Fitting an aftermarket steering wheel

[Alfadog]

So I finally got my hands on the wheel I had been looking for for a while now (a Nardi!) thanks to our "man in Japan", Miles. Thank you so much to him!!

I bought a hub adaptor kit, Autotechnica, for Nissan. The indicator cancel pins were too far out though. Very odd. Since I bought it from a shop owned by my dad's friend, he modified it for me! Very nice of him. So now the indicators cancel! Awesome.

So I fitted it today, but I am left confused about how to fit the centre horn button and ring. Firstly, I plugged the wire from the Boss to the single spade on the back of the horn button, but it doesn't work. I'm no electrician, so I've probably done something obviously wrong there.

But my main problem is that there doesn't seem to be a way to secure the horn button onto the wheel?! Am I missing some kind of vital part? There was a ring that fits behind or in front of the wheel, the nuts securing it, which the button can kind of wedge itself too - but the result is the button sticks out way too far.

So I'm left wondering, why can't anything just work the way it is supposed to? Getting sick of this. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?:dead:

[280~Master]

Alfadog,
Wish I could give you some help here but you have one of those foreign cars. LOL
To try and help you out on this situation I would think the button would sit on the ring. I have seen horn buttons look like they won't fit but they end up sitting in there just right. Now I had a after market wheel that the horn button just pushed in the center of the ring. Yes it would move but only if I tried to move it with my fingers.
As far as your horn sounds like a grounding problem. You have to close that circuit for the horn to blow. Did it work with the last wheel? If you can get a couple of pics maybe we can guide you staright so you can blow your own horn. LOL

[sakijo]

Lachlan,

Here's the deal. The ring has 6 divots on the back side. These correspond to the 6 bolts that hold the wheel to the hub. Snap the ring onto the bolt heads, you may have to fiddle with it to get it to seat properly because it's Italian. Once you get that on, push the horn button into the center of the ring. It should seat and is secured by three spring clips pushing against the inside of the hub adapter. I believe that these spring clips provide the ground.


P.S. I was wondering how the install went and was going to PM you. Now I know.

[The C110]

Hah, coincidence, ive just done this, except with a MOMO prototipo. In any case miles is correct, happy horning...!

[Alfadog]

Hi guys!
Thanks for your comments! Miles, that explanation makes it sound so easy!

As it turns out not all hub adaptor kits are equal. It is such a long story... Basically the horn has nothing to clip onto. The little ring that came with the boss is too small... ok, so I bought an angle grinder and split it into three parts. Then drilled out the holes a little further so that the three parts would sit further away, effectively widening the circle. This worked a treat! After a bit of fiddling and a lot of trial-and-error, I got it down to size. Unfortunately the part that the pins clip over were too deep, so I had to grind that off a bit too. BUT! Eventually I got the centre parts on. And it looks good!!!

But, no horn. The hub adaptor came with one wire from the hub - that I plugged in to the single spade on the back of the horn button. The hub adaptor kit came with a centre horn button with two spades on the back, and a couple of wires. I tried running some wire from the hub to the car body just to see if I could get it working that way, and it didn't either.

Checked battery, and horns and they were all plugged in...

Any idea? :bunny:

[Mat Big Hat]

I've seen old Nardi hub kits on eBay to fit Datsun. That's what I've got.

Ok, so let's see some pics!

[Alfadog]

Yeah, Nardi seem to be more popular/common in the U.S. But I didn't really want to try eBay as I'd prefer to know it would work, so I went to a shop that deals in performance parts owned by my father's friend.

OK so that plan didn't really pan out..... LOL

Next time I'd just buy a Nardi hub and be done with it. But I have spent good money on this so I am determined to get it working.

Here are some pics :nervous:

[millsan1]

I have a Momo on mine. I just looked today to figure out why I had no horn (I just bought my Z), and the Momo has a single spade, and there is only 1 wire to connect to on the column, but I have no way of connecting the wire, while allowing lock to lock turnign of the wheel.

So, I pulled hte wire out, and will mount a horn button on the column cover.

[Mat Big Hat]

the problem is nardi no longer makes a datsun hub
i believe the ones they sell in japan are generic fit

hey, i don't see a nardi, but i do see a new school billet shift knob ...

[Razor]

Hey Lachlan, can you take a photo of the hub adaptor kit and the steering wheel's front & back?
is there a sprung contact on 240ks when you take the steering wheel off? maybe its not touching the back of the steering wheel?
Cant you just use a horn ring off another aftermarket steering wheel?

[Mastadd240K]

That would be the contact there, Pm Sent...

[Razor]

oh i didnt notice, yeh thats the one, is that contact touching the hub adaptor or boss kit?

[Alfadog]

Excellent mustadd!! Good to see you posting here too :)

That is the one. And it is indeed not touching. I fiddled with it just then and yeah, there is a problem. I either have to find some metal rings to tack onto the existing one on the back of the hub, or somehow extend that little contact out so it touches. I'd rather modify the hub than the car, but finding rings the same size might be difficult.

