I installed a Momo steering wheel over the weekend on my '87 911. I have run into two problems and wonder if anyone can help.

1. The Momo hub adapter does not fit flush against the steering column or the plastic steering column surround. There is a 7mm gap between the top of the steering mechanism and the bottom of the hub adapter. Is the hub supposed to bottom out all the way down, or not?

2. I connected the wires to the horn button, and it worked. I took the car around the block and while turning the wheel, I heard a pop, and the horn no longer worked. I took the wheel off and found the brown/white wire that I had connected to the horn button through the hub adapter had snapped. Apparently there was not enough length in the wire to allow it to travel far enough while turning the wheel. Any ideas how to wire this differently? From what I can see there is only a small slit in the hub adapter through which the wire can pass. I can't imagine having to put a ridiculously long wire in there to allow for the travel. What am I missing?

Thanks. (again)

 

Hi Cowhorn,

A small slit?? Are you sure it is a real "Momo" adapter? When I mounted mine, it fit flush and there was lots of room to pass the horn wire through. In any event, make sure you use a good length of wire, and use a good, flexible piece of wire that's at least, oh, 20 gauge. I used a good length of spkr wire (probably about 22ga) and it lasted maybe a month before enough turning of the wheel caused it to break at the end where I crimped the terminal to plug into the horn button. So with the thicker wire, so far so good ...and a bit of extra wire in there will keep the wire more "relaxed," and certainly isn't going to hurt anything. Hope this helps.

Edward

 

Thanks, Edward.

Yes, it is a Momo, bought new from Pelican Parts (great service, by the way). The adapter fits snugly against the splined post in the center, so no room there to pass the wire. The adapter has a good sized hole/channel in the base through which a wire may pass, but the plastic piece from the stock steering wheel that trips the turn signal on and off fits in there and prevents anything from being passed through the adapter base. All that is left is this little slit in the metal that is contiguous with that channel, so I passed the wire through it. Something isn't right. I can sense it.

 

I think I get it now. IIRC, there is phillips screw that holds that plastic piece with a flexible metal contact ...this is the contact for the horn on the OE wheel. Remove this piece altogether and connect its wire to the Momo horn button. You should then find that with the adaptor and Momo wheel, you'll have lots of free space for the horn wire to just hang out. BTW, my Momo wheel does NOT self cancel the turn signals as it's absent the tab that actuates the t-signal. Does your wheel have a self-cancelling tab?

Edward

 

No, it didn't come with a self-cancelling tab. I attached the tab from the stock wheel to the Momo hub adapter, and the turn signal now operates normally. As far as that phillips screw holding the plastic piece, I am not seeing it. The plastic housing for that flexible metal contact, the plastic ring that was screwed into the stock steering wheel, and the cancelling tab are all one solid (cast) piece.

I am open to any ideas, though.

 

Hmmm, what year is your car, and can you take a pic and post here.

Edward

 

My car is a 1987. I would like to post a pic, but the computer tells me the pic is too big to post (>180 pixels or something like that). I'll keep trying.

 

[IMG]I just finished installing a Momo Corse on my 89 Carrera, so I am assuming that the design is close to the same as yours.
1) I cannot speak to the gap you mentioned - I bought the recommended hub from Pelican and had no gaps.
2) I can tell you what I saw regarding the horn connection. On the back of the OEM wheel was a slip ring with the turn signal canceller (plastic tab) attached via three screws. This removed from the OEM wheel and attached directly to the Momo hub. There was even a hole dedicated to the horn connection. This combo of hole/slip ring design makes wire length irrelevant. Nice feature. The only "massaging" I had to do was alter the size of the connection on the momo horn button. The metal (male) connector was about 4-5 mm on the horn button and the OEM wire (female) connector was about 2-3 mm. Had to trim the metal connection on the horn button down. Will try to attache pics....not sure how to do it....but here goes.

 

I went the other route and spliced a new, smaller female end onto the hot wire. Works great now.

 

That's the right way to do it.