MP5Navy
June 17th, 2003, 12:28 PM
This is a step by step instructional on how to install an aftermarket steering wheel. Personally, I decided to go with a 330mm Sparco Lap3 steering wheel mated to a Momo hub and hub spacer – with the 330mm wheel I have no difficulties seeing the gauges. However, it should be noted that my Sparco seat sits 1.5’’ below the stock seat height of the Pro5 seats.
The only draw back to running an aftermarket steering wheel will be that you will lose the airbag. I have maintained the horn as well as the cruise control. There are two ways to wire the horn: 1. Use the brass ring on the Momo hub and build a metal contact to make contact with it. 2. Use telephone wire and wind it around the steering column to build your own ghetto clock spring.
Pictures will follow; however, I will be as detailed with my steps as possible. If you are confused please feel free to PM me.
To complete this install you will need a few parts as well as some basic hand tools.
Parts:
Aftermarket steering wheel
Momo hub #5702
Momo 1’’ hub spacer (looks more like ½’’)
1 3ohm 1/4w resistor
1 two line telephone wire ~ 2’ long (for horn)
1 four line telephone wire ~ 2.5’ long (for cruise control)
Tools:
10mm/21mm sockets, extension, and ratchet
Side cutters
Soldering iron
Drill and assorted bits
Notes:
Overall the difficulty and the aggravation of this install is fairly low. However, I did not have too much fun figuring it out.
In the Protege5 we cannot use our stock clock springs because the Momo hub rubs against the housing and you can’t steer.
Okay here we go:
1. Park your car with the wheels dead straight. Disconnect the negative terminal to your battery and then press the brakes a few times. Wait for 5 mins for the car to discharge its circuits. This is to ensure you don’t accidentally set of the airbag while you work on the steering wheel.
2. On the stock steering wheel there are two rubber plugs on the underside of the wheel (one on the left and one on the right). When you remove these plugs you will reveal a 10mm bolt that secures your airbag to the stock wheel. Remove both bolts and then gently pull the centre of the steering wheel out. You should now have your airbag in your hands. Disconnect the yellow harness connector by depressing the white tab. Set the airbag aside and treat it gently – it’s basically a bomb.
3. You will now see a 21mm nut in the centre of the steering wheel. Take a black marker and draw a line that runs from the centre of the steering shaft to the top 12o’clock position – this is marking where your shaft is straight with your wheels. Undo the harnesses that connect the horn and cruise controls. Now remove the 21mm nut – it’s the only thing holding your steering wheel to the shaft. You are now ready to pull off the steering wheel. Some of the girls might want to use a steering wheel puller but the men can just grab the wheel and proceed to rock it back and forth while pulling. It will come off so don’t give up.
4. Once the wheel is off remove the covers that surround the steering column. There are three Phillips screws on the underside that must be unfastened. Once the screws are out release the steering column tilt handle and yank on the lower cover from the back and the clips will pop off, separating the upper cover from the bottom cover. Put this stuff aside.
5. Sitting in the driver’s seat you will see a black piece of plastic with a yellow sticker on it – this is called a “clock spring” and it contains a coil of ribbon wires. You do not need this piece so remove the 3 Phillips screws that hold it to the steering column and take it off – disconnect the harness at the back of the clock spring.
6. Dangling from the steering column you will see the yellow harness that once led to your airbag. As the harness is no longer connected to your airbag your car will recognize a fault in the airbag circuit and will flash you the airbag light in the dash. Under these circumstances your passenger side airbag will not deploy in an accident. To ensure the safety of your passenger place the 3ohm 1/4w resistor in the airbag harness – I just pressure fit my resistor into the harness and then used electrical tape to seal the harness off. Once this is done tuck the harness into the wiring of the steering column. Your airbag circuit is now complete.
7. On the other dangling harness your must isolate your horn wire – it’s the red one. Hook up your battery and then test to ensure your picked the correct wire by touching the red wire to any metal surface in the steering column – your horn should sound. Solder one wire of the two line telephone wire to this horn wire – you’ll want to remove your horn fuse (it’s in the fuse box under the hood) or else when you’re soldering you will be honking your horn the whole time. Wrap the rest of the telephone wire clock wise around the steering wheel shaft – very loosely around a 2’’ radius.
8. Now grab the Momo hub because you will need to remove the brass ring around the base of the hub. Just pop it off with flat head screwdriver. On the base of the hub you will see to indents that oppose each other across the shaft hole. These are used to mate with your turn signal cancellers. If you look around the shaft of the steering column you will see a white piece of plastic with two nipples at the 9 and 3 o’clock positions. This Momo hub will not align perfectly with these nipples when the hub is positioned straight. Although they will be slightly skewed you will not notice a dramatic change in signal cancellation differences from right to left.
