Aftermarket Steering Paddle Shift Wires

[TalonSpeed]

I plan on installing an aftermarket steering wheel that has a center horn button, two side buttons, and two shift paddle\buttons. The paddle\buttons light up too. So that is a total of 14 wires. I grounded 3 to the steering wheel hub. So 11 wires wrapped in loom and electrical tape are coming from the wheel.

Is this okay? I am worried about the harness (2.5 feet in length) with the wires inside might tug or pull. I know most cars use a clock spring that rotates with the steering wheel so wires dont get pulled. I dont have that option. I will be removing the factory clock spring, air bag, and cruise control.

Should i bunch the harness up? or wrap it around the hub?

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[2slow4now]

I'm pretty sure your clock spring has 4 wires in one plug to the wheel and then two more for the airbag. That would give you 6 wires you could wire up through the stock clock spring. Not like your using the cruise or airbag.

Maybe find a similar car like a galant that has steering wheel controls or added features on the steering wheel and use that clcok spring since it will likely have more wires in the spring.

 

[1G Eclipse94928]

I'm pretty sure your clock spring has 4 wires in one plug to the wheel and then two more for the airbag. That would give you 6 wires you could wire up through the stock clock spring. Not like your using the cruise or airbag.

Maybe find a similar car like a galant that has steering wheel controls or added features on the steering wheel and use that clcok spring since it will likely have more wires in the spring.

I agree, I wouldn't delete the clock spring because I wouldn't want to have to redo it if it gets tangled or something.

 

[TalonSpeed]

You guys are right. I tried to wire it up without the clock springs. Too tight back there. Wires snagged and pulled out. The clock spring has 5 wires. Will have to wire everything up using a single wire, and all ground wires will be grounded to hub. 5 wires (upshift, downshift, horn, power(lighted switches), extra)

 

[2slow4now]

I took a clock spring apart once and know two of the wires that were in it were bigger than the others. So two of them could handle more load.
I may still have a pieces of it sitting someplace. At work right now but will get back to let you know.

 

[TalonSpeed]

Well I am stuck and dont know what to do now. I am trying to use the clock spring with the hub adapter and ran into a few issues. First I had to dremel out a hole in the bottom of hub adapter so the clock spring wires could come thru. Did that. But because the hub is so thick at bottom, combined with the clock spring the splines dont engage the shaft. See picture below. I can either
- cut \lathe the hub thinner
-extend the steering shaft (spline extender??)
-or use a different hub all together.

I tried to use 3 ebay DSM ($10) hubs. They actually would work if the spline size was correct. They spline hole is too small on the cheap hub and it wont slide on. The ebay hub is shaped like a cone versus a cone with thick circular base like the momo adapter.
-what other car manufacture uses the same steering spline size as the DSM?

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Splines fully engaged:

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Ebay vs Momo (Notice the hole size difference):

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[2slow4now]

With that steering wheel adapter that is going to stick that wheel out a lot closer to you. I don't think any of them are made to have a clock spring installed. You probably will have to custom fab something to work with the clock spring.
Most cars with a "race wheel" that have some sort of electrical items on the wheel just have a curly cord from the dash to the wheel. http://media.caranddriver.com/image...tomorrow-interior-photo-228495-s-1280x782.jpg

Maybe lathe the hole out to accept a 1g hub to be welded into the adapter.

I did dig in my pile of scrap parts and did find the clock spring pieces. The airbag circuit in the clock spring is the one with larger wires.

 

[TalonSpeed]

The ebay ones are made to work with clock spring. I ordered another from ebay, this time a $12 one, . But looking at the splines and the bottom, it appears to make to fit. The 3 dimples are for the turn signal reset thing.

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[TalonSpeed]

It worked. Some on ebay dont. The ones that work come in a green box

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[TalonSpeed]

Just an update. The clock spring has 5 wires. Upshift, downshift, horn, ground, and one extra for nitrous or something like that. The upshift and downshift can share the same ground. I tried to ground to the steering colum like the horn, but it wasnt a clean enough ground. So i grounded them to the frame for the center dash.