Fitting an Aftermarket Steering Wheel, Boss and Snap Off Kit
Last Updated: 02-03-03

This is the steering wheel I chose, a Mountney alcantara with alloy spokes. It is much smaller than standard, and has grips which makes it nicer to use. Well worth the money.

Figure 1	Figure 2	Figure 3	Figure 4	Figure 5	Figure 6
Figure 7	Figure 8

To install a steering wheel you need a vehicle boss which matches up to the splines on the steering column. I chose the RAID vehicle boss.
However, I wanted to add security aswell as having a sporty steering wheel, so I bought a Snap Off kit. For those not familiar with the Snap Off Kit, it allows you to remove the steering wheel when parking the car so that theives cannot physically drive it away, even if they overcome my alarm/immobilisor. The kits are unique, and come with 2 keys to enable removal of the wheel. Although its expensive at nearly one hundred pounds, I am not skimping on security.

Fitting:

Items Purchased: RAID Vehicle Boss £35, Mountney Steering Wheel £57.99, Snap Off Kit £94.99, Steering wheel puller £18

1) First you need to remove the standard steeringwheels cover to gain access to the bolt to the column. This can be done by pulling at the cover until it pulls off to reveal the bolt and wires for the alarm. (See Figure 1).

2) Now to remove the wheel. This is done by pulling the wheel off the splines. Sounds easy? With the correct puller it is, but I have tried to do it without the puller before and its very difficult and there is a risk of damage to the collapsable steering column if force is used. I made life easy and purchased a Vauxhall steering wheel puller from Premier Tools.
With a 1/2" drive ratchet and a 22mm socket, remove the bolt, but leave it just on the end of the columns thread so that if the wheel flies off it doesnt smack you in the face.
Next, position the puller (See Figure 2). It has 2 arms which hook around the holes in the Vauxhall wheel, and a threaded bar in the middle which pushes on the thread to pull the wheel off when it is turned with a ratchet (See Figure 3).

3) The indicators are cancelled when the wheel is turned by an arm that sticks out the back of the origional wheel. This is made of plastic and is fitted on the back of the wheel (See Figure 4). Remove this by prising it off the origional wheel.
This can now be fitted to the back of the new RAID vehicle boss. The plastic prongs and positive horn wire fit into the vehicle boss (See Figure 5).

4) Next, remove the horn earth wire from the origional wheel by bending the metal clip with a screw drive until it slides out. I made an earth by removing some of the paint from the inside off the boss and bending the clip around one of the existing holes in the metal. The boss rubber cover then covers this up.

5) The boss can now be fitted over the splines (See Figure 6 which shows the splines on the column) taking care to locate the indicator cancellor arm. Its quite difficult to get the boss on at the right angle first time because once the boss and snap off kit has been fitted the wheel will probably end up slightly off centre - mine did, I will rotate it by 1-2 splines to correct this. Do the bolt up tight, not forgetting the metal washer/locator which goes on first. Plug in the horn wires to the supplied connector plate (See Figure 7) not forgetting the pieces of insulation to cover the metal spade connectors.

6) The snap off boss can now be fitted to the supplied spacer, so that there is enough room between the horn push and the snap off boss to accommodate the horn wires. You can use the steering wheels horn push with the appropriate adaptor ring (supplied with the vehicle boss), or use the Raid horn push supplied with the snap off kit. I opted for the Mountney one which came with the wheel as it is a more subtle logo than the garish Raid one.

7) Finally once the Snap Off boss is complete, fit the screws (type depends on wheel - see instructions) to the wheel and Snap off boss, and attach the wheel/Snap Off boss combination to the vehicle boss in the car - job jobbed! (See Figure 8.)

Test the horn before driving, if it doesnt work swap the connections, failing that you will need to sort the earth - remember it is illegal to drive on public roads without a horn.

---