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there is no list - when I'm ready I'll just post here again and see who's interested. The hardware ist basically finished, and the software should be too, but I'm about to put my project car/test mule into storage, so that'll be it until spring. Maybe weather permitting I'll convert the column on the car to be able to test this beast in a car.
Funny you bring this up at this time!
As a matter of fact, I built the hybrid Fiero/F-body column with the new upper shaft last week.
Since my cruise wasn't working I fixed it Monday evening, so next is putting my control box into my own car.
Hopefully I'll manage to do that tomorrow, and hopefully it'll work as planned!
Wheel installed
Clockspring column before steering wheel installation
Last edited by Fieroluke; 05-30-2018 at 02:58 AM.
Reason: More explanation
Funny you bring this up at this time!
As a matter of fact, I built the hybrid Fiero/F-body column with the new upper shaft last week.
Since my cruise wasn't working I fixed it Monday evening, so next is putting my control box into my own car.
Hopefully I'll manage to do that tomorrow, and hopefully it'll work as planned!
Mission accomplished! It looks beautiful and cruise works great! Now I am in the process of making a permanent wiring harness and run tests to see if it all works smoothly...
This thread is kind of a bouillabaisse of different projects, so I apologize for being lazy if I missed it, but how did you connect the redundant steering wheel buttons to operate the cruise? Did you also connect the stereo ones on the right?
I am asking, since I am in the midst of one the most ambitious (and dumbest) projects I've ever attempted: I am building a new wheel using the factory hub, airbag, horn, and probably buttons and connecting it to a 13" Sparco steering wheel rim. I've made the spokes from scratch, and will also make an airbag cover along with something to support the buttons before having it all reupholstered. I've looked at cannibalizing just the switches out of a wheel like the Vette one or simply sourcing some off-the-shelf electronics switches and keeping the factory circuit board, but in the end I think I will just stick with the rather bubbly factory buttons so that I don't have to make more stuff from scratch. Still, it's good to have options. I would be interested to know how hard that is to wire up--especially if I cannot find room to mount the bulky factory buttons, which are quite deep in order to diffuse the lighting from a single bulb internally. I will make a thread when mine is done eventually, but for now it is a work in progress. I have already failed once, as I used a cheaper eBay wheel which turned out to be too flimsy in testing, so I started over.
Thanks in advance, and nice progress Fieroluke. I am always impressed by your ingenuity and custom work.
I did make the cruise and radio buttons functional, but it was not just a "wire and go" effort. But it depends on which steering wheel you use and how it's wired. This thread is about the C6 wheel and similar corporate wheels. If you go custom, you can (and probably will have to) go a different route.
The problem is: the F-body clockspring only has 4 wires (plus 2 for the airbag). If you ditch the bag you have a little more freedom wiring wise.
If you want cruise, radio and keep the illumination (and also keep the dimming) you need a few wires. Remember that the variable resistor/transistor illumination circuit was designed for incandescent bulbs and does not work well with LEDs. LEDs are usually dimmed with a PWM by the BCM or similar electronics.
So, if we're talking C6 wheel you would need:
- ignition power (for the cruise buttons)
- ground (for the LEDs and cruise buttons) - It's not advisable to get ground elsewhere like metals parts of the wheel.
- Illumination (why do I have a vision of a jumping minion now?)
- One wire for the cruise resistor ladder output
- One wire for cruise cancel output (alternatively info/enter button output depending on the left switch bank)
- radio resistor ladder input
- radio resistor ladder output
So, if you want to keep everything, you're screwed, 4/6 wires aren't enough. You can generate the 8 (or so) Volts for the radio resistor ladder input in the wheel thus saving one wire, and without the bag you could use the 6 clockspring wires to bring all signals down the column, but if you have an F-body the cruise resistor ladder is no use because your cruise control can't use it. Hooking up the illumination wire will illuminate the LEDs, but dimming probably won't work.
That's why I built the circuits I'm testing right now: The steering wheel circuit encodes everything inside the steering wheel and only uses the 4 clockspring wires: ignition power, ground, radio resistor output and serial signal to decoder. It supports dimming the LEDs with PWM and encodes everything, even including the optional paddle switches. The decoder circuit decodes voltages compatible with the electric cruise control used in the 90's. It also reads the illumination voltage from the incandescent circuit and transmits the value to the wheel to dim the LEDs properly. And it supplies the radio switch output for use with a ControlPRO CP5 or similar steering wheel radio interface for aftermarket radios. The Info/Enter and Paddle buttons are also decoded on user resistor encoded outputs for whatever future project...
And that's what I'm testing now. The cruise stuff works, so does the dimmer, but the radio isn't hooked up yet. I'm in the process of making a permanent wiring harness, but that takes some effort. I'll post a pic if anyone is interested...
Originally Posted by eb110americana
This thread is kind of a bouillabaisse of different projects, so I apologize for being lazy if I missed it, but how did you connect the redundant steering wheel buttons to operate the cruise? Did you also connect the stereo ones on the right?