Unless someone has another (brighter) idea :)

P.S. I didn't get your PM Adrian

[Mastadd240K]

thanks, for the welcome never mind the pm it was precisely what u juct said anyway! lol :tapemouth

[Razor]

The hub adaptor cant be pushed in more to be able to touch the contact?
if not
quick idea...
get some metal shims there are pre-cut ones already measure that if it fits otherwise just get sheets and you can cut some.
Then maybe drill some holes and screw it in on the back of the hub but the screw must be in not extending out of the ring otheriwise it will stuff things up.

[Alfadog]

Hey Razor, yeah that is what I am planning on doing. Unfortunately the price for a cutting circle the size I need is about $30, ouch! The smaller ones are a lot cheaper but apparently if you go this large, it's a professional tool. Might try to get someone to cut some spacers/washers for me.

[Razor]

try a machinist or engineer place that shouldnt cost a lot
I recently got a new drag link/centre rod made up for my ute and the cost was reasonable.
We use metal shims at work but they're narrow strips I could've pinch some for you hehehe.

[khughes]

hmm.. i had the exact same issue...

The original hub that i bought was an autotechnica one, and i was assured that it would fit the 240K.... pulled the steering wheel off and .... no... the blinker cancel posts were too wide...

i ended up buying a 2nd hand momo one (atleast it is meant to be, it came in a momo box :) which seems to have the correct post spacing, though i havn't tried it.

but yeah, as you said, the metal ring on the hub, should be in contact with the post for the button power (grounded through column), as the wheel spins, it still sits on that post, if the metal collar isn't far enough down.. it won't connect..

i ended up buying the 2nd one from ebay for under $50.. so maybe that would be easier and you will know it will work (i think there were 2 types of datsun ones from memory.)

[skubz]

hey guys, just picked up a 240K a few weeks ago and have started turning it into a 'project', run into my first problem today... i cant figure out how to get the original steering wheel off, have a boss kit and MOMO wheel ready to go on but yeah... no good until i get the original off!

could someone please point me in the right direction???

thanks for the help!

[khughes]

congrats on the car!

fi it is the std wheel, the centre horn pad should twist off from memory, something like a 1/4 turn in one direction..

once you get that off, there is a metal plate that you need to unscrew, and then you will see a big nut. take off this nut...

now the fun begins.. unless you have a steering wheel puller (which are not cheap), just sit in the car and pull as HARD as you can on the wheel (don't use short blows as this can damage the steering column if it is collapseable).

eventually it should pop right off, be careful you don't knock yourself out doing it though, many a person has!

as lochlan and i found out, double check the spacing of the cancelling tabs on your new boss with the old one.. if it is not right then you will have some BIG issues.. you will need to get the right type. post up some pis of your car and your new wheel when done!

Kent

[Alfadog]

Disconnect your battery first too :) When you are pulling the horn pad off, you have to push it down and then twist anti-clockwise. It will come off easily.

My wheel came off reasonably easily which was a surprise. I was just amazed at the cleanliness of everything there... all the components looked brand new. I almost felt bad taking it all apart...

And yeah, let's see your car!!!

BTW Here are some pictures of the wheel installed (haven't got the horn working yet, but I have a plan).

[skubz]

cheers for the help guys, all easy when u know what you're doing! woulda taken me forever to try twisting the horn pad, i wanted to mangle it with a screwdriver :)

and yeah, disconnected the battery (after hitting the horn numerous times!) will take some pics tomorrow, horned doesnt work but i'm not fussed about that, donno about the indicators yet as the car doesnt have any interior besides the dash so i cant take it for a test drive, waiting to get my race seats, hehe

[sakijo]

Lachlan,

See if you can fit a small spring over the post. It looks like there's a groove in the middle of the post that will hold the spring. Just make sure to get something soft, like brass and not stainless steel.

The wheel looks great! Better than when it was in my car. Must be that stainless finish dash.

[khughes]

what seats are you getting? who is fabricating your mounts? i might be interested in a set of mounts too if they are to fit recaro's (most are similar to the recaro mount)

[Mastadd240K]

Not to hijack the thred but "AlfaDog" from what i can see of your interior it looks the same to my '73 but i dont have those lil warning lights you have in, For charge and the other one, are they there hidden under the "woodgrain"?

[Alfadog]

Good idea Miles, I will try that out first before I start to get metal rings cut out and attached to the hub...I'm really happy with this wheel, I love it, thank you again!

Mustadd240K, no, that's a Japanese dash panel from a 2000GTX-E. They came from factory in brushed aluminium, after the GT-R was discontinued. The later 240K's also got these two warning lights (Charge and Exhaust Temperature I think). My original dash panel did not have these lights.

[aarc240]

Later 240k's have the two lights, but they are for parking brake and service brakes. PARK and BRAKE legends.

[Mat Big Hat]

back to the original topic, here's a pic of my old style nardi/datsun hub:

http://members.cox.net/matbighat/240K/hub.jpg

[Victor Laury]

For your reference, that hub appears to be identical to the 510 hub.

