Steering Lock Removal
 

We're building a 2015 BRZ for SCCA Super Touring (build thread here)for a customer, and as many of you are aware, competition cars must have steering wheel locks disabled or removed.

These rules ensure the mechanism can't be accidentally activated (say, by a driver turning the key to kill the engine and accidentally locking the steering) or activated by failure (since they spring into a "locked" position).

We decided to document the process necessary to remove the steering wheel lock on this BRZ. Obviously this doesn't apply to BRZs with push-button start, but the process should be identical on FR-Ss.

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First step is to remove the steering wheel.

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Then, remove the covers and any other electronics in the way (MXL2 race dash, in this case).

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This little guy right here is what we're after. Since this is an anti-theft mechanism, the ignition cylinder is installed with a shear bolt where the head snaps off when it's tightened. So it's intentionally hard to get out. No problem!

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Next, we carefully remove the clock spring and steering angle sensor.

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The wiper and turn signal stalks are held in position with a spring clamp, so we use some pliers to get those out of the way. Now we've got some room to work.

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Some people have luck grinding a slot and using a flat-head screw driver, but for this one I decided to just use a ball-nose carbide burr and grind off the head of the bolt. Note the blanket over everything to keep the mess to a minimum.

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Once the bolt is removed (or head ground off) the clamp rotates upwards, and we're free! Now to the machine shop to get that mechanism out.

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We remove all the electronics off the casting, and then it's time to drill out the spring. When clamped like so, there's a round casting mark that makes a good target for a drill bit. Drill there with a 1/4" bit, and the spring will come out.

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Next, lay it on it's side and use a roughing endmill to remove material until the locking tab's channel is exposed. You can see the hole drilled in the previous step on the left side there.

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Then, it's a simple matter to pry out the two pieces of the locking mechanism. (Don't worry, it was deburred after this picture was taken.)

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Install it back in the car with an M8 x 25mm socket head cap screw, and you're all set! Everything else reassembles the same way it came apart.

Could this be done without machine tools? Maybe, yeah. But you run the risk of damaging the lock cylinder if you're not extremely careful with where you remove material. By doing it this way, all OEM functionality is retained for everything else in the mechanism.

Was looking for this last month!


Thanks for sharing.

this reads as if there were pictures to go with it. Is it just me or are they missing? I am trying to do this now and would have been really helpful.

Many old guide posts lose their pics over time, typically from hosting them on sites that no longer have them (or the sites are dead entirely). This post stored it's picture files on gspeed.com (https://www.gspeed.com/wp-content/up...f17flgula0.jpg for example) - you can check the page source for that if interested.
I don't know of a good way of getting those lost pictures back. Sometimes the wayback machine will have a copy, but not for this case.