Just a short DIY - in case you try to entertain yourself during the lockdown...

Please remember, as Carroll Smith famously said in his great book "Engineer to win":


Let's start...

I wanted to try to move the steering wheel closer towards me in my V8V - as for me the ergonomics were just not perfect.
Either I could sit close to the steering wheel - then the legs and shifting was uncomfortable,
or I could move the seat further back, then the grip onto the wheel was compromised.
And I also wanted to keep the original steering wheel incl airbag.

I did similar things to other cars, so I knew where to start:

I bought a OMP steering wheelhub boss kit od/1960fo542a. Ford, Mazda, Volvo.


then I dismantled it and turned the main adapter plate down on the back side down to a plate thickness of ~10mm.
This was rather easy, if you look at the part, it becomes clear what to do.
Then I modified the length of the hexagon to match the original steering wheel and position and drilled 5x M6 treads (after finding the optimal pattern on the steering wheel aluminium base plate, see below).

Thats how the modified OMP part looks mounted to the car:





Now the more complicated part - adaptation of the original steering wheel.
If one wants to mount the original steering wheel without larger modifications, it will move about 35mm towards the driver (as the hexagon connector protrudes that much).
That was too much for me - so decided to modify the steering wheel further.
In order not to hurt my original parts, I bought me a pre-used second steering wheel at reasonable costs.
There I removed the hexagon with a 40mm circle saw, so I can now bolt the steering wheel directly onto the adapter with a minimal increase in distance by ~7mm.



Thats how the steering wheel looks after the modification:
The 40mm hole centers on the adapter.
The 5x 6mm holes are spead on a hex-pattern within the stron aluminium base plate and 5x M6 bolts are plenty enough to handle all forces.
The holes are flat countersunk to give a flat base for the bolts.



And finally, I made an 13mm distancer to get an overall ~20 mm distance.
The distancer is centered on both sides.



Note: it's now possible to realize any inrease distance from ~7mm (no add distancer) and any lenght one preferes by the thickness of the distancer.
The distancer also raises the steering wheel a bit (due to the upwards angle of the steering column).

As a result, now the steering, pedal & shifter ergonomics are perfect for me.

Thomas

 

great ingenuity...! driving position is so important. fortunately, I can telescope and tilt mine almost where I want it...