubber..

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I thought about chopping the rubber dampers shorter myself, but inserting a new stud sounds like a better idea. Where did you find a new one?

It turns out that I may just send them back after all. The seller got back to me and offered to pay for return shipping. I didn't expect that!

I bought 8mm bolts of the right length at Ace and cut the heads off.

Yeah, but don't they need to be hollow? That's why I was wondering what you did.

My new signals did not run the wires through the stud. They run in a groove in the rubber on the back side. I had to drill a small hole in that "H" shaped metal peice to run them through.