Steering wheel fitment

[GeoffSmith]

I'm glad my Photoshopping skills are proving so successful. Maybe I should start doing those fake celebrity nude shots and selling them to the tabloids..

You mean like this?

Sh4rk+small.jpg

[Elanlover]

Ok, since the car's interior is currently in peices with the dash and verious other opeices on the floor I thought I'd try the fit the Elise airbag wheel.

It doesn't fit.

Now, I see this as both bad and good news. the bad being that the hub doesn't fit the spline of the Elan's steering column. Its too big and flops around. Further more, it juts out by about 2 inches more than the stock wheel too. Now, the good news is this. Since its near impossible to find a wheel with a hub attached it probably wouldn't have mattered if the hub fit - not one would be able to find one. So, the only two options I see are to make/adapt the Fed wheel's hub fit to the Elise wheel or find a new hub.

More bad news in that the Fed wheel doesn't have a hub per se - the hub is titally integrated into the back of the wheel. I don't think it would be possible to cut it out and attached it to the Elise wheel either. So, we are stuck with the option of finding a suitable hub that can be used with an airbag wheel and will fit the Elise's Momo wheel whcih is a 4 bolt (not typical 6 bolt) mounting pattern. I have a Momo adaptor that fits the Elan's column but its not for an airbag wheel and its very deep meanign the wheel would stick out a lot. One other possible peice of good news is that I "think" (not yet tested) that the Elan's contact ring can be reused which would make acquiring an Elise wheel easier and cheaper.

[lotos]

If the Momo adapter you have does fit our column... perhaps a machinist could take it, and the Elise airbag wheel, and fashion a thin mounting hub. Do an order of 20 and they'll only be $10 a piece (I've just had a few drinks after shoveling 18" of snow... so I may be inebriatedly optomistic )

[esprit888]

Wierd, I have an Elise non-airbag wheel with a hub that fits the M100 that i picked up on ebay for a good price, would there be a difference in the hub between airbag and non airbag elise ? Mine is in having the roof made so i have not fitted it yet but it came from an M100 so it does fit. I'll pull it apart and see the bolt pattern in the morning (pic attached)

Ok, since the car's interior is currently in peices with the dash and verious other opeices on the floor I thought I'd try the fit the Elise airbag wheel.

It doesn't fit.

Now, I see this as both bad and good news. the bad being that the hub doesn't fit the spline of the Elan's steering column. Its too big and flops around. Further more, it juts out by about 2 inches more than the stock wheel too. Now, the good news is this. Since its near impossible to find a wheel with a hub attached it probably wouldn't have mattered if the hub fit - not one would be able to find one. So, the only two options I see are to make/adapt the Fed wheel's hub fit to the Elise wheel or find a new hub.

More bad news in that the Fed wheel doesn't have a hub per se - the hub is titally integrated into the back of the wheel. I don't think it would be possible to cut it out and attached it to the Elise wheel either. So, we are stuck with the option of finding a suitable hub that can be used with an airbag wheel and will fit the Elise's Momo wheel whcih is a 4 bolt (not typical 6 bolt) mounting pattern. I have a Momo adaptor that fits the Elan's column but its not for an airbag wheel and its very deep meanign the wheel would stick out a lot. One other possible peice of good news is that I "think" (not yet tested) that the Elan's contact ring can be reused which would make acquiring an Elise wheel easier and cheaper.

[Elanlover]

...........would there be a difference in the hub between airbag and non airbag elise ?

Definitely. Just as there is a difference between the Elan's airbag and non-airbag wheels. They have different splines and acompanying hubs. Finding non-airbag hubs to fit the Elan is "relatively" easy. Getting an airbag one will be practically impossible.

The other concern I have now that I've placed the Elise wheel into position is the ability to read the gauges. My speedo is out right now but the Elise wheel providesd much less room to see the instruments. In fact, it may be almost impossible to see them properly.

[cliffyg]

If you want someone to help defray the cost of whatever fabrication is necessary to do this, count me in. I have the wheel like you and I think the wheel will look so much better in the car than the orig. wheel.

[Elanlover]

Thanks cliffy, if using this wheel ends up being a good direciton then I think the only way to make it fit is with something completely custom or by finding and using something stock and then modifying it. I am concerned about the ability to view the instruments though and I want to put the speedo in and then the Elise wheel again to se how much of a problem it will be first. The Elise airbag wheel has a bigger center section than the non airbag version some have fitted to accomodate the airbag.

[dapinky]

Guys,

Both Ekapol and LGM have the wheel 'conversion' on them - Marie did a 'cut-and-shut' job on the original hub to enable it - there are pictures on both the LGM and Stripey threads (somewhere).