[73skyline]

hey lachlan...i read the post kinda fast but jus wondering if you figured out youor horn not working problem....ive played with so many wires on different cars with no horns but managed to get them all working....

if your horn still not working...the nardi horn button might have 1 or 2 spade tabs (1) for ground and the other for power...most of the time the middle tab is power.

what i did on my nardi button, i made a ground tab, look at the pics so you can see the idea what i did, bascially i got a dremel and cut 2 slits and bent it to make a tab so i can plug a spade connector to it. with the ground tab, you can connect it to one of the 6 screws for the steering wheel for ground.

and for the power wire just connect it to the original horn power wire in the harness, if your not sure what wire it is, you can trial and error, grab some wire you think is the horn and ground it, it it honks then you got the right wire. if you still need some help email me at mikeseez@cox.net

mikey

[73skyline]

i run a quick release steering wheel hub so the wiring my look different than yours, but all you do it run the ground wire behind 1 of the 6 screws that bolt to the hub to the steering wheel and your ground is done, then hook up that power wire to the single spade behind the horn button and your horn should work, if not email me ill go through it with more detail...

mikey

[Alfadog]

Hi Mikey - wow - good post! Yeah we found (well, Mustadd did) the problem. Simply no ground being made! The little brass button was not making contact. I was thinking of different ways to do this, and Miles' suggestion sounded the best. So I took apart a few pens to find a spring that would fit! Sure enough I found one that was perfect. Fit like a glove. I'm just hoping it will continue to make good contact. It should... but the original hub I got should have fit in the first place.

So it's all working now! :) Thanks

[sakijo]

Better get a few more of them pens for spares in case the spring wears out

[Alfadog]

No worries, my parents get loads of them for free.

But seriously, I doubt the spring will wear out. If anything, the copper/brass ring on the hub will wear out first. The best thing about this fix is that if it doesn't work, I can just take the spring out. Nothing's damaged or modified :)

[skubz]

hey all, finally started playing around with the datto again and got the steering wheel all finished up... think i put it on about 5 times before i got it perfectly straight other than that it was all pretty easy.

here's the pic

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c175/tribalistix/datto1.jpg

[Mat Big Hat]

well, the datsun/nardi adapter (see previous pic) that i have has the turnsignal cancel posts spaced further apart than those on the original 240k wheel

i compared the turnsignal cancel post spacing on the nardi hub adapter to a 610 steering wheel, and they were identical

i also compared a datsun 610 hub adapter made by grant (a u.s. company) and the posts are further apart like the nardi adapter

so it looks like the 240k uses the same steering column spline as some other datsuns, but it uses different turnsignal cancel post spacing

alfadog, was the spacing of the turnsignal cancel posts on your aussie steering wheel hub adapter identical to the original 240k wheel?

[Alfadog]

The indicator cancel pins were too far out though. Very odd. Since I bought it from a shop owned by my dad's friend, he modified it for me! Very nice of him.

So no, the cancel posts were not the same as on the original wheel! Which is pretty terrible considering they list the adaptor as fitting the 240K. The MOMO one we looked at was the same.

[Mat Big Hat]

can you post a pic of the mod?

i'm looking at the hub adapter and thinking there's no area to fit new posts closer together

if there's room to install new posts, then i may need an aussie hub adapter

(btw, the grant hub adapter comes with an extra spring and attachment to move the contact higher up)

[Alfadog]

Ahhh, not really. I'd have to take it all apart and after the amount of time getting it right I'd rather not. But using the picture you attached:

http://members.cox.net/matbighat/240K/hub.jpg

They simply took out the pins from where they are, and drilled holes on that raised ledge around the hole. It was flat though, whereas yours seems to have a step.

[Mat Big Hat]

well then i guess i'll need the same hub as you have, because the momo hub combined with the momo/nardi adapter will stick out too much

here's a pic of the grant hub, and although there are five holes for the cancel posts, none of them are correct for the 240k, but maybe new holes can be drilled on that center raised ring

http://members.cox.net/matbighat/240K/grant.jpg

btw, has anybody had to deal with a frozen steering column tilt lever :ermm:

[Alfadog]

I don't think my "tilt lever" had ever been used when I got my car. It was pretty stiff. But it did come free with a good push! Just try when out of the car to get a better angle. Or use your foot.

That pic looks about the same as mine - yeah they drilled in the raised ring in the centre.

[Mat Big Hat]

that's why i poasted the pic as i was thinking grant sells their hubs in other countries (maybe mine isn't even made in the usa?) :surprised

anyway, i'll have to drill and remount the cancel posts as was done to yours

btw, the original steering wheel is the heaviest i've ever seen on a datsun

[jmark]

I picked up an old Momo #3500 hub with a Datsun horn button. See pic. I plan to swap out my OEM 280Z steering wheel (probably sell it) & purchase a new Momo Prototipo steerig wheel to use with the old hub. Should there be any problems? I have a similar setup on my '71 240Z & the horn works fine.

[khughes]

probably best to ask the Z guys

[jmark]

Oops sorry.