RX8 Steering Wheel Spacer Test

My quest to fit in a sun roof car with a helmet continues.

The "you can lower the power seat" mod https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...r-seat-205255/ helped.

Stretching the seat pan aggressively helped as well, but is a lot more work than the DIY above and requires a bit of cutting. The final piece was to get my knees out of the dashboard while still being able to reach the wheel well enough for the track (wrist sits on top of the wheel with harness tight). Modifying the dash board was considered a bit too drastic, but was available as a last resort. And, this is a DD car so full race seats and race wheel were off the table.

I found a spacer option on a Miata forum and contacted the company in Italy. It seems that their NC Miata spacer is supposed to fit an RX8 as well. Full disclosure, he gave me a break on the price for a used one as I was the first RX-8 to test it. Install was a snap, all of the NC instructions applied, I only had to lengthen the ground wire, it was REALLY short on my car. This is the red wire with a stripe. The one on my S2 wheel was plenty long enough, it just needed a round terminal on the end and a small metric screw. I used a steering wheel puller to get the old wheel off.

The fit and finish were outstanding. The thing is black aluminum, with the interior parts machined from aluminum as well. The parts that come in contact with the steel shaft, as well as the shaft extension, seem to be steel. Driving with this is awesome. I have the seat back about an inch and a half from before. I can relax against the back of the seat for a much more comfortable ride, I have a bit more head room, my legs do not hit the back of the wheel or dashboard. I could us a slight bend in the shifter to complete the job, but that is for a different day.

The seller has a stalk solution as well, I will test that next...

 

OMG, I need this. Gimme!

Any concerns around airbag deployment, in case it comes to that?

 

Hi 04Green,


Is this the one manufactured by Girol?
girol ? Mazda


Many thanks,
Marton

 

Loki, sorry about late response.

Air bag is 2" closer to me, but I am 2" back. No real issue. I was just really careful handling the pieces. I have never been this comfortable in the car. Cannot wait for the track.

Marton yes it is, I found it by a really strange route. Workmanship is awesome, space tech really. Reminded me of days at NASA (not the car people).

 

First track event with the spacer. I have never been so comfortable in my life. 90 mph corner, slight fade, fingertips on the wheel, not fighting the seat, head not hitting the roof...

 

I just tried installing mine and it is either rotating the steering wheel left or right; can't install and permit steering wheel to be perfectly centered. Did you have this issue?

 

link?

 

ebay

 

sounds like you got rickshaw rolled …

 

for sure. we suspect the splines were simply machines wrong. like, exactly half a spline out of alignment.

he was... somewhat reasonable in how to deal with the issue. the product itself, other than milsalignment, is pretty nice ergonomically.