....and I don't mean to indicate that the job was botched together in any way, shape or form - anything Marie does is ALWAYS of top quality

[lotusgirlmarie]

You put a smile on my face that will probably last all day.

On the hub/wheel front, I'm curious, is the elise airbag wheel that much deeper than the Elans? Pics would be good. Also is there any room in the elise wheel behind the airbag? If you really didn't want the OEM wheel anymore you could do what I did and cut the adapter out from the OEM wheel. Maybe weld it to a steel plate that fits inside the elise wheel, space permitting, and drill and tap the plate to attach the wheel.

[Elanlover]

Guys,

Both Ekapol and LGM have the wheel 'conversion' on them - Marie did a 'cut-and-shut' job on the original hub to enable it - there are pictures on both the LGM and Stripey threads (somewhere).

There's were NON airbag though Mr. Pink.

[dapinky]

There's were NON airbag though Mr. Pink.

Sorry, Blair..... my mistake...

.....being from the Sorvereign motherland, we don't have to worry about that minor inconvenience, unlike the colonials, so it didn't occur to me

but i stick to my statement though....... It was a bloody nice job!

[Elanlover]

You put a smile on my face that will probably last all day.

On the hub/wheel front, I'm curious, is the elise airbag wheel that much deeper than the Elans? Pics would be good. Also is there any room in the elise wheel behind the airbag? If you really didn't want the OEM wheel anymore you could do what I did and cut the adapter out from the OEM wheel. Maybe weld it to a steel plate that fits inside the elise wheel, space permitting, and drill and tap the plate to attach the wheel.

Pics below.

Marie, the depth of the stock wheel from the front surface of the "circle" (what we grip) to the back edge of the hub is about 3.75 inches. On the Elise wheel its about 5.25 inches. i know that doesn't sound like a lot but it was immediately noticeable to me. The wheel being closer is not at all what I want and its probably partly to blame for the reduced visibility. Now, the actual hub depth on the Elan's wheel is 1 inch. That's the length from the front of the integrated hub to the back of the spline. On the Elise wheel its 1.4 inches. So, if we were to cut out the stock hub and attach it to the Elise wheel we'd gain about .4 inches. Now the wheel is only slightly more than 1 inch closer to the driver. Still noticable.

Its a good idea Marie but two things worry me. First, I'm VERY fearful of cutting up what may be my only steering wheel! I want to ensure I have something to go back to. If someone has a beat up wheel with no airbag I could soruce I may give it a go. But, we'd still be an inch too proud. However (I just had a thought and measured while in the middle of this post), "IF" the stock hub was REVERSED (front to back) and "IF" there was room in the Elise wheel behind the air bag, we'd gain another .4 inches. Now we are only slightly less than 3/4 of an inch. That might be acceptable.

EDIT: There's about .55 inches between the back of the airbag and the bottm of the base of the wheel. Not much room for error. Wonder if the steering column spline would stick through by much?


Pinky, no sweat Having to forego all the minor inconveniences we have to deal with is more than made up for by being forced to drive on the wrong side of the road

[lotusgirlmarie]

Funny, your spur of the moment idea is exactly what I was talking about. Can you unbolt the hub from the elise wheel? Try test fitting the wheel again without this hub as this may give you a more accurate representation of what it would feel like.

Second, does the adapter for the Elan fit inside the elise wheel? Do the splines line up? How deep is just the base? (excluding the compression fingers. The reason I'm awing is maybe you can use the adapter and drill out the rivets that hold the fingers on, drill and tap the adapter and mount that inside the wheel. Does that make sence? You may need to drill another hole for the airbag wires.

[Don.Hasi]

@Elanlover: I can feel really with you. After two years (!) of struggling I now have the airbag-stock-wheel off my car and my adapter for the elli-S1-wheel doesn´t fit, too. And the plant of the new hub has told me today, they will deliver in 6 weeks! arrgh

But go on with the project… I follow up your lines and steps like the very first day I had the same idea with the VX/Elli-Airbag-Wheel… maybe some day, with black anodised alloy… who knows….

You will not find any adaptor that converses 4pot to 5 or 6 momo, raid, omp, victor or whatever. Believe me, I have searched now for over 2 Years after Maries first pictures have infected me. But many or nearly all bases of adaptors have a 4pot-layout… but in different diameters One have to look which column and which diameter is needed regardless what the adaptor was bound for.

For my conversion I have to go the way like Marie suggests: unbolting the hubbase vom the adaptor itsself, drilling greater holes for the hubplate and fixing it with the stock-ellie-S1-deformation-part through the wheelplate (like the blueelan on side 4 has done it).

