[bigrig91]

Have u ever been steering flat out and hit the wiper lever behind the steering wheel causing all hell to brake loose? I have and im sick of it haha.

I am making up a switch plate for where the cd player would go for the vit, i want to put lights, compressor, windcreen washer and wipers, maybe even push button start there.

Obviously lights and comp are straight forward, windcreen washer should be easy. For the wipers with variable speeds, if i can get a 4 position switch or something would that work?

[atari4x4]

i'd be fitting a boss kit & deep dish sports steering wheel... simple neater solution & i guess you'll be wanting to replace the stock wheel any way if your racing it.

[Gwagensteve]

^ Much truth here.

I run a deep dish steering wheel in my car (running a Vitara column) to get the wheel close. If my road car has a reach adjustable wheel I always run them almost as close to me as they can go.

Much better for ergonomics if you really are steering fast. There's a reason race car drivers run the wheel close, and it's not because they're hitting the wipers.



random pic of Colin McRae in his office.



You can see the distance between the column stalks and the wheel in my car is plenty. I'm running an Autotechnica boss and a generic "suede" drift style wheel because it was cheap and I always wanted one.

Steve.

[jonfromhamilton]

I love that reason Steve
"practical practical practical I always wanted one"
I want a flocked out dash don't know if it will ever happen though and probably hold dust.
I know you have the 12 o'clock on your's for rally driving (not helicopter piloting though)

[Gwagensteve]

The "suede" is actually more practical than you'd imagine. It's kind of self cleaning, it sort of sheds everything as it dries, and it's grippy even when I have wet hands, unlike a stock wheel.

I love flocked dashes, but the practical advantage (no dash reflections) is pretty irrelevant when you have a flat screen that's nearly vertical. It would trap mud like a mofo too.

Steve.

[stockman]

Five years next month since McRae passed away

[atari4x4]

man he was good at crashing... it was all or nothing.

bigrig this is my set up, pretty much the same wheel as steve but not fancy pants suede. SAAS boss kit BK 139L with a few tweeks to get it to work on the SV's as seen on pg 15 of my build thread.




now if you hit the stalks with that sort of set up, you must drive like a retarded chimpanzee on smack.

[d1mitch]

as the guys have said before the deep dish steering wheel is the most simple solution.

although i have never had the problem of hitting the wiper stalk the people i have seen are normally flailing their arms around like a crazy person just sawing at the wheel hoping to go the right direction or losing control, its not good driving practice to drive with arms going everywhere lol try relaxing your steering arms a bit lol

[driftr]

I like that wheel Atari, might have to get one like it.

[bigrig91]

d1mitch wrote:

as the guys have said before the deep dish steering wheel is the most simple solution.

although i have never had the problem of hitting the wiper stalk the people i have seen are normally flailing their arms around like a crazy person just sawing at the wheel hoping to go the right direction or losing control, its not good driving practice to drive with arms going everywhere lol try relaxing your steering arms a bit lol

I would say Clayton Chapman drives like a crazy person but he definately doesnt saw at the wheel or hope to go the right direction. Very talented driver and look what hapened to him....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hltWY5pSjyw ( at the start of the vid)

[atari4x4]

what's the big deal if you do hit the wipers by mistake...

*white peoples problems

if you do remove the indicator stalk, i doubt you'll ever get a RWC again or what ever it is up there.

[bigrig91]

There really is no deal you just casually turn them off. My mate on the other hand (is definately not a driver) panic'd and tried to turn them off crashing into a pile of rocks. haha.

Ok deep dish wheel it is. How have other people made the whole for there air comp swithces the rocker style ones. Drill 4 holes and coping saw in between? It will be made out of some ally sheet.

[Gwagensteve]

I use a dremel with the tiny cut off discs.

Steve.

[DarkHorse]

Yup, Dremel (or $50 Ozito ripoff thereof - takes Dremel bits/blades which are worth the extra money over the complete shite that comes with the tool.)

[Reubs]

bigrig91 wrote:

Have u ever been steering flat out and hit the wiper lever behind the steering wheel causing all hell to brake loose? I have and im sick of it haha.

atari4x4 wrote:

i'd be fitting a boss kit & deep dish sports steering wheel... simple neater solution & i guess you'll be wanting to replace the stock wheel any way if your racing it.

Problem I have found with a lengthy boss kit and sports wheel is your fingers get too far away from the headlight stalk to easily dip them. You can't switch highbeams in a hurry and it's a PITA driving dark winding country roads where there is still a bit of traffic.

I have considered a small toggle switch (connected to some spiral wound cable wrapped around the column) in one of the spokes of the steering wheel for this very reason.

[atari4x4]

really? i literally have stumps for fingers & i've never had a problem. it's not like your fingers have to stretch that far.

IMO it should only take 2 or 3 uses at the most to adapt to it, it's a bit like a mechanic jumping into several different cars everyday...

i'm sure as hell he wouldn't stall each one just cause the clutch feels slightly different to the last or that he couldn't indicate because the stalk was in a slightly different position, bit like that french POS shitroen i was driving with the indicator stalk on the LHS... after less than 5 minutes of driving it, i stopped turning the wipers on to turn right.