JesseCRX

I just installed the Prelude wheel in my Civic hatch and I was wondering if anyone has made use of the buttons.



I have power locks and I don't like where the previous owner placed the power lock switch(look in the upper left hand corner and you will see it)and I'd like to use these buttons as lock and unlock but I am unsure if it could work.


If anyone has any diagrams or ideas I'd appreciate it.

~sp33~

I wouldnt mind knowing about this. What kind of bosskit did you use? Does the stock one fit?

I'd like to hook up an aftermarket cruise control to it. Anyone done that before?

JesseCRX

Well, I did some afro engineering and I was able to get the power lock switches to work with the cruise control buttons but I ran into a problem.

The 91 prelude comes with a rotating wire detangler...kinda like a bicycle rotor that keeps the brake cables from getting tangled up. When I had everything wired up the way I wanted it the wires got tangled and got caught on on the horn prong.

If I can figure out a way to keep the wires from getting tangled when rotating the wheel I'll post it up.

I also read that some have made use of the buttons by integrating them into their garage door openers....but I dunno.

dohc_profile

hahaha afro engineering, havent heard that in a while

JesseCRX

does the Civic EX come with cruise control?

The reason I ask is because if it does and it has wheel mounted buttons I could probably use the lights/wiper sticks unit and install it in my hatch. From there I could rewire it from the column on back. I assume the EX and LX have the same kind of detangler rotor built into the lights/wiper unit.

Can anyone confirm this?

~sp33~

The EX had cruise control, im not 100% if it was standard on every model though.

JesseCRX

Bump for Civic EX/LX steering wheel info!

Jonathan_ED3

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JesseCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">does the Civic EX come with cruise control?

The reason I ask is because if it does and it has wheel mounted buttons I could probably use the lights/wiper sticks unit and install it in my hatch. From there I could rewire it from the column on back. I assume the EX and LX have the same kind of detangler rotor built into the lights/wiper unit.

Can anyone confirm this?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes...so does the LX.

You don't need the entire column electrical assembly.

All you need is the "detangler rotor" and the boss that accompanies it. I put cruise on a DX so I know that you don't need the ENTIRE steering column setup.

From there you will take the brass horn shoe from your stock steering column and solder it to the horn circuit on the EX/LX "detangler". That way your horn will work.

You will also use both the Civic male/female "detangler" plugs in regards to the steering wheel with the Prelude wheel. The plug on the Prelude wheel isn't the same as on the Civic detangler harness...so cut the plug off the Prelude wheel and solder the Civic plug in it's place.

Also, on the Prelude steering wheels the hole in the back of the steering wheel doesn't line up with the plug on the Civic "detangler"....so you got to dremel/cut it out to fit so you have enough room for the "detangler" plug to feed back into the steering wheel as you slide it onto the column.

The Prelude wheel sits too close to the wiper/headlight stalks IMO...everytime I turned a corner my hand would come down and bang into the stalk. Took me a few minutes to get used to.

I loved the look and feel of the Prelude wheel though! Was hard for me to find one in good shape.

There are 3 wires in the circuit for the steering wheel - one is horn. I don't know how your windows are wired up, but I don't see why you couldn't manipulate the system somehow into thinking, perhaps, that the "resume" button is up and the "set" button is down, or whatever your wish is.

JesseCRX

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jonathan_ED3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yes...so does the LX.

You don't need the entire column electrical assembly.

All you need is the "detangler rotor" and the boss that accompanies it. I put cruise on a DX so I know that you don't need the ENTIRE steering column setup.

From there you will take the brass horn shoe from your stock steering column and solder it to the horn circuit on the EX/LX "detangler". That way your horn will work.

You will also use both the Civic male/female "detangler" plugs in regards to the steering wheel with the Prelude wheel. The plug on the Prelude wheel isn't the same as on the Civic detangler harness...so cut the plug off the Prelude wheel and solder the Civic plug in it's place.

Also, on the Prelude steering wheels the hole in the back of the steering wheel doesn't line up with the plug on the Civic "detangler"....so you got to dremel/cut it out to fit so you have enough room for the "detangler" plug to feed back into the steering wheel as you slide it onto the column.

The Prelude wheel sits too close to the wiper/headlight stalks IMO...everytime I turned a corner my hand would come down and bang into the stalk. Took me a few minutes to get used to.

I loved the look and feel of the Prelude wheel though! Was hard for me to find one in good shape.

There are 3 wires in the circuit for the steering wheel - one is horn. I don't know how your windows are wired up, but I don't see why you couldn't manipulate the system somehow into thinking, perhaps, that the "resume" button is up and the "set" button is down, or whatever your wish is. </TD></TR></TABLE>

This is awesome info.

Actually, I wanted to use the buttons for my power locks because I have power mirrors that I wanna install and the lock switch is occupying that spot where the power mirror switch goes.

I wish you could post pics of what you are talkin about so I could see exactly what you mean. I will probably just end up getting the whole steering column for cheap at a junkyard just to be safe.

I know it seems like alot of work just to make use of the buttons but I don't like to have them just staring at me with no function. I wonder if I could wire my Naaaawz to them (jk).

I'll take pics of what my prelude wheel looks like. The guy I bought it from already hacked it so that it's a simple bolt on install into an EF/ED. It definitely feels great and since I have smaller hands it's perfect for me.

Thanks again for that info Jonathan! You are t3h winnar

Jonathan_ED3

Sorry about no pics - i don't even have that car anymore. You'll see exactly what I mean when you pull the steering wheel off the EX/LX at the junkyard.

Don't worry about messing with or wasting your time by taking the entire steering column out. You can get everything you need in under 1 minute at the junkyard.

As soon as you slide off the steering wheel from the LX/EX donor car, you will see a rubber slider deal (detangler as you call it - I don't remember the correct name).

