Update on steering: As most of you know, I had to get rid or my MKII Project 16V GTi. I had sold my house in LA County and inside the two car garage was the Endless G60 Project and my VW GTi 16V.
I had to make the choice of one or the other. So I bartered the GTi for work on reassembling what was left of the Endless G60.
But I did take a few irreplaceable items from my Project 16V. One was the BBS Steering wheel. Using a standard Momo mounting hub, this BBS steering wheel fit perfectly with only one wire modification to enable the center button horn.
My brother found this BBS steering wheel in a salvage yard many years ago. Upon closer inspection, there was no serial number and the Carbon weave is not truly carbon fiber but a composite with the "Carbon" print. So this specific example is a counterfeit BBS Steering wheel.
BUT - the leather is very real and the wheel itself is of very good quality. It feels good in my hands and requires the standard Momo steering adapter.
I did not have the original BBS horn button but I found a vendor in England that manufactured replacements so I bought one. It looks and feels authentic. But more importantly, it is a very functional steering wheel.
So I installed it on the Endless G60 project car and was happy that it worked so well.
Fast forward, I decided to give it a road test after several weeks of driving around town.
At the time of this writing, my home is located at the 5200' level in the mountains above Los Angeles. There are windy mountain roads everywhere. So I decided to drive the car to Long Beach and back. I could not think of a reason to not drive the 160 mile round trip. And I could shake out any issues that may arise.
Well, half way down the mountain, my broken sunroof panel became unstable. The air flow over the top was shaking the panel violently. I was afraid I was going to lose the panel on the freeway. So I decided to turn around and try another day. I found a safe exit from Highway 18 and headed back to my home in the mountains.
As I pulled off the highway onto the street leading up to my neighborhood. The Tilt mechanism that locks in the steering column suddenly let loose without warning. So the steering column was now free to move about on the vertical axis which is very awkward when driving on windy mountain roads. I'm glad this happened on a section that was low speed. But the situation would have been far more serious if this had happened while on Highway 18.
I safely made it to my home, parked it, then drove my Nissan Frontier to Long Beach.
Another setback which makes this Corrado G60 project "Endless".
After doing a quick search, apparently this is common. I discovered quite a number of discussions dating from back in 2007-2010 that discuss this very issue. Apparently Loctite 495 on the pin once it's pressed back into place will solve the issue.
So I went to the local hardware store and bought some Loctite. I did not see 495 but I bought another rendition. Once I removed the steering column cover, the loose pin was exposed and plain to see. It does not take much pressure to push it back into place. Once simply needs to rock the steering wheel up and down while applying pressure to the pin. And it slid back into place without a punch or a hammer. I see now why Loctite is recommended.
I worked out in the cold so I wasn't so prepared and some of the Loctite dripped onto the floor mat. So clean up was necessary. My fingers were painfully cold so I did not replace the steering column covers. To properly fit it back on will require removal of the center console then the knee bar.
So I will postpone that reassembly for the warmer spring temperatures. For now, i took it for a test drive and it works fine. Now to prepare it for the coming winter.
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