Pelican Technical Article: 930S Steering Wheel Installation

WARNING: This page is still a work in progress!

I am not responsible for any problems you experience as a result of trying to do anything described here. The hack documented here worked fine for me but may not work for you far any number of reasons.

My original steering wheel is getting pretty worn mostly due to the car being originally from Florida. The leather at the top is quickly disintegrating in my hands. I looked the look of the 930S steering wheel and since it was a little bit smaller in diameter I went for it.

Before you start you're going to need a couple items:

930S Steering Wheel
27mm Socket
Phillips Screwdriver

Well, it installed just fine but I found that I now had even less space between the steering wheel and the dash board. There is a picture below that I took through the windshield that kind of shows that there is less than 1" of space there now.

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The original steering wheel.

The reason this wheel costs so much.	The completed installation.

I then started to investigate what I could do to get the steering wheel a little bit closer to me. I found that I couldn't wear gloves while driving as my fingers would definitely rub against the dashboard as I turned the wheel.

Did I receive the wrong hub adapter? I later learned that there was only one adapter for my application, but that a spacer is available that will give me approximately 1/2" (actually 1.5 centimetres) of additional clearance.

If you do use this adapter, which did the trick for me, make sure you install the hub adapter to the car WITHOUT the spacer and steering wheel. Getting at the 27mm nut is nearly impossible otherwise. It's easy enough to put all the parts back on once the nut is on.

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The spacer kit as it came from AJ USA.	The hub adapter by itself.	The spacer attached to the hub adapter.
Another view of the spacer on the hub adapter. Notice the offset bolt holes.	The steering wheel attached to the spacer. Notice how it sits off center of the hub adapter now.	The wheel with the adapter installed in the car.
The completed installation.	And finally enough space for my fingers.	Looks like I have the same space I had with the original wheel.

While messing around with this stuff I realized this isn't rocket science plus I have relatives that are machinists. After taking some measurements I had an aluminum ring made that is 1" thick, 4" in diameter and has a 2" hole in the middle making the ring thickness about 1". I then carefully lined up the steering wheel over the ring, traced exactly where I want the holes to go and drilled 5/8" holes with just my regular drill. Once I went to install it I found the hole in the center interferes with the horn buttom mechanism and will need to be made larger by .15" before I can use it.

The next hard part was to find metric bolts that were 1" longer than the ones that came with the steering wheel and had the same threads and similar head. I found that to be next to impossible so machinist relative to the rescue again. He found some bolts that were an appropriate length with the correct thread. He then machined the head to be at an angle so it would bolt in flush on the front of the steering wheel.

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The machined aluminum ring with my holes drilled.	Using the longer bolts it was easy to bolt this spacer between the wheel and the hub adapter.	Another view.
The original bolt on the right and the machined bolt on the left.	To make it blend I used the leftover flat black Rustoleum from my rollbar project.