This detangler bolts to the steering column with 3 tiny phillips head screws. Save these scews! They're small, and easy to lose. The detangler will bolt onto your steering column exactly the same way.

After you slide that off, there is a white plastic piece that acts as the cam for the turn signal. You'll need that piece, the detangler, and its wiring harness.

Cut the plug off that's sticking out of the stock EX/LX steering wheel, solder it to your Prelude steering wheel, install your cam and detangler and then wire it up to your windows and/or your NAWASZ. lol

Also, when you have both setups apart, you will see what I mean about the brass shoe-spring that functions the horn on the non-cruise control cars. It sticks down from your stock steering wheel.

Cut the end of it off, and solder the horn wire from the detangler to it, or use a female spade type terminal and attach it to the point where the original brass shoe attached.

Like I said, as soon as you look at the LX/EX donor car you will know EXACTLY what I mean by all of this.

Let us know when you make it all work!!!

JesseCRX

Again, awesome info.

I'll make a go of it this weekend and hunt down those parts.

Once this is done I can install my power mirrors!

Thanks again Jonathan.

JesseCRX

OK guys I have an update.

The good news is I got my power locks to work on the prelude wheel.

The bad news is I can't figure out how to make my horn work.

First some background on the original power lock switch. As with just about any switch it has 3 connections. One ground, and one for lock and one for unlock( I assume).

Here is what I did...


First I spliced the new Civic EX connector to the Prelude wheel switch. The colors were the same so it wasn't hard to figure out.




Then I hooked up a simple wire to my horn prong like so.




Now before I hooked upi the horn I wanted to make sure the switch worked. I wired the power locks to the 3 wires on the switch and presto! It works!

Now I got a wire splicer and hooked up the horn to the wire to the wire I thought was the correct one but the horn just goes off. This is where I wired it to.


So that didn't work. I then spliced the horn wire to both of the other wires one at a time and what ends up happening is that the power locks still work but my horn beeps each time I press the button.

I been at this all day and I am exhausted. Can anyone give me some ideas?


Modified by JesseCRX at 11:50 PM 2/24/2008

JesseCRX

Ok, I figured it out. Geez, it was right in front of my face the whole time.

So here is what had to be done.

First thing is to modify the Prelude wheel with any Civc LX/EX switch harness like so.





Next thing you do is un-splice the red/blue wire coming out of the switch and ground it to the back of the steering wheel skeleton like so.


Double check your connections before sealing up the wheel.

Next you move onto the steering column. When you go to the junkyard make sure you pull BOTH the rotor assembly and the white center cam. You'll know it when you see it. When cutting the wires for the rotor assembly try to cut as far back as you can go so you can have plenty of wire for splicing. Here is a pic of my assembly and you can see if you look closely just how far back I cut the wires. Also make sure you keep the 3 small phillips screws that hold the rotor to the wiper/light assembly.


Take off your steering column and wire up your horn like this. There are other ways but I did mine in a hurry.


Then attach the rotor to your wiper/light assembly using the 3 screws. Route the horn wire so that the rotor sits as close to flush as possible. Here's how I did mine.


Then splice the horn wire to the red/blue wire. I used an in-line splicer.


Wire up the the on/off wires of whatever it is you wanna hook up(power locks/windows) to the other 2 wires you cut but DO NOT wire anything else up to the red/blue wire. That's the horn wire(remember). Tuck away the ground wire coming from your power locks or windows because you won't need it. The switch is grounded at the wheel.

By far one of the easiest and best looking interior mods I have ever done to my car.

Now I just need to figure out how I am going to label my power lock switches.

I was thinking RELEASE/TRAP or ROCK/UN-ROCK(JDM Engrish), GTFO/U STAY

If anyone has questions I'll do what I can to help.

Thanks to Jonathan for helping. Your info was super valuable!



Modified by JesseCRX at 6:23 AM 2/25/2008

Jonathan_ED3

Looking good man! Did you pick up the turn signal cam? Or is it just not in the pics?

Nihilus

Ninja Scroll. Classic.

JesseCRX

Yeah I did, it's just not in the pics. Funny thing was that I had forgotten to get it and had it all wired up and I noticed my turn signal wasn't popping back into neutral after making a turn. I was like WTF!?

Then I realized I forgot that piece.

I went back to the yard and got it.

It was a piece of cake.

I'll take pics of the wheel installed and everything tomorrow. I need to clean my interior anyway.

Overall I would say it was worth it. The Prelude wheel is so nice. I showed it off at a local meet and everyone was like DAAAYUM! YO CAN I HAZ IT!? I told them NO YOU CANNOT HAZ!

~sp33~

I liked it better when you beeped and warned everyone you were locking your doors. lol.

OUTA MUH WAYZ, IM LOCKING.

Bob_760

Just FYI the "detangler" is called a clockspring. Just in case anyone tries to look for one that should make it easier.

JesseCRX

Thanks man.

I'm an old BMX freestyle guru, so when I saw that thing the first thing I thought was "ROTOR" like the old ACS, Odyssey and Gyro rotors

Thanks for the info

JesseCRX

Ok, here are a few pics of it installed.

Next plans are to replace the pedals with the Momo's I have had since last Christmas and then install the power mirrors.








Modified by JesseCRX at 9:44 PM 2/25/2008

JesseCRX

Jonathan or anyone...

is the EX/LX clockspring detangler the only one that will work on ED/EFs?

The reasn I am asking is because I think there are a few other oem wheels that have a few more buttons. Not sure what other wheels are compatible with EF's besides the Prelude wheel.

Allthecivics

So I know this is super old but I just did this swap and now I hit my blinkers/wipers with my knuckles every time I turn the wheel :/ thought id mention this in case anyone else was looking to do it

Former User

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