9. Run the horn telephone line through the hole in the hub. Place hub unto the steering shaft and ensure that the top hole of the hub that your steering wheel will connects is aligned with the black marker line you put on the steering shaft. It may not be perfect but try your best to get it as close as possible – it can be aligned with your wheels later on with a tie rod adjustment at an alignment shop. Be gentle pushing in the hub as the spines on the shaft are delicate. Once the hub is in place look from the back of the hub to ensure that the signal canceller’s nipples match the holes in the hub. Tighten the 21mm nut to 60ft/lbs.
10. Now solder on the wire green wire to the horn lead. You must also prepare your ground for the horn. Connect the black wire that was originally on the brass ring to the flat silver ring that came with your hub. These two wires will lead to the horn button on your aftermarket wheel.
11. Place on the accordion boot over the hub then line up the silver ring with the ground wire for the horn then line up your momo hub spacer and finally your aftermarket steering wheel (without horn button) . Use the 3mm allen bolts supplied with the hub spacer to fasten everything together. Do a test fit to see if your horn button will fit into the hole. If it does not your have to do some shaving of the tabs to get a nice snug friction fit. I just used a knife to shave of small pieces till the horn button fit tight. Once the horn button fits – wire it up to the wires in the hub and do a test – does it work? NO?! That’s cause you pulled the fuse – dummy. After your place in your horn button if the horn keeps coming on when not even depressed it means your horn is grounding out against your steering wheel. Use electrical tape to solve the problem by insulating the offending bare metal areas.
12. Now your steering wheel should be on and ready to drive. You can finish off by just slapping on your steering column covers or you can continue to work and hook up your cruise control. Get your stock steering wheel and take off the cruise control controls.
13. Find a place to mount it – get creative. On the steering column? On the dash? Well I mounted mine just under the steering column. I had to shave a bit of plastic on the cruise control cover to get it to mount flush with the trim. Once it’s mounted solder connections (using the four line telephone wire) that run from the cruise control harness in the steering column to the remote mounted cruise control controls.
14. Put everything back together and go for a very cautious test drive. You might find your need to adjust the wire that coils around the steering column to your horn. Everything must feel smooth – it doesn’t you screwed up and must fix it.
Bling steering wheels are not just for RiCe but they also drive well. It feels sportier and the reduced diameter makes hand-over-hand turning much easier when driving in a crazy style.
I’ve always scored punani as a WESTSIDE thug but now the girls like to see their reflection in my steering wheel as they suck hood on the highway – <span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>WESTSIDE!!!</span></span>
The only draw back to running an aftermarket steering wheel will be that you will lose the airbag. I have maintained the horn as well as the cruise control. There are two ways to wire the horn: 1. Use the brass ring on the Momo hub and build a metal contact to make contact with it. 2. Use telephone wire and wind it around the steering column to build your own ghetto clock spring.
Pictures will follow; however, I will be as detailed with my steps as possible. If you are confused please feel free to PM me.
To complete this install you will need a few parts as well as some basic hand tools.
Parts:
Aftermarket steering wheel
Momo hub #5702
Momo 1’’ hub spacer (looks more like ½’’)
1 3ohm 1/4w resistor
1 two line telephone wire ~ 2’ long (for horn)
1 four line telephone wire ~ 2.5’ long (for cruise control)
Tools:
10mm/21mm sockets, extension, and ratchet
Side cutters
Soldering iron
Drill and assorted bits
Notes:
Overall the difficulty and the aggravation of this install is fairly low. However, I did not have too much fun figuring it out.
In the Protege5 we cannot use our stock clock springs because the Momo hub rubs against the housing and you can’t steer.
Okay here we go:
1. Park your car with the wheels dead straight. Disconnect the negative terminal to your battery and then press the brakes a few times. Wait for 5 mins for the car to discharge its circuits. This is to ensure you don’t accidentally set of the airbag while you work on the steering wheel.
2. On the stock steering wheel there are two rubber plugs on the underside of the wheel (one on the left and one on the right). When you remove these plugs you will reveal a 10mm bolt that secures your airbag to the stock wheel. Remove both bolts and then gently pull the centre of the steering wheel out. You should now have your airbag in your hands. Disconnect the yellow harness connector by depressing the white tab. Set the airbag aside and treat it gently – it’s basically a bomb.
3. You will now see a 21mm nut in the centre of the steering wheel. Take a black marker and draw a line that runs from the centre of the steering shaft to the top 12o’clock position – this is marking where your shaft is straight with your wheels. Undo the harnesses that connect the horn and cruise controls. Now remove the 21mm nut – it’s the only thing holding your steering wheel to the shaft. You are now ready to pull off the steering wheel. Some of the girls might want to use a steering wheel puller but the men can just grab the wheel and proceed to rock it back and forth while pulling. It will come off so don’t give up.
