Mini Entry (and a bit of a rant)

So, I couldn't get my wheel on last weekend because of issues trying to sort the rats nest of wiring left behind the wheel by the previous moron...I mean owner, who decided to insulate the wires with sellotape... but by the by... Having gone to install it on a Sunday afternoon and not being able to get the right lugs etc before the store closed, I ordered them online. When I ordered them, it was done with a large (what I thought was) reputable company who advertise by priding themselves on the fact they mainly supply trades. This left me rather disappointed when my parts arrived in the box pictured below (I cant be the only one that thinks this is disgraceful? surely?):

Worst packing ever?

The box was WAY too big for its contents with nothing to pad the contents out so they were just  able to fly about inside! I swear a rogue band of pygmy marmosets could be trained within an hour to pack tools into a box better.... now picturing that, sounds cute... I'm now calm so rant over...

These are the Pygmy Marmosets I am starting to train to pack boxes...

So as this arrived mid-week I went to fit the wheel on Sunday (yes Valentines day, yes Mrs 3ofdiamonds is awesome!). I cut the old connections from the robot sperm on the back of the steering wheel and crimped on the new ones.

Wheel ready to go on, sort of...

So one wire is ready to feed onto the live wire behind the wheel, and the other is to ground. The previous horn on the car self-ground so I worked out how I would feed the ground wire through the boss kit and use an Allen key bolt to secure it via the crimping copper-lug on the black wire to the back of the boss kit on one of the unused threads from the alternate bolt pattern to the one I needed.

Reverse of the boss kit

 The lug was the perfect size when squared up against the boss kit in a test fitting before putting the boss kit back together, it was the smallest size I could get so that was a bit of a relief. And then I put the plastic casing back on... With the casing on the boss kit it no longer fit. The smallest flipping size and it didn't clear it. It would fit into the inner bolt pattern (albeit snuggly), but this is the pattern that fits the Sparco wheel. The outer pattern just will not take the crimping copper lug....

I'm left with a couple of options:

• Buy a new boss kit
• Get smaller crimping copper lugs and 
• Dremel the ones I have to a shape that will fit

So, as I'm typing this Mrs 3ofdiamonds is at the local shopping centre, so I'm hoping she will be able to pop into the hardware shop and bring me back some lugs.... or a Dremel (as I don't actually have one yet) as I don't really want to have to buy a new boss kit.

So I feel back at square one and probably showing off my lack of knowledge with these things. But it is my first project I expected to learn as I went along. In this instance I have learnt three things.

1. Don't start a new job late on Sunday afternoon, as once the shops shut I'm screwed.
2. Always start with more tools and parts than I can imagine I can possibly need even if the job is supposed to be simple.
3. I am probably going to break the record for longest time taken to replace a steering wheel.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have posted an update either of a picture of the racing wheel victoriously in situ in the Mitsubishi project car, or alternatively a picture of the new boss kit I'll have ordered by then if yet again things don't quite go to plan... wish me luck, I bloody well need it!

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