I am asking, since I am in the midst of one the most ambitious (and dumbest) projects I've ever attempted: I am building a new wheel using the factory hub, airbag, horn, and probably buttons and connecting it to a 13" Sparco steering wheel rim. I've made the spokes from scratch, and will also make an airbag cover along with something to support the buttons before having it all reupholstered. I've looked at cannibalizing just the switches out of a wheel like the Vette one or simply sourcing some off-the-shelf electronics switches and keeping the factory circuit board, but in the end I think I will just stick with the rather bubbly factory buttons so that I don't have to make more stuff from scratch. Still, it's good to have options. I would be interested to know how hard that is to wire up--especially if I cannot find room to mount the bulky factory buttons, which are quite deep in order to diffuse the lighting from a single bulb internally. I will make a thread when mine is done eventually, but for now it is a work in progress. I have already failed once, as I used a cheaper eBay wheel which turned out to be too flimsy in testing, so I started over.
Thanks in advance, and nice progress Fieroluke. I am always impressed by your ingenuity and custom work.
Thanks for the detailed reply. In my case, I am happy to leave the cruise on the stalk, and wish to use only the same 8 radio buttons as the factory setup. My goal was to find something that looked and felt more modern and less-cheap than the factory buttons. Sadly, there are almost no cars which share the same button layout, so I would be left modifying an existing set, or building one from scratch. If the latter, it sounds from your description, like reusing the existing circuit boards would be the least amount of work--though I would still have to figure out where to locate them. I will continue to think on this one as I work on the physical wheel, to see if I can conceive of something more attractive than the stock buttons that might work. I am open to suggestions...
I didn't re-read the whole thread, but what are the mechanical benefits of this conversion over buying a newly built F-body steering column? I'm not concerned with adding steering wheel buttons.
I didn't re-read the whole thread, but what are the mechanical benefits of this conversion over buying a newly built F-body steering column? I'm not concerned with adding steering wheel buttons.
The point is the modern looking wheel (vs the handbag) and for me personally the steering wheel buttons.
Ok, I’ve finished my horn solution. I didn’t want to drill a hole into my wheel, so I came up with this.
I had a brass contact pin turned on a lathe, used with the stock spring and 3D printed retainer I designed.
A wire is soldered to the top of the pin and fed through the retainer cap. The other end of the wire is
the soldered to my little adapter board, but could also be spliced to the existing connector.
The retainer sits flush with the top of the cancelling cam, it’s locked with a flat head screwdriver.
i'm in for this possibly. I really want, at the very least, radio controls. I will gladly get a wheel with just radio controls only. I have access to a steering column from an '05 Grand Prix for the steering wheel shaft that's free, i just gotta remove it. I have been looking for wheels and i really love the later C6 wheel but i don't feel like spending big bucks on a new one as i can't seem to find used ones. I can get a Cobalt/HHR/G6 wheel for around $50 and a bag for about the same unless i can find a good deal on the pair together. Also i found an Fbody steering column locally for $80 that i may seriously consider and then just do the swap and throw the whole thing in the car(swapping my ignition over of course).
Any news? I'm dying to have the converter setup as well. Quick question. If I am only interested in the radio buttons and I have an aftermarket kenwood receiver, can I make due with the 4 wires from my clock spring? According to what I read on a corvette forum as well as this forum, here is the information that I acquired. In terms of wire colors on the c6 steering wheel,
brown/grey- horn signal
black/blue- ground
yellow/purple- button illum.
purple w/white-brown -- 12v+
blue/red- steering wheel control signal
our wheel
yellow wire- 12v+
dk blue- output to radio from wheel controls
black- ground
grey/blk- + power for illumination
so can I hook the yellow from our clockspring to the purple/white/brown wire on the c6 wheel
the blue wire to the blue/red wire on the c6 wheel
black ground to the black/blue on the c6
grey/blk to the yellow/purple wire on the c6 wheel
Any news? I'm dying to have the converter setup as well. Quick question. If I am only interested in the radio buttons and I have an aftermarket kenwood receiver, can I make due with the 4 wires from my clock spring? According to what I read on a corvette forum as well as this forum, here is the information that I acquired. In terms of wire colors on the c6 steering wheel,
brown/grey- horn signal
black/blue- ground
yellow/purple- button illum.
purple w/white-brown -- 12v+
blue/red- steering wheel control signal
our wheel
yellow wire- 12v+
dk blue- output to radio from wheel controls
black- ground
grey/blk- + power for illumination
so can I hook the yellow from our clockspring to the purple/white/brown wire on the c6 wheel
the blue wire to the blue/red wire on the c6 wheel
black ground to the black/blue on the c6
grey/blk to the yellow/purple wire on the c6 wheel
any help?
I don't know if button illumination will work properly. The C6 wheel comes with LEDs, which can not really be dimmed well through the old GM resistor thumbwheel type dimmer. A BCM will do PWM dimming, which is much better.
This is also what I do on my cruise adapter, but if you only want the radio to work, you should be able to hook up the C6 wheel directly to your clockspring. Black on black and grey to LED illumination should give you light, run radio button supply and remote
output through the other two wires, and hook up the horn contact to the cancelling cam tower...
05-29-2018, 09:12 PM
