In my first blog entry I said that once I started wrenching on my Mitsubishi project car it would likely be an example of 'how not to' rather than 'how to'. This weeks entry may be a prime example of that. Not because I balleds anything up... but rather, the reason behind me changing some of the parts that I know are already aftermarket.
The interior of the car wasn't exactly high on the reasons for buying the car. The drivers seat has a slight tear, the gaiters are worn, the gear knob and the steering wheel probably both looked good cruising along to 'Deep Blue Something or other' as they topped the chart way back when, as that is clearly when they were originally installed... now however, they look more old and tired than a 30 something after a night of clubbing.
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| The Ripspeed steering wheel on the GTO when I got it. |
Since Christmas I have had a new Sparco wheel waiting to be installed (courtesy of Mrs 3ofDiamonds) but have been distracted slightly by meets and what not, I hadn't yet found the time to do the install.
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| Sparco - Racing Attitude! |
I think Mrs 3ofDiamonds will be pleased to see this box gone, I'm just pleased to see it opened!
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| The Sparco wheel for the Mitsubishi GTO |
Inside the box is this rather neat looking racing wheel. I ultimately want a black and red colour scheme (cliche I know, but it's what I want) and this will look so much cleaner than the existing, and oh so tired Ripspeed one, currently on the car.
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| One of the wheels buttons |
No, this is not some kind of robot sperm. This is one of 4 red buttons for the wheel. The bottom bit unscrews (as below) and then is slid into the gaps on the wheel. Once in place it is screwed back together to attach to the wheel.
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| Taking apart the robot sperm |
When you are taking apart the button it's best just to unscrew the plastic nut as above, as inside it is spring loaded... TWICE and unscrewing the part the wires attach to will cause the insides to explode out! (the smaller spring is hard to find if this happens, not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...)
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| The innards of the robot sperm |
If the wrong bit is unscrewed the insides go back together as shown above to ensure it still functions properly. Best not to get it to this point though as it's a tad fiddly.
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| The wheel from the back with the 4 buttons attached |
Once the wheel had its buttons installed I headed to the Mitsubishi GTO to start taking off the old wheel.
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| Old rusted Allen key bolts wouldn't budge in the car |
When trying to unbolt the old wheel from the car the old Allen bolts were in tight. They were in that tight that they were almost as tight as that mate who magically disappears to the bog every time you wander into a pub to get out of buying his round. On the car they were just stripping. The short edge of the key meant I was stripping them out, with the long edge they weren't stripping but I couldn't get purchase to turn to them. At this point I decided to take the boss kit off to get the bolts out of the car. My socket wrench wouldn't reach and I don't yet have an extension, luckily I had a tyre iron to hand which fit nicely on the 17mm bolt instead. At this point I forgot to take any pictures as I turned the air blue with obscenities trying to fight the bolt holding the boss kit on. After several minutes of riving eventually it gave and I could take the wheel off. Once the wheel was off the Allen bolts came straight out... typically.
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| The old Ripspeed off the car |
In this pic the old wheel doesn't actually look half as bad as it does in real life. I have a feeling it may yet find a home some day as part of a homemade go-kart or something, but for now it is cast aside and rejected like a Matrix sequel.
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| Wheel removed |
This is where things took a slight turn. Picture shows the wiring which was underneath the old wheel. I don't know if you can make out in that photo, but the guy who installed the wheel had started doing it properly with tubing to contain the wires and had ran out. Where he ran out, he changed to using sellotape.... SELLOTAPE! I need to now make sure this is done properly. The wheel is ready to bolt on but I need to tidy up this mess behind the wheel before I do. To do this I have ordered a couple of parts online which will be delivered later this week. Had I anticipated working with electrics this early I would have made sure I had what I needed, but I thought it would be a nice unbolt old and bolt on new job.
I am a bit disappointed that I have not been able to finish this install in one day, which I would have done had I been able to unbolt the wheel without taking off the boss kit. On the other hand had I not had to take the boss kit off, I wouldn't have seen it had been bodged underneath so I am pleased I can now correct that. Roll on next week!
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| The wheel with buttons from the front |
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| Wheel from the back as I left it |
I finished by tidying everything away until next week. I made use of some zip lock bags to hold the new Allen bolts and spare wires. I hope to start with good practice like this and maintain it onto larger installs! I ended up opting to remove the wires from the buttons which weren't going to be used for the horn to make it easier to clear the boss kit and keep it the install looking cleaner.
So with that, it is probably my longest post with no real outcome. No outcome, that is, other than to say, if you end up with a car someone has worked on themselves in the past rather than going to a garage, start with a thorough inspection of their work. I intended to get rid of the dated interior parts anyway, but may end up looking a little closer at everything that has been worked on in the service history as well....
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