Help - removable steering wheel kit fitting

[Bobby]

Trying to fit an Elise Parts removable kit and Momo steering wheel to a new-ish Elise, specifically Elise 220 Cup. It's got the same wheel as the current gen Elise S, effectively the airbag wheel, but airbag-delete. Having torn off the old wheel centre trim, which was glued on and cut wires on the wheel side, I now find some problems fitting.

Problem one... Can't seem to get the wheel to fit level. Road wheels are straight ahead, so the four bolt holes on the car are level and square (i.e. line between top tow is horizontal). Pictures I've seen have the release button of the kit at the top, but then there is no hole top dead centre for the top of the six Momo wheel bolts. Nearest leaves the steering wheel just off level. Am I being dumb and just missing something? 90deg out or something?

Problem two... There's a yellow wire with a large-ish plastic connector, which I take to be unused airbag wiring (definitely not the horn, which I've already done the connections for). It's too big to fit inside the kit. Any problem in just cutting it off?

Any advice appreciated!

[Bobby]

Problem one solved: needs to be at 90 deg to the obvious position! Leaves the release button annoying hidden around 9 o'clock, but at least the steering wheel is level!

Problem two for later. Might need to just try it! What's the worst that can happen...

[Dominic]

What's the worst that can happen...

[ChrisG]

Trying to fit an Elise Parts removable kit and Momo steering wheel to a new-ish Elise, specifically Elise 220 Cup. It's got the same wheel as the current gen Elise S, effectively the airbag wheel, but airbag-delete. Having torn off the old wheel centre trim, which was glued on and cut wires on the wheel side, I now find some problems fitting.

Problem one... Can't seem to get the wheel to fit level. Road wheels are straight ahead, so the four bolt holes on the car are level and square (i.e. line between top tow is horizontal). Pictures I've seen have the release button of the kit at the top, but then there is no hole top dead centre for the top of the six Momo wheel bolts. Nearest leaves the steering wheel just off level. Am I being dumb and just missing something? 90deg out or something?

Problem two... There's a yellow wire with a large-ish plastic connector, which I take to be unused airbag wiring (definitely not the horn, which I've already done the connections for). It's too big to fit inside the kit. Any problem in just cutting it off?

Any advice appreciated!

Bobby,

I'm also an Elise Cup owner and thinking about a steering wheel change (I've got the airbag delete option). I've been looking at the Momo Tuner wheel.

I'm keen to hear how you get on with the change. Any pictures?

Chris

[Bobby]

Cutting it and insulating the ends, just to be on the safe side, seemed to do the trick. From poking around forums etc, I get the impression it may be different if you had an airbag fitted; I've read of having to fit a resistor to convince the ECU that there was still something there and avoid warning lights. In my airbag-delete car, no issue.

Overall, a lot more head scratching and fiddly than expected, but the end result is neat. Not sure I'll use the detachable feature much except for winter storage, but looks better than a plain adaptor or a collapsable hub.

Chris - yes, will add a pic. If you go for it I can give you a few more tips that would save the headscratching I had.

[Bobby]

Pic of it fitted:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robert_an ... ed-public/

The wheel comes with a central ring of trim that's optional. I didn't fit it for two reasons. Doesn't actually do much to hold the horn push in, so is not required. If you fit it, you need to use the flat bolts supplied; however, they aren't snug to the holes in the wheel, but if you don't use it you can use counter sunk bolts (can't remember if they came with the wheel or the hub), which means it can never develop any play.

Pic of wiring for reference (yellow: redundant airbag connector; brown horn):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robert_an ... ed-public/

[Simon82]

That looks to be the same snap off kit that's fitted to my 2-11. On mine the tabs on the collar sit level on either side with the wheel in the straight ahead position. The two yellow dots sit just off centre with the release button slightly to the left.( will try to get a pic of it for you later) looks different to how you have yours fitted

[ChrisG]

Looks good Bobby. I think the airbag delete steering wheel looks clumsy so I'm tempted to go for this.

Good taste in car by the way - and I thought I had the only one in that colour in Scotland (as a Lotus Salesman was once prone to saying)

[Bobby]

Simon - the tabs can rotate on this one. The release button and alignment marks (red) end up hidden behind the left arm of the wheel, but that seemed to be the only way to practically fit it!

Chris - i'll be at the SIDC Knockhill trackday on the 14th if you want a look.

[Bobby]

Having been back in contact with Elise Parts, looks like they should have advised to use their spacer for this application. Should re-orientate the dot's/button to the top as it moves the bolts holes round. Would have also obviated the need to trim that airbag connector, giving more room behind to accomodate it (too late now!) Ah well, at least they're send one out for free, which was nice of them.

[Bobby]

And...the spacer doesn't quite fit. They increased the bolt PCD and put through wider holes to fit a wider range of variation. However, the car-side PCD on mine is right on the lower end of this and the bolts won't fit without binding to the degree of threatening to damage the threads. Looks like I'm stuck with it squint unless I get the spacer machined! What a saga.