Removing top half of steering column?

[1969Mk3Spitfire]

The indicator self-cancelling mechanism on my car doesn't work. I've started to investigate and it appears that the mechanics who reassembled it (before I bought it) have put the steering column  in the wrong orientation.  The cancelling feature on the shaft is at 12 o'clock but I believe that it should be at 3 o'clock. Is that right, or am I missing something?

Separately, they missed the earth strap from the bottom joint to the rack.  They must be the most inaccessible bolts on the car so I'm not overly keen to have to remove them again (I didn't know about the cancelling issue when I was chasing down the earth strap issue).

Hence my question, can I release the top half of the steering shaft from inside the car and rotate it by 90 degrees?

[DanMi]

it should be pointing between the lugs on the indicator switch, normally 3 oclock (I have swapped mine to match moderns so 9 on mine). I suspect a new rack has been put on and not centralised. You need to count the number of turns lock to lock, then turn back half of this number, this is the central position then put the column on so that the cancel lug is in the right place and d then put the wheel on straight, then set the tracking to match

 

[Colin Lindsay]

24 minutes ago, 1969Mk3Spitfire said:

Hence my question, can I release the top half of the steering shaft from inside the car and rotate it by 90 degrees?

I don't think so; I'm not familiar with the Mk3 Spitfire so apologies if I'm wrong, but on my cars - Herald and GT6 - the steering column has a collapsable feature (in the event of accidents) and this only allows the upper column and the lower column to join together in one specific direction.

You'll need to undo the lower steering coupling and revolve the column there, as Dan says, until it's in the correct orientation with the indicator clip correctly against the switch, then replace the steering wheel at the correct setting and have the tracking checked. 

[NonMember]

Yes, the Mk3 column is identical to the Herald.

The bottom coupling isn't that hard to get to! Remember, when you did the earth strap you needed to get at both ends. For this job, you only need to release it from the rack, which is fairly accessible.

[1969Mk3Spitfire]

Many thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

It wasn’t a job that I was looking forward to but it was actually quite straightforward. 

NonMember, you were right, I only needed to remove the spline coupling nearest to the rack where access is just a little better

I currently have the gearbox tunnel removed as I’ve just re-bushed the remote gear change so access to the steering column inside the car was ok, too.