EVO Steering Wheel in a DSM.

[talonTSIDriver]

Well, after driving a few evo's I just fell in love with the steering wheel. It’s slightly smaller than a stock 1g or 2g and it makes the car "feel" more responsive.

Cost:
1g steering wheel...$free
Evo IX Wheel.........$150 shipped of the evolutionm.net forum.

Thing you need are:

Materials:
1. A 1g steering wheel
2. An EVO (8 or 9) momo steering wheel

Tools:
Welder
Something to cut metal, I used an angle grinder.
T30 torques bit to remove evo's air bag
10mm wrench/socket
17mm (impact preferable) to remove the steering wheel from the DSM.

For the most parts its basic removal and install of the steering wheel. Sometimes the steering wheel wont come out of the steering column shaft, but it will come out of you either pull hard enough, or bang on both sides of the steering wheel with your hand. Or, very carefully, tap the center steering column shaft with a hammer but do not hammer very hard as you don’t want to mushroom the end of the shaft.

Now you need to cut out the center section of the 1g steering wheel. You can see where the original welds are, and if you just cut through the welds, you should be able to tap the center hub section out. You will basically do the same for the evo wheel.

After both center hub sections are removed, you will need to weld the 1g hub section into the evo wheel. This is where you will want to test fit, and align everything up before you weld anything. I also had to use a washer (about 1.5inch diameter) to adapter the 1g hub section to fit onto the evo wheel.

After everything is lined up, do a few tac welds so it stays together. Then go test fit again. If everything checks out good, then weld some more. Make sure to do a good job welding as if you don’t, and the weld brakes while driving, you'll end up going wherever your car wants to go without any way for you to control your car.

Before permanently installing the evo wheel, put the plastic cover back on the evo wheel, make sure to line up the 3 little plastic dowel things which are for your blinkers so the click back off after you turn the wheel. Also make sure you try your best to line the steering wheel up straight. This may require the trial and error method.

****READ****
Before driving your vehicle, TEST your welding job. I sat in my car, with the car off (so that there is no power steering) and yanked my steering wheel left, then right, I also pushed back and forth on it, banged on it. I put it through the worst conditions to make sure it would hold in the event of the worse possible case.

I only have the pic of the final product, I will take the steering wheel back off and show pics as pics can say a thousand words.

[talonTSIDriver]

I have received a few good questions:

Were you able to keep the air bag?
Well, to be completely honest, I don’t know. The evo airbag itself is on the steering wheel but I did not hook it up nor did i even try; for a few reasons.
1. I did not want to take the chance of the airbag deploying
2. My car is 90% track driven, and equipped with a 5-point harness

Why did you choose to use a 1g steering wheel for this rather than a 2g??
A 2g steering wheel is basically one sold chunk of metal. It would be rather hard to cut out the center hub section. The 1st gen steering wheel has a center hub section that was just welded in from the factory making it MUCH easier to cut out. I will have to post up more pics, like I said before, pics say a thousand words.

[Defiant]

This is better than just welding in a DSM hub adapter?

[talonTSIDriver]

Originally Posted by Defiant

This is better than just welding in a DSM hub adapter?

I dont really know. That would add to the cost, and welding would still be required. The only real expense in my method is the evo steering wheel. You can literally find 1g steering wheels for free if not super cheap.

[talonTSIDriver]

Mitsumissile has also done this mod and here is some pictures that he took along the way. Thank you Mitsumissle!

Pic of the un-modified evo steering wheel:


Here is a pic of the center hub section cut removed from the evo wheel:


Here is a pic of the center hub section that was cut off from the 1g steering wheel and it is being held up to the evo wheel:


Removing the stock 2g steering wheel:


You can see here Mitsumissile did some marking to line up the new hub before welding. This is something that is hard to explain and show with pictures, but before welding the new hub on the evo wheel, make sure its somewhat lined up close, do some test fitting, make sure the new hub sticks out far enough so it can seat into the steering column.


Test fitment after a few tak welds to ensure proper fitment:


Pic after new hub was fully welded, and plastic cover put back on.


Mitsumissile also was able to keep the cruise control:



Airbag was wired in:


Again, Disclaimer: This is at your own risk, neither Mitsumissile nor I are held liable if something happens where the airbag does not deploy in the event of an accident.

THANKS AGAIN Mitsumissile for the pics. You saved me the hassle of ripping my steering wheel back off to get pictures.

[talonTSIDriver]

I made another one last night and I kept the 2g cruise control lever as well. Here are some more pictures to add to the collection: