Cruise Control and leather wheel upgrade for Base Manual S

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studbike
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 5:01 pm

I bought a leather wrapped wheel from a CVT "s" from a junkyard for $125. After installing it, I have fully functional cruise control and leather-wrapped wheel on my base manual S kizashi.

WARNING: YOU AND YOU ALONE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES THAT MAY RESULT FROM WORKING ON YOUR OWN CAR. NEITHER MYSELF NOR ANYBODY ELSE AT THIS FORUM WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS AS A RESULT OF YOU ATTEMPTING THIS MOD, REGARDLESS OF FAULT.

Now that that's out of the way, here's how to do it.

First, remove negative lead from battery with a 10mm socket and wait a few minutes before doing anything with the airbag.

To remove airbag, undo the two t-30 torx bolts that are behind the spokes of the wheel at 9 and 3 oclock. You can also remove these with a 10mm socket but it will have to be a 1/4 inch drive, 3/8 will be too wide and won't fit through the hole in the plastic case of the steering wheel.

Once airbag is lifted out of wheel, remove the orange and black connectors on the back of it. To do this, use a very small flat-head screwdriver (I used one from an eyeglass repair kit) to lift the yellow part straight up, entering from the wire-side of the connector. This will unlock the connector, and you can now lift the entire plug straight out.

Remove the other connector at 12 o clock which connects the steering wheel buttons to the car. To do this, squeeze the latch on the top in the center of the connector, and it will unlock and slide out.

To remove the wheel, first undo the 17mm bolt in the center. I tried smacking the crap out of the wheel, but it wouldn't budge, so I caved and bought a steering wheel remover tool. It was $15 at NAPA.

Installation of the new wheel is opposite of removal. Torque is 25 lb/ft for the 17mm nut and 7 lb/ft for the t-30 bolts.

A few notes:

1: The splines on the new wheel are not aligned EXACTLY the same as the splines on the old one. My wheel used to be dead-centered when driving straight. Now it is about 5 to 10 degrees to the left. Personally this doesn't bother me, YMMV.

2: I originally bought an AP900C cruise control module from Brandon Distributing at www.brandondist.com for a very good price of $225 for the module and harness. Unfortunately I have no use for it now, and am returning it. Just wanted to shout out that the folks there were very professional and helpful throughout the ordering and returning process, it is a totally legit business.

3: Cruise control only works in 4th gear and above, and at 25mph and above.

4: Oh, and the leather wheel feels great. All told I spent 160 for this mod including the tool, dollar-for-dollar its the best mod i've ever done.
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redmed
Posts: 492
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:56 pm
Location: Michigan

Thanks Studbike,
The way cars are built today I had a suspicion that everything for the cruise control was on the manual S except the switch. Now I need to find a steering wheel.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
murcod
Posts: 2279
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Australia

Well done for taking the plunge. I've mentioned before that all that is most likely needed would be the control panel and possibly a brake/ clutch pedal switch upgrade. (Going by past experience installing cruise in a base Mazda 6). With electronic throttles all the bits you need are virtually already there.

It's funny that there's a company in Australia advertising cruise kits for around $500 using add on aftermarket parts. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Plug-in-Elec ... 5407b3425f

Regarding the leather steering wheel (I've got the fake leather too) - did the donor CVT wheel have the paddle shifters? Or are there two different CVT steering wheels and you need to find the type without the paddle shifters, or it doesn't matter?
David
studbike
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 5:01 pm

Mine did not have paddle shifters. It was from a base S model with CVT, and with only 2500 miles on it! I do not know whether the paddle shifters have any effect on the install, but obviously my inclination would be to recommend finding one without them if you can since it will only complicate things. Maybe they can be removed, but I can't comment.
User avatar
redmed
Posts: 492
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:56 pm
Location: Michigan

Well I just got a steering wheel from a GTS with the paddle shifters and extra buttons on the left side. Looks like those buttons are for Bluetooth. I'm going to spend some time figuring out which button affects which wire and try to find a schematic from the manual to try and verify a match before installing the wheel. May use one of the paddle shifters to trigger an air horn I'm thinking of installing.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
murcod
Posts: 2279
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Australia

So you've got a CVT? If you have, you might find the paddle shifters work....
David
User avatar
redmed
Posts: 492
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:56 pm
Location: Michigan

murcod wrote:So you've got a CVT? If you have, you might find the paddle shifters work....
No I have a base manual S.
I'm a little nervous plunging this into my car. Most of the wires should just be for switches. But there is some power involved to light the buttons. Just hope the wiring is standard between the S & GTS. I expect it is, but would like to find a wiring diagram. Have not found one yet though.
Last edited by redmed on Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
User avatar
redmed
Posts: 492
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:56 pm
Location: Michigan

Studbike,
Does the cruise control cancel when you hit the brake petal?
Does the cruise control cancel when you hit the clutch petal?
Hopefully the existing brake & clutch switches work with the cruise control.
64 Galaxie 68 Olds 442 65 Impala 70 VW Bug
74 Nissan B210 66 Chevelle 73 Olds 98 71 C20
75 Monza 82 Escort 75 E150 75 Civic 76 Accord
86 Escort 87 Taurus 83 Chevy G20 85 Ranger 4x4
93 F250 4x4 95 Silhouette 95 LHS 03 Corolla 10 Kizashi S MT
17 Sienna
murcod
Posts: 2279
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Australia

redmed wrote: Hopefully the existing brake & clutch switches work with the cruise control.
Hopefully Suzuki fit a clutch switch to the non cruise models? With the (auto) Mazda 6 I fitted cruise to, they used a different brake pedal switch assembly on the non cruise vehicles. (So the cruise equipped vehicles actually had two brake pedal switches fitted- one for the brake light circuit and a separate one for the cruise. They could have just used one, but didn't....)
David
User avatar
11zukizashi
Posts: 282
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:03 am

DAMN! this makes me feel even worse about missing out on the gts wheel for 30$ i saw on ebay :( i bet the paddle shifters would be plug and play!
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