The whole process is pretty straightforward, but I'll go ahead and write down how I swapped out my stock steering wheel for an aftermarket. The instructions that came with the aftermaket hub were all in japanese, so impossible for an All-American to read...




Object: Replace the stock steering wheel with an aftermarket.

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Time: 30mins (novice), I did it in about 10 having never previosuly removed the steering wheel honestly (though I was motivated by negative degree weather)...

Needs: Aftermarket steering wheel and aftermarket steeringwheel hub for the FC3S.

NOTE: Have your FC on DRY PAVEMENT; grave, ice, water, or having your FC on jackstands will make this much more dificult and probably get you cussing...

NOTE: Step nine requires the installer to have an understanding on how electronics work, if you don't know, find someone who can help you...

Tools: Philips Screwdriver, 21mm Socket, Socket drive/wrench.

NOTE: I actually used a 6 pt 22mm socket because it was all I had available. It worked fine though was a tad loose. I would imagine a 12pt socket would destroy the nut however. I also used a breaker bar and it worked well.
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1.) Remove the retaining screws on the back of the steering wheel. there are thee of them. Theyare on the rear of the steering wheel towards the center/hub area. These three screws hold the horn button in the center of the steering wheel on the column. You may need to turn the steering wheel or remove the steering column surroung to get access to them. If you need to, the steering coulumn surround is fastened with screws, its easily removed.


2.) Pull on the stock horn button, it should pull right off, be sure not to rip the horn wire. The horn wire is attatched and is easy to disconnect.


3.) Use the 21mm socket and wrench to remove teh nut on the end of the steering column. After the nut is loose, do not remove it all teh way, leave the nut on by about 3 or so threads.

NOTE: ON JACKSTANDS/ICE/GRAVEL?: trying to remove the above bolt with anything but an impact wrench will be dificult if you're alone. Intstead of the nut turning, you will be turning the entire steering column (and tires). The easiest workaround for this is to use an impact gun which will remove the nut without moving the steering column. Alternatively, you can have a friend hold the steering wheel fast while you unscrew the nut. Once the nut is broke loose, you won't have to worry about this again until you reinstall the nut later


4.) With the nut still on the shaft by 4 or so threads..... the next step is to remove the steeringwheel from the spines on the steering column shaft. I did *NOT* use a steering wheel puller. Alternatively, I pulled at the steering wheel on the 3-9 position, and then the 12 6 position. It took about 5 good yanks at each position trying to pull the steering wheel before i heard a *PING*. -- Steering wheel successfuly pulled.

If you didn't have the 21mm nut still on the shaft, you probably just gave yourself a bloody nose... next time read the directions better...

STEERING WHEEL PULLER: follow puller isntructions, its pretty straightforward, but try yanking on the steering wheel first, it will save some time if it pops right off like it did for me...



5.) Remove the nut, and remove the steering wheel. SAVE THE NUT-- you'll need it shortly.


6.) Notice the aftermarket steering wheel hub. It will have two pins on the rear side at the 3 and 9 position. These pins align with the Turn signal cam sensor. They MUST be aligned when you install the hub.


7.) Installing the hub: Align the noted above pins with the Turn Signal Cam sensor (you'll understand when you get to this point). When the hub is aligned, the center spines should match up with the steering column spines.


8.) The Steering Column Shaft will protrude through the hub by about 3/4" . Take the 21mm nut we removed before, and reinstall it on the Column. Make sure its tight enough that it won't be coming loose, I tightened until the wheels started turning instead of the nut. Then I held the hub and torqued slightly.


9.) Aftermarket steering wheels often come with a horn button, but often so do the steering wheel hubs. Although the buttons are interchangable, there is one main difference in designs. The steering wheel hubs often have a design for the horn button in place. Where as the steering wheel horn button is more wire-dependant. Generaly the buttons that come with the steering wheel will match the design of the steering wheel better than the the button packaged with the hub.

A> Basicaly most hubs uses itself as a grounding lead for the horn, hence the horn requires only one wire hookup-- the switch.

B> The steering wheel horn requires a two wire hookup, a ground, and a switch.

In both cases, the switch gets hooked up to the original horn switch lead (there was only one, as the stock steering wheel's hub is grounded, just like most aftermarket hubs.


10.) The next step depends on the steering wheel type, but most aftermarket steering
wheels have a 6 bolt pattern on the steeringwheel that bolts to the hub. This step may be slightly different depending on your aftermarket steering wheel choice. Align the 6 bolt holes of the steering wheel with the hub and bolt in the new steering wheel.


11.) Admire your work. Adjust your seat position, different sized steering wheels will probably call for you to sit naturally in a slightly different position (in my case I leaned the seat back slightly more to see all the gauge sets and have a good feel for the new steering wheel. )


12.) Drive slow for the first few minutes so you acn get a handle of the new steering wheel feel. Test the following functions, horn, turn signal cancel for left and right turns. Everythign work?


