arctic_blue83

I figured I would take the time to share my bad (self caused) experience with installing the 949 Racing Xtndr Steering Spacer, which brings the OEM steering wheel about 2.2 inches/55mm closer to you. I want to be clear: the 949 Xtndr is a well engineered piece, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, it works as designed, and 100% of the problems I ran into are completely self-caused. I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with 949 Racing (although I have used their products in the past on my old Miata's), I paid full price for their product(s) and am happy to continue buying from them as they've always been an excellent company to deal with.

I'm 6'2" and after years of reaching for the wheel in my S2000, I saw 949 Racing made an extension that would bring the wheel close to me, while allowing me to use my OEM steering wheel/airbag/cruise control/horn. Which, after installation, it worked great and looks very clean:



I read all the instructions on removing the OEM wheel. I saw LHT's video on being very careful rocking it back and forth to avoid damaging the clock spring. What can I say? I'm a bit of a neanderthal sometimes and when the wheel didn't come off easily, my inner caveman came out and I pulled the wheel harder than I should have. If I had to do it again, I might try leaving the bolt partially in as I pulled, to avoid what happened next... when the wheel came off, the cables inside caught on the wheel it ripped the front side of the clockspring off, leaving a mess of cable reel that popped out. Honestly, if I had slowed down and taken the time to read the factory service manual, I might have been able to repair the clockspring (technically I didn't see instructions for repairing it, but I could have reset/aligned it properly). That didn't happen. After a bit of time fumbling around, I managed to rewind the reel into the clockspring, but I didn't read the factory service manual instructions on installing a clockspring... if I had bothered, I would have seen the instructions: when installing a used clockspring/cable reel, turn the clockspring all the way clockwise until it stops (do this gently), then (with the front wheels centered/straight ahead) turn the clockspring 2.5 turns counter-clockwise in order to center it. You can see where this is going. Everything worked just fine until the moment I turned the wheel too far while the clockspring was not centered properly and it ripped the cable reel, leaving it no longer capable of being repaired:



For the record, a new clockspring / reel assembly cable from Honda is about ~$280. Ouch. For anyone that runs into this problem in the future, the part number is 77900-S2A-A51 for a 2006-2009 S2000 (I have a 2008). Being the cheap bastard that I am, I managed to find a used one on Ebay for $80, that thankfully worked just fine.

With having to remove everything again and now removing the clockspring, I somehow managed to misalign the steering angle sensor behind the clockspring. Fortunately I noticed this while I was waiting for the clockspring to come in the mail and so I took the time to read the factory service manual. I turned the arrow back upwards, but I wasn't convinced it hadn't moved and from reading other threads, I figured I would end up with the VSA light on and the 27-1 error code for an alignment issue. I figured I could pay a dealership $150+ to reprogram it for me (I'm just speculating on the price, I didn't actually call the dealership), or I could spend $170 on this Amazon tool that can re-program the SAS:


After re-installing everything, all appeared to work properly. I drove a half a block and my VSA light came on, indicating that my assumptions were correct. When I scanned the SAS, with the wheels fully straight, the ECU thought the SAS was at -174 degrees. It took a few minutes to find the proper menu (oddly enough it wasn't under VSA Sensor Neutral Position Memorization), but after a few minutes of fumbling around, I was able to reset the SAS with the wheels straight and all is now well with the car. So, for the record, the cheap tool on Amazon actually worked for me!

I figured I would share the tale of my own idiocy in the event someone had the same problem in the future. Even after the hassle on what should have been a simple 15 minute install, I'm very happy with the steering wheel spacer! I would recommend it to any tall driver looking to shorten their reach to the wheel, just make sure to pull your steering wheel off GENTLY and avoid damaging the clockspring at all costs haha! Cheers!

B serious

glad you got it sorted

I have the same Foxwell tool

Can you describe how you got to the menu to reset the SAS? I have a similar SAS issue...

arctic_blue83

Unfortunately, I didn't write down the menu tree I followed. I thought it was under the menu VSA menu tree, but I went through quite a few menus over the course of ~10 minutes or so before I found what shockingly worked. I remember being shocked that it worked, as I thought it was something related to reading or scanning sensors. Funny enough, the prompts on the screen actually had me follow the steps in the factory service manual: the Foxwell device told me to turn the car on, drive the car 3 meters with the steering wheel straight, turn the car off, turn it back to the ON position (without starting it) and to my great surprise, it actually reset the SAS.

Sorry brother, I did it last night and didn't bother to write down which menu it was under and I went through quite a few menus... I think it might have been under Honda > SmartVIN > Control Modules > Anti-lock brake/vehicle stability auxiliary control system (ABS/VSA) > I can't be sure, but I thought it was under Special Functions > and I think I entered All Sensors.

I could be mistaken, but I think when I went into All Sensors, it had me start the car, drive 3 meters, etc. But please take that with a grain of salt, as I rummaged through multiple menus last night and could be mistaken. Good luck, brother!

B serious

Its all good man, I'll keep looking thru the menus.

My MY07 track car has no clockspring. But when I corrected the rack centering, the VSA light was on for a SAS code.

I felt as it was a blessing since VSA no longer worked. And the VSA light burned itself out, so no more annoying warning.

But I was just curious on whether I could maybe fix it.

But....then VSA will work again. Which will get annoying really quickly.

Car Analogy

I bought this same spacer, used. Its amazing to drive without my arms straight.

I am old enough, and thus negative outcome experienced enough to have avoided the clockspring issues (I unplugged it first and reinstalled bolt) before yanking wheel off.

But not so wise as to have avoided the sensor moving. So I need to buy the programming tool as well, and figure out the alignment process in menu. So B, post if you get the correct menu sequence please!

The one annoying thing about this spacer is the extended reach to the signal stalks.

I am working on a new way to extend the wheel, that will be easier to install, cheaper, won't require removing wheel (no risk to clockspring or possible sensotlr misalignment), will look more factory, won't change reach to stalks, and will easily accommodate different wheel extension lengths.

arctic_blue83

I plan on doing the same thing I’ve done on other cars in the past: using turn signal extension(s). They’re generally pretty cheap and easy to install. They don’t look pretty, but they’re very functional. I used them on my old CRX track car after I installed a deep dished steering wheel for the exact same reason (it was a reach to the wheel with the seat far back enough to give me enough leg room). They make driving around town much easier with minimal effort and money spent.

https://www.evasivemotorsports.com/s...nal-extension/

Car Analogy

Interesting, never knew about these. Seems obvious though now that I see them. Thx!

Kyle

I thought everyone knew to leave the bolt in a few threads when cracking steering wheels loose lol. First time seeing a clockspring as a casualty though; it's usually a busted nose.

arctic_blue83

I've pulled a few steering wheels in the past, never had a problem- this was a first for me! Admittedly, most of the wheels I pulled were on older cars (read: less steering wheel electronics) where I was replacing their steering wheels with aftermarket wheels. The last one was on a track prepped (SCCA STS and TT T5) 1988 CRX Si, where I guess I got spoiled: no airbag, no cruise control, just pull the the wheel off and put the new one on! Life is simpler on older cars:



Clearly everyone doesn't know. Hence the thread. Hopefully someone else can read this and learn from my mistakes.

arctic_blue83

As a minor update, rather than being creative, I picked up a couple of turn signal extenders to help my fingers find the turn signal/windshield wipers while driving. I've used these on cars in the past where I was running an aftermarket deep dish wheel and overall, they don't look OEM/pretty, but they're functional, adjustable and relatively cheap: