All the other Scions have them. They deliberately kept this one as simple as possible to make swapping parts as easy as they could. They must have had a racing series in mind the whole time. This car is what the Fiero failed at so long ago.

Well, there's two main problems with having them on the rotating part of the wheel.

1 - you need a way to get electrical signals from the rotating part to the stationary part. You can't just run an ordinary wire because it will twist, kink, and cause problems. Cars use something called a clock spring, which is a little cylinder that has wound up ribbon cables in the middle. As you turn the wheel, the cables wind and unwind, allowing you to carry an electrical signal to the steering wheel.

So the big question is whether or not there are enough contacts on the twins clock springs to carry the extra signals. If there are, you could likely use them for SWC signals, but if there aren't, you'd need to replace the clock spring with one that has more contacts. One possible alternative, if you're willing to do some considerable modding, would be to either remove the cruise control stalk and use that wiring for SWCs instead, or use a circuit to make your cruise control stalk control the audio when cruise control is off, like this guy
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15443

2 - you need a way to mount the SWCs to the wheel. The twins have the leather wrapped spokes going all the way to the airbag in the center, there's no plastic bezel over the spoke that could be used. I'm not sure if there's any way to get a clean SWC install with the factory wheel - you might need a different wheel, if that's even possible.

It's certainly within the realm of possibility, but you've got to have the stomach for some serious tinkering. The way I have the SWCs, they can be installed and removed within an hour, with no permanent modifications to anything.

Hmm, This is a project for when I hit the lotto. I have a playlist on my ipod so it isnt a huge deal for me. but if there are enough points on the preinstalled clock spring...I do have a 3d printer to mockup the steering wheel mounts and then have the steering wheel re-wrapped/padded at a custom leather shop. But either way it would cost a bunch for a new wheel if i destroy the stock on and if successful I would need to have it re-wrapped.

If only I had another car and time. Thanks for the reply though.

Hey,

I opened a thread for on wheel controls. I am going to be referencing your trial and error when wiring it up.

There appears to be 7 pins available in the wiring harness for the steering column (white connector). I am looking for a spare steering wheel (offering 80bucks plus shipping from the classifies here) so i can mock it up. you have to use 5 connections to the switches correct (going from what I understood from this thread)?

Are there even "pins" in these available spaces on that connector? Usually if there's no wire then there's no pin there. If there's no pin there's no conductor on the clockspring connecting these pins on the other side.

Thanks for the hint, once I have some time I will have to pull the air bag off and see if the connector to see if all the pins are wired. If I cant access it I would have to try from the other side...which I would need to figure out how to do anyway.

so @nalc - basically buy the impreza controls, run the wires in the first top of post accordingly, and all buttons work?

So we are just left to figure out a mounting solution.

Yup. I've currently got it attached with 3M dual lock on where my key fob would normally be (I have a Limited) and it's inconspicuous and easy to access without needing to do anything too fancy to mount.

Thanks for all the help. I sent you a PM.

@t.chk - I had swapped an 08 sti steering wheel in my 05 sti back in the day, and I had to solder on the clock spring. It requires removing the clock spring and soldering on both sides. Its not too bad but its annoying to pull the clock spring out and you have to semi take it apart. Need to be very careful with it as well as if you over-rotate it you will break it.

A good spot to mount this would be either how nalc has it or on the plastic piece that surrounds the ignition wires/wheel.

Yea the work is piling up on this project. for the convenience it is being less worth it to mount them on the steering wheel, might set it up as Nalc has them. The most difficult part is finding the Impreza hand controls, it appears that Subaru does not stock them anywhere and the 2 dealers I went to had no clue what their part numbers where -__-

http://s29.postimg.org/6d8jq9zrr/REGION_0767.png


Looks like there are actually pins there that might not be in use?? These pics are from two different threads

Thanks for the picture, what the concern is if the pins are connected through the clock spring to the other end of the steering column. I am planning on testing it by connecting a 9V battery to 2 pins on one side and an LED to the corresponding pins on the other to see if it lights up if it does it is proof all the pins are connected and not just some of them. But it is looking more positive they are all connected...because then why put the pins on in the first place?

Can't we just grab the steering wheel from the new WRX?

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...b04b8fgjpg.jpg

How much does that run from the dealer?