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After installation thoughts: The installation was straightforward. The most dificult part was removing the steering wheel and it was pretty easy. The steering wheel has a much more firm feel. Turning at slow speeds is slightly more dificult, but its less of a dificult feeling than it is a firm feeling. Cruising is much easier now IMO. I took the car out for some twisties in the hills and the steering wheel is formed perfectly for the sportscar enthusiasts. The formation of the steering wheel provides excellect grip, weather flowing the twists, or out for groceries.

I bought some low prices ebay spec type stuff. The total cost for the steering wheel and hub came to less than $90. As of the moment, I'm very pleased with the results. Time will tell if the quality of the steering wheel or hub is less than par.



If I had a digital camera handy I'd take some pictures. See attatchments for the products used, they were purchased on ebay.

 

awsome, i got the SAME setup as you on ebay. the total cost was under 90 also. but my wheel is black.

sorry for the crappy pic of the wheel.

 

Yeah, I wanted to get the black one but bid on the silver on accident, it does actually match better than I thought it would though. BTW,if you haven't installed it yet, both the steering wheel and the hub came with the 6 bolts. Use the bolts from teh steering wheel, they are a little bit long and thread into the hub, plus they are SS compared to teh black hub ones. I really like the steering wheel, damn nice for less than $90. I wasn't expecting much, but I'm pleased.

 

Sir Rupert Hobo, is that a real bride wheel, or just the horn button, it looks really awesome,

 

<$90, reread his post

 

yea, it's some sort of knockoff. but hey, it looks like great quality stuff!

the bolts from the hub does look sort of whimpy.

btw, i used the one that came from the hub. with the "+" looking symbol. not the bride one.

 

I'm sure there are hundreds of different aftermarket button things you could find over the net though, they look like they have a universersal fit...

 

Loooks nice!!

- Can you comment on the quality of the leather??
- What size diameter??
- Who is the eBay seller that you bought from??

 

- Decent, you get what you pay for remember
- 350mm (slightly smaller than stock, definately noticeable though)
- See: http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhtaccessories

 

there was a discussion about this wheel in the lounge a while back and i found it on the sellers site cheaper that ebay after shipping. here is the link to it.

http://nlmotoring.com/product_info.p...oducts_id/5819

 

I guess I'm not seeing how thats cheaper. We paid <$90 total, for the wheel, hub, and shipping....

 

i was talking about the one Sir Rupert Hobo has

 

Whom also paid less than $90 total...

 

is the wheel actually leather ? or some plastic stuff ( the one wit tha bride horn) i was thinking of getting te same wheel..also, isnt tha bride one 320mm??? how much smaller is that compared to stock?

 

Stock is 380mm, 320mm is 60mm less in diameter-- roughly two inches

 

So how is the quality? Is it leather or pleather? I was looking at those also I wish I could see a pic of it installed kenteth. I have been looking at them on Ebay as well they are so tempting. So with the smaller wheel can you tell much differance in driving..?

 

oh well i didnt read his post and was just going off of what it used to be.

 

nice

 

The smaller the diameter of the wheel, the less leverage you have, which (on a manual steering car) you'll notice. On a powersteering car, I doubt it will matter much, it will just be a different feel. To go lock to lock will be smaller circles/less grabs of the steering wheel. Though, technicaly there may be increased resistance, turning is subsequently faster.


As for my wheel, its 350mm and the resistance (remember, i've a manual rack) is noticeable, but gives a firmer and (IMO) more comfortable and connected-road feeling, IMO if you've never driven a manual steer FC, you have no right whatso ever to bitch about it. Manual steering on the FC is as easy as powersteering in any situation other than dead stop.

Leather-Pleather: Looks like leather... cheap *** chinese cow hide probably cost as much as cheap plastic anyhow... Its definately not italian leather, I'll put it that way. Either way though, its still decent quality.

I'll try to get picts sometime soon...

No worries mate.

 

i JUST installed my wheel and made a customer horn for it even. Nice write up, but instead of using an impact gun for the nut. I turned my wheel left to right until the safety lock engauged and then unbolted the nut after it locked. I had no trouble at all.

 

Sounds good kenteth, I am prolly gonna buy one. Ya I did not figure it would be like a momo or anything but if it is comparable to Grant that all I really care. Thanks for the input

 

haha, ohhh yeah. I had the key in the ignition at the time I was swapping mine out otherwise I probably would have done the same...

 

not true. lock to lock is still the same # of turns no matter how large or small the newly installed steering wheel is.

but thats a good write up dude... everyone with an FC should get an aftermarket steering wheel.

 

Yeah, same number of turns lock to lock, same steering ratio.

What you get with a smaller diameter wheel is a smaller circumference. It means ur hands travel a shorter distance to rotate the steering wheel the same amount.

This decreases the leverage you get, thats what makes it feel like there is more steering effort

but thats not what he was saying. He made no refference to the number of turns i dont think... when i read his post. just talking about "smaller circles" (smaller circumference)

 

i remember when i first got into my fc after driving another car with a 13in aftermarket wheel... i was like WTF?! this thing is HUGE! its like driving a semi! but now that i changed it it feels a LOT better.