Steering wheel replacement

Frequently Asked Questions about the Cappuccino.

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Steering wheel replacement

Postby Steve Lewis » Wed Oct 16, 2002 00:05

For those of you who have never taken the center pad off the original Suzuki steering wheel, the pattern of the bolts holding the wheel to the hub is as shown in the photo below:

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In fact the above type of wheel bolts straight on in place of the original without modification or the need to purchase a hub or adaptor. If in doubt measure the distance (diameter) between two opposite holes on the wheel and compare it to the same measurement on the hub.

However many owners want to fit a steering wheel where the bolt pattern is offset from the holes in the Suzuki hub - an example is the wheel in the photo below - most Momo wheels are like this - note the different bolt pattern:


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To fit this type of wheel, you either need to get handy with a drill and tap or purchase an adaptor ring. Note - there is no need to go to the expense of buying a new hub.

An example of an Adaptor ring is shown below. This particular one is made by Simoni Racing and was purchased from Carnoisseur on 14/10/2002 for £11.00, other types are available.


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The 6 bolts that were used to bolt the Suzuki wheel to the hub can be used to bolt the adaptor to the hub however you will also need to purchase 6 shorter bolts + 6 nylock nuts to attatch the new wheel to the adaptor.


Recently an abortive attempt was made to steal my Cappucino :evil: however a lot of damage was done in the process. The picture below shows the state of the original Suzuki steering wheel hub after their attempt to break the steering lock :cry:

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The mechanic at the garage where the car was repaired told me to beware of after-market steering locks that slide through the wheel and leave a length protruding to hamper any attempt to steer the car - in his opinion some are used by the theives as a lever to break the column steering lock.

With this in mind I decided on a snap off system. This, in my opinion, is one of the best deterrants on the market - thieves will think twice about stealing your car if there is no wheel to steer it with 8O


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The system shown is the Raid Super SnapOff system available for around £85 - £100 depending where you shop - in my case £94.99 from Halfords (RipSpeed branches only).
http://www.raid-rdi.com/e/raidhp/snapoff_hp.htm
The handy thing is that the screw pattern is exactly the same as the Suzuki so you just unbolt the steering wheel bolt on the securing boss to the Suzuki hub, bolt the steering wheel to the securing mechanism then just click the steering wheel in place and off you go :P When you get out of the car, snap off the steering wheel and take it with you (or put in the boot) :P

For those of you (like me) whose steering wheels have a different screw pattern than the Suzuki hub an adaptor is included.

Without the adaptor the steering wheel will be 35mm closer to you - this is ideal for me but with the adaptor it's 45mm closer so I got out my drill and tap and drilled 6 new holes into the securing mechanism and did away with the adaptor.

I cannot recommend this system highly enough - the only reason you should disregard it is if you find that the steering wheel is already too close for you :?

Oh! ... if you remove the key the steering wheel cannot be removed so there should be no danger of someone nicking it while you pop into the shop :roll:


:cheers:
Steve.
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Postby Ian Linden » Mon Apr 07, 2003 09:01

Good post, Steve :D

Haven't found a foldaway steering wheel, have you :?:
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Postby Steve Lewis » Mon Apr 07, 2003 09:18

Not yet - I'm also on the lookout for an inflatable model :P
:cheers:
Steve.
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Postby Ian Linden » Mon Apr 07, 2003 09:57

Does the snap-off kit work OK with the horn :?:

Just noticed 00389 miles on your clock. Have you passed 100,000 :?:
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Postby Greg Stewart » Tue Apr 08, 2003 01:15

The trip counter is showing 433, and the speedo has "grown" a 100 mph mark :)

My car is coming up for the 100,000 kms mark. Not bad considering its over 10 years old.

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Postby Steve Lewis » Tue Apr 08, 2003 12:36

Ian wrote:Does the snap-off kit work OK with the horn?

The kit is supplied with a horn which I would think could be fitted to the Suzuki wheel but I am not sure if the Suzuki horn will fit as the depth of the recess into which it goes is quite small - I had to shave off part of the back of the Momo horn to get it to fit. Electrically there is no problem and if you also use the steering wheel adaptor the recess is much deeper and any horn should fit.

Ian wrote:Just noticed 00389 miles on your clock. Have you passed 100,000

I think you mean 999,999 miles :roll:

Greg wrote:The trip counter is showing 433, and the speedo has "grown" a 100 mph mark

:wink: :P :wink: :P Well spotted :wink: :P :wink: :P

:cheers:
Steve.
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Postby Greg Stewart » Tue Apr 08, 2003 13:41

I think you mean 999,999 miles :roll:


I think You mean 99,999 miles :lol:

:wink:
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Postby Steve Lewis » Tue Apr 08, 2003 14:09

Greg wrote:I think You mean 99,999 miles

No 8O - I mean 999,999 - the milage thingy has 6 digits or at least mine has :lol:
:cheers:
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Postby Ian Linden » Tue Apr 08, 2003 14:49

OK, the penny's dropped. Last digit isn't tenths :oops:

Leads me on to another question - where does that dial with 100mph come from :?:
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Postby Philip Lee » Tue Apr 08, 2003 16:49

Steve - the simoni adaptor you bought, which suzuki model did you specify it to fit, as the cappuccino is not listed? or do you know that its a one size fits all?

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Postby Dave Espley » Tue Apr 08, 2003 17:24

Hi Philip

I got one recently and its universal

By the way - If your fitting a Momo wheel directly to it, some of the horn switch holders supplied with the wheel won't fit inside the adapter.

They are aluminium so they're quite malliable - if you bolt the horn holder directly to the adapter without the wheel atached, you can hammer the holder into shape fairly easely (it isn't visible when the wheel goes on so a bit of rough finishing doesn't matter)

Cheers

Dave Espley
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Postby Steve Lewis » Wed Apr 09, 2003 00:18

Ian wrote:Leads me on to another question - where does that dial with 100mph come from?

100 :!: Look again 8O ... :rolling: :rolling: ... well it's what I'd like the speedo to look like - at the moment I'm guessing what the speed is when I pass the 90 mark :looney: (on a track of course :wink: )
:cheers:
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Postby Murray Betts » Wed Apr 09, 2003 18:55

.......beginning to think you really drive a brown 1975 Allegro, and it's all "smoke and mirrors" :lol: :lol: :lol:
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