grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

For the LONGEST time after I installed the NRG short hub, quick-release and steering wheel combo, I was without horn. And many times I wish I had it. Well, being a teacher now, I am afforded a lot of free time during the summer, and decided to stop procrastinating about it. Here is the quick and dirty.

Mind you this DIY is NOT about getting power to the hub. Every DIY already out there can tell you how to do that. This DIY is MAINLY concerned with the exact wiring of the NRG horn button when used in combination with the NRG Quick Release and NRG Short Hub. This DIY assumes that you already have the short hub already installed.

Applicable Years: 96-00 all

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

Estimated Time: 1-2 hrs

Tools Required if fabricating your own "shoehorn":
-Screwdriver
-Wire
-Wire Stripper/Cutter
-Electrical tape
-Small Ring Terminal

Or

Honda part number 35259-SH3-A02

Important Notes:
-Failure to follow directions may result in damage to your vehicle and I will not be held responsible.

Preparation:
Have the steering column broken down. If you are unsure of how to do that please consult any DIY that you may find to get you to this point. This one should help you out.
Have your Honda shoehorn or shoehorn "device" pre-fabbed and installed.
Note: I made mine from a large 3" worm clamp. Snip off about an inch, put a bend in it at about a third of the length or as wide as the head of the screw, drill a hole in the short end for a screw. Get a short piece of wire and a ring terminal and assemble everything making sure the long piece of the metal strip contacts the BACK of the short hub at ALL TIMES!!! You may have to tweak how much you bend the metal strip but once you have it you'll see it aint going anywhere. It will never lose tension and fail to contact the back of the hub. If you can, order a proper shoehorn for a stock solution.


Step 1
Locate this plug. It's a 4 pin connector but only has three wires in it. Note the color of the wires. My plug is black. Some DIYs I've seen the plug is gray and the wires were a different color.

Stick other end of the wire coming from the shoehorn into the plug where the RED wire is (if your setup matches mine).
Test with a multimeter to make sure it's the correct wire!!!
I will not be held responsible if you burn up your car or electrocute yourself.
Tape the wire to the plug with electrical tape to secure it or if you feel so bold, cut the RED wire and connect the two (which is what I wound up doing).
The other two are for the cruise control and sets things up for my next project.

Step 2
Connect all your wires to match this. Red is ground. Yellow/Green is power.

NOTE!! Every DIY I've seen never mentions the actual wiring of the horn AT ALL. Only how to locate the hot lead and how to hook it up. Probably because every DIY is using a Momo or Nardi steering wheel. The horn button for the NRG steering wheel is not grounded so you have to attach all wires. I don't know if the other horn buttons are or not. You never see them actually get wired up.
NOTE 2!! I don't know what genius they have over at NRG bacxk in teh day but the power wire coming out of the older version of the short hub I have, and the power wire from (yellow with green stripe) the quick release both had FEMALE CONNECTORS!!! I had to cut one off and replace it with a male. If yours does not suffer from this fate then don't worry about it. Apparently they fixed this oversight in later runs of the component.
NOTE 3!! If you DO have the older version now would be a good time to replace those 3 Phillips head screws in the short hub with socket head ones as the Phillips tend to loosen over time and you get shaky steering wheel. Or you can apply some Loctite to the threads.

Step 3
Connect horn wires as shown. Nothing hard here. Red is ground. Yellow/Green is power.


Step 4
Test horn and reassemble.

A note when reassembling!!
Make sure you don't pinch any of the wires or you may have a situation where you have a horn screaming at you continuously once you press the horn button just once. It will not go off. That happened to me and I had to resort to snipping my shoehorn wiring as you can see in the first 3 pics.

Good luck.

Former User

Thread added to FAQs sticky.