4. Once the wheel is off remove the covers that surround the steering column. There are three Phillips screws on the underside that must be unfastened. Once the screws are out release the steering column tilt handle and yank on the lower cover from the back and the clips will pop off, separating the upper cover from the bottom cover. Put this stuff aside.
5. Sitting in the driver’s seat you will see a black piece of plastic with a yellow sticker on it – this is called a “clock spring” and it contains a coil of ribbon wires. You do not need this piece so remove the 3 Phillips screws that hold it to the steering column and take it off – disconnect the harness at the back of the clock spring.
6. Dangling from the steering column you will see the yellow harness that once led to your airbag. As the harness is no longer connected to your airbag your car will recognize a fault in the airbag circuit and will flash you the airbag light in the dash. Under these circumstances your passenger side airbag will not deploy in an accident. To ensure the safety of your passenger place the 3ohm 1/4w resistor in the airbag harness – I just pressure fit my resistor into the harness and then used electrical tape to seal the harness off. Once this is done tuck the harness into the wiring of the steering column. Your airbag circuit is now complete.
7. On the other dangling harness your must isolate your horn wire – it’s the red one. Hook up your battery and then test to ensure your picked the correct wire by touching the red wire to any metal surface in the steering column – your horn should sound. Solder one wire of the two line telephone wire to this horn wire – you’ll want to remove your horn fuse (it’s in the fuse box under the hood) or else when you’re soldering you will be honking your horn the whole time. Wrap the rest of the telephone wire clock wise around the steering wheel shaft – very loosely around a 2’’ radius.
8. Now grab the Momo hub because you will need to remove the brass ring around the base of the hub. Just pop it off with flat head screwdriver. On the base of the hub you will see to indents that oppose each other across the shaft hole. These are used to mate with your turn signal cancellers. If you look around the shaft of the steering column you will see a white piece of plastic with two nipples at the 9 and 3 o’clock positions. This Momo hub will not align perfectly with these nipples when the hub is positioned straight. Although they will be slightly skewed you will not notice a dramatic change in signal cancellation differences from right to left.
9. Run the horn telephone line through the hole in the hub. Place hub unto the steering shaft and ensure that the top hole of the hub that your steering wheel will connects is aligned with the black marker line you put on the steering shaft. It may not be perfect but try your best to get it as close as possible – it can be aligned with your wheels later on with a tie rod adjustment at an alignment shop. Be gentle pushing in the hub as the spines on the shaft are delicate. Once the hub is in place look from the back of the hub to ensure that the signal canceller’s nipples match the holes in the hub. Tighten the 21mm nut to 60ft/lbs.
10. Now solder on the wire green wire to the horn lead. You must also prepare your ground for the horn. Connect the black wire that was originally on the brass ring to the flat silver ring that came with your hub. These two wires will lead to the horn button on your aftermarket wheel.
11. Place on the accordion boot over the hub then line up the silver ring with the ground wire for the horn then line up your momo hub spacer and finally your aftermarket steering wheel (without horn button) . Use the 3mm allen bolts supplied with the hub spacer to fasten everything together. Do a test fit to see if your horn button will fit into the hole. If it does not your have to do some shaving of the tabs to get a nice snug friction fit. I just used a knife to shave of small pieces till the horn button fit tight. Once the horn button fits – wire it up to the wires in the hub and do a test – does it work? NO?! That’s cause you pulled the fuse – dummy. After your place in your horn button if the horn keeps coming on when not even depressed it means your horn is grounding out against your steering wheel. Use electrical tape to solve the problem by insulating the offending bare metal areas.
12. Now your steering wheel should be on and ready to drive. You can finish off by just slapping on your steering column covers or you can continue to work and hook up your cruise control. Get your stock steering wheel and take off the cruise control controls.
13. Find a place to mount it – get creative. On the steering column? On the dash? Well I mounted mine just under the steering column. I had to shave a bit of plastic on the cruise control cover to get it to mount flush with the trim. Once it’s mounted solder connections (using the four line telephone wire) that run from the cruise control harness in the steering column to the remote mounted cruise control controls.
14. Put everything back together and go for a very cautious test drive. You might find your need to adjust the wire that coils around the steering column to your horn. Everything must feel smooth – it doesn’t you screwed up and must fix it.
Bling steering wheels are not just for RiCe but they also drive well. It feels sportier and the reduced diameter makes hand-over-hand turning much easier when driving in a crazy style.
I’ve always scored punani as a WESTSIDE thug but now the girls like to see their reflection in my steering wheel as they suck hood on the highway – <span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:blue'>WESTSIDE!!!</span></span>