@Marie: unbolting the hub of the Elli-S2-SRS/airbag-wheel is not possible, as it is one piece. The only way it goes, in my view, is similar to my way: Find the right adaptor, unbolt the base, monting only the base on the back of the wheel - ready (simple, isn´t it ?)


Another idea for finding the right adaptor: the elli-S2 has a gm-steeringcolumn. The Elan has a gmsteeringcolumn too? So there must (!) be a right adaptor. Perhaps someone with connections to a hubproducer could find out, what will fit? I know guys that mount the vx-wheel on a corsa/nova… it have to go.

May the steeringforce be with us, quick :wink

[lotos]

I thought the Fed Airbag wheel was a fairly common GM part, used in Vettes (and Esprits), and other vehicles... Would sourcing an old GM wheel be relatively feasible? Cutting one of those up wouldn't hurt your sensibilities.

[esprit888]

Guess i just learnt something new, If the splines are different then that means the steering shafts are different ,which does not sound like Lotus at all. They usually like to keep the same stuff so they minimize parts bin stealing from the other manufacturers

...........would there be a difference in the hub between airbag and non airbag elise ?

Definitely. Just as there is a difference between the Elan's airbag and non-airbag wheels. They have different splines and acompanying hubs. Finding non-airbag hubs to fit the Elan is "relatively" easy. Getting an airbag one will be practically impossible.

The other concern I have now that I've placed the Elise wheel into position is the ability to read the gauges. My speedo is out right now but the Elise wheel providesd much less room to see the instruments. In fact, it may be almost impossible to see them properly.

[Elanlover]

Funny, your spur of the moment idea is exactly what I was talking about. Can you unbolt the hub from the elise wheel? Try test fitting the wheel again without this hub as this may give you a more accurate representation of what it would feel like.

Second, does the adapter for the Elan fit inside the elise wheel? Do the splines line up? How deep is just the base? (excluding the compression fingers. The reason I'm awing is maybe you can use the adapter and drill out the rivets that hold the fingers on, drill and tap the adapter and mount that inside the wheel. Does that make sence? You may need to drill another hole for the airbag wires.

Missed the notification on these post replies

Marie, I have two Elise wheels right now. One without the hub and one with the hub and contact ring. I will find some time this week (very busy right now) to put the speedo in and the wheel to get a better feel for the instrument visibility and how far out the wheel sticks.

Not sure what you mean by "adaptor" but here goes. I do have an adaptor that I sourced off eBay that fits the Elan column perfectly. Its for a non airbag MOMO wheel but doesn't match the mounting holes for the Elise wheel. Its VERY deep and couldn't be used as is. I could saw off the large portion that mounts to the back of the wheel as there seems to be a LOT of extraneous metal there. Would then have to tap some holes to mount the Elise wheel to it as well as enlargen the hole that the cables come though and add two holes for the Elan's stock contact ring to mount to. Might have to send that out though as i'd hate to saw off a chunk unevenly. All possible though. Probably need to post a picture so you can see what I'm describing.

Or, are you thinking to cut off the top of the adaptor I mention above and, instead of mounting to the back of the wheel as is normall the case, drop it into the cavity in the Elise wheel from above and mount it that way? If so the opening at the bottom of the Elise wheel is huge and it would be almost impossible to line the hub up perfectly. Easier to mount it as per the normal way.

Or have I gotten that completely wrong?

[Elanlover]

Guess i just learnt something new, If the splines are different then that means the steering shafts are different ,which does not sound like Lotus at all. They usually like to keep the same stuff so they minimize parts bin stealing from the other manufacturers

...........would there be a difference in the hub between airbag and non airbag elise ?

Definitely. Just as there is a difference between the Elan's airbag and non-airbag wheels. They have different splines and acompanying hubs. Finding non-airbag hubs to fit the Elan is "relatively" easy. Getting an airbag one will be practically impossible.

The other concern I have now that I've placed the Elise wheel into position is the ability to read the gauges. My speedo is out right now but the Elise wheel providesd much less room to see the instruments. In fact, it may be almost impossible to see them properly.

The airbag equipped models use an Isuzu column that's collapsable and NOT adjustable. The non airbag models have an adjustable columnn. Unfortunately, they are very different.

[cliffyg]

do you think it might be possible to get an adaptor for a momo airbag wheel for an isuzu--the column is probably from an impulse?--and use that for customizing??

cliff

[Elanlover]

do you think it might be possible to get an adaptor for a momo airbag wheel for an isuzu--the column is probably from an impulse?--and use that for customizing??

cliff

Is there such a thing?