Sparco wheel on airbag car
08-20-2002, 03:02 AM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Lake Forest, CA
Posts: 110
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sparco wheel on airbag car
Just finished removing the 13-year-old pyrotechnics from my steering wheel and dash, and fitted a 350-mm Sparco Lap 5 wheel. Here's a way to fit it to an airbag car without having to get another plastic steering column shroud. (Sorry about the humongous photos...I know it's annoying to scroll back and forth to read the text!)
Basically, you just cut the shroud to countersink the new steering wheel hub below the surface of the plastic. To do this, I first measured how big the new hole needed to be, and found I needed to remove about 3/8 in. of plastic around the perimeter of the hole. Luckily, I found a nice sharp insulated staple with a span of 3/8 in. between prongs, and used this to scribe a reference circle in the plastic (one prong sliding against the original inside diameter, the other scribing the mark). Then I used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum to remove most of the material, and finished with 180-grit paper
Caution:If you're going to unplug the airbag, disconnect the battery 1 hour before doing this. It will allow the airbag firing capacitor to discharge. For more info on this, see Tom Pultz's excellent site, 944S2.com. He also offers info on how to make the horn function again, if that's a priority for you.
A couple of other notes: You won't need the white plastic collar that's beneath the wheel on the steering shaft anymore. It functions as a horn contact and contains some airbag wiring/plugs. Also, I find that the turn-signal canceling with the new wheel is a little iffy. I think it would work better with a little artful bending of the pin that's there for that purpose, but I haven't got around to that yet.
The new wheel weighs half of what the original weighed, and as a result you feel a little more feedback from the wheel due to lessened inertia. It's one of the things I like best about the change. <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />
Basically, you just cut the shroud to countersink the new steering wheel hub below the surface of the plastic. To do this, I first measured how big the new hole needed to be, and found I needed to remove about 3/8 in. of plastic around the perimeter of the hole. Luckily, I found a nice sharp insulated staple with a span of 3/8 in. between prongs, and used this to scribe a reference circle in the plastic (one prong sliding against the original inside diameter, the other scribing the mark). Then I used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum to remove most of the material, and finished with 180-grit paper
Caution:If you're going to unplug the airbag, disconnect the battery 1 hour before doing this. It will allow the airbag firing capacitor to discharge. For more info on this, see Tom Pultz's excellent site, 944S2.com. He also offers info on how to make the horn function again, if that's a priority for you.
A couple of other notes: You won't need the white plastic collar that's beneath the wheel on the steering shaft anymore. It functions as a horn contact and contains some airbag wiring/plugs. Also, I find that the turn-signal canceling with the new wheel is a little iffy. I think it would work better with a little artful bending of the pin that's there for that purpose, but I haven't got around to that yet.
The new wheel weighs half of what the original weighed, and as a result you feel a little more feedback from the wheel due to lessened inertia. It's one of the things I like best about the change. <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />
08-20-2002, 02:41 PM
#3
Instructor
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Newporsche Beach, California
Posts: 230
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yep, clock is dust. I'm thinking of using the "VCR repair kit" that fixes that annoying display that starts blinking whenever the power goes out...a piece of electrical tape!!
