I recently bought a sport steering wheel off of Ebay and after getting a center button and a Maverick decal from Craig I installed it. It looks awesome!! Today since the weather was so nice I took the car out for a cruise. I noticed that when I use my turn signal the lever doesn't return to the home position after making my turn. It only started doing this after I installed the sport steering wheel. I also noticed the steering wheel doesn't lock after taking the key out. Is there something I ddi wrong during the install? If not is there a way to fix these issues? The steering wheel doesn't have provisions for a horn. I think it came out of a late 70's model Granada or Mustang. Here is a picture of it.
If the wheel does not have the slotted locking plate, then it will not lock when you remove the key. I'm guessing that since it does not have the horn ring, it also does not have the locking plate. The vehicle it came from did not lock the wheel. As far as the turn signal issue, the wheel should not have effected it. The turn signal cam is responsible for canceling the lever. Not sure about that one.
I looked at some pictures of some wheels that were for sale on Ebay. Is the slot you are talking about on the back of the hub? That is strange about the turn signal issue then because it worked fine until the wheel swap. I might pull the wheel back off this weekend and see If I see any problems. Thanks for the info!
Locking (notice the slots (holes) around the locking ring). Also has the horn contact ring. Non-locking, no horn.
Alright, I see what you are talking about now. I thought you were just talking about the groove cut in the hub by where the round hole is.
The grove in the center hub is for the turn signal canceling cam. There is a pin in the turn signal switch that goes in that slot.
My wheel still has the round center hole that the steering shaft goes through. From what I'm gathering from what was said above the little groove that is cut in the center of the other style wheel is what makes the turn signal lever return to home position. Can't I just cut a groove in the same position on my wheel for that pin to fit in and mine would work like the other wheel?
You got the wrong year steering wheel. You need a '74 to '78. Later wheels will not work with the Maverick turn signal cam or horn. It will steer the car (and look good), but that's it.
Thanks for info Larry! I does look good and I guess I can live with having to return the turn signal lever to the home position until I can find a earlier model wheel.
The later fox style wheels can be made to work with a functional horn, but it does takes a little work. The problem is your existing wheel has to be cut up for parts or preferably find another parts wheel. The center shaft can be notched with a cutting wheel and mini grinder in the same spots as the existing wheel. If it catches the pin it will cancel the signal. The slip rings are moved and epoxied onto the new wheel. Slots have to be drilled and filled to accommodate the contacts. A "momentary on" switch can be installed in the center of the wheel behind the emblem. I initially installed the wheel at this point, but then missed the locking feature. I cut the locking ring from the old wheel and welded it to the new. the problem with that is I sacrificed three locking points 120 degrees apart in order to weld it. I don't have pictures of that. It also wouldn't hurt to use a relay and fuse for the horn, if one of the slip ring contacts end up touching the wheel it would only short the low current coil.
