Steering Wheel Spacer
Being 6"4" it can be difficult to get comfortable in a CRX. When I sit so that my legs are comfy I find my arms are too far outstretched. When I sit so that my arms are comfy my legs are cramped. The solution? Get a new car? No, I like my small car so I decided to get a new steering wheel. I wanted to add 2 more inches to it (who doesn't) since the new wheel with its adapter didn't extend the steering column as far as I wanted. Looking on the Internet the cheapest 2" spacer I could find was from Sparco and cost $40. Much more than I wanted to pay. So, once again something being way overpriced has inspired me to do it myself.

Materials used:
1 - 2 �" OD exhaust connector pipe $2.00
2 - 3 �" OD x 1 5/8" ID x 1/8" washers $0.75 ea

Using the steering Wheel as a template I drilled holes in the washers. I counter-sunk the holes for the washer that mates to the hub and I tapped (cut screw threads) the holes in the washer that mates to the steering wheel. The exhaust pipe connector is 4" and I needed to cut it in half. I needed a smooth; even cut and a hacksaw would do a very rough job of cutting it. A tubing cutter would be perfect, except I don't have one. So I got to Home Depot to buy one. They don't sell one that will cut over 2". They do have a machine that they use to cut conduit and no one was around... so, I helped my self. Once all of this was done I welded the parts together from the inside (you can see the welds in the left pic) because I don't make the prettiest welds yet and I wanted this to look good. I don't have any fancy jigs for holding the parts together so I improvised by using a large speaker magnet to hold everything in place until I could tack weld it. The heat form welding discolored the metal some so to make it look pretty I painted it with High Heat silver ceramic paint. Why ceramic paint? Because it was the only silver paint I had. My wife didn't appreciate me baking it in the oven to harden the paint.

A $4 spacer Compared to a $40 Sparco Spacer

Here is the finished product...

Now I feel much more comfortable behind the wheel!

Page 1: Main
Page 2: Cold Air Intake How-to
Page 3: Cup Holder How-to
Page 4: Steering Wheel Spacer How-to
Page 5: Accident, windshield
Page 6: Re-done 1/18 Hot Wheels Tunerz CRX
Page 7: Other aircraft models I've made.
Page 8: Odd stuff
Page 10: Accident, LR 1/4 panel
Page 11: Body Shop
Page 12: Body Shop Day 2
Page 13: Body Shop Day 3