Here's the story...
I bought my U13 Bluebird LX Series 1 with the steering wheel in pretty poor condition. The top of the steering wheel was peeling off and just looked crap.
Now i've been on the hunt for a replacement, REASONABLY, priced steering wheel for a few months now and I finally purchased one
This morning, I went to All Auto Recycling at Brendale/Strathpine to have another look at their U13 Bluebird SSS Series 1 steering wheel.
I would've preferred it as I like the appearance of the Series 1 SSS steering wheels, they were asking $220 for the wheel, I was willing to purchase it at that price.
I asked the guy if the cruise control buttons didn't work, would I be able to receive a refund for the wheel?
He said, no and if you want the cruise control buttons, you'll have to pay an extra $50.
Walked away from that one, it was ridiculous as they are integrated into the wheel!
Drove up to Sandgate Wreckers at Sandgate (heh) to check out their U13 Bluebird SSS Series 2 steering wheel.
It's in pretty good condition but I wasn't sure if it would fit on my Series 1 Bluebird and if the horn and cruise control buttons would work.
Dave (who's a bloody champ) kindly offered to remove my current wheel and replace it with the Series 2 wheel.
The first problem we hit was that the Series 1 uses a different mechanism to power the horn and cruise control than the Series 2.
Being a resourceful bloke, Dave grabbed the mechanism from my Bluebird and connected it up, put the Series 2 wheel back on my car and tried the horn, no luck.
We had a look at my Series 1 wheel and the horn and cruise control was grounded separately. Dave sank his teeth into the wire cover and made a split in it, held it against a grounding point, and the horn worked
I told Dave that when the wreck first came in, they quoted me $150 for the SSS Series 2 wheel, then later I was quoted $220. Dave did one better and said I could take it for $125 (which included the cruise control and airbag module)!
Dave suggested I take the Series 2 wheel to an autoelectrician and just get them to properly ground it and then just off the black screw holes (which stick out) which was preventing the Series 1 power mechanism from sitting fliush with the Series 2 wheel.
Went on to Brendale Auto Electrics (great blokes, won't rip you off) and got them to properly ground the horn/cruise control (from the Series 1 power mechanism).
Dave couldn't find the bolts which held in the airbag module/steering wheel cover so I asked the Auto Elec guy if he could help me out.
He found an old bolt which fit and directed me to Pine River's Bearings to get two new bolts.
Got the bolts and fitted the airbag module/steering wheel cover and its done
Instructions and pics to come...