kevakasper

I just finished, successfully I might add , the Steering wheel control conversion on my 06, mn6 coupe. The whole job took me maybe 4 hours. The hardest part was re installing the new column harness.
Here are the parts required.
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This is the 07 and up steering wheel harness, you need this to connect to the new clock spring which has three more wires than the 06 harness, 1 for the lighting in the switch, 1 for the 12v feed ( purple a6 cavity on the radio plug ) and one for the switch return wire ( blue a7 on the radio plug )

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This is the new 07 and up clockspring, it has a different connector and mates with the new connector in the new wheel

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This is the new wheel ( brand new ) that I bought for an '11 vette from E bay. It was in the factory box with the plastic still on it. I paid $125 shipped, which is what started this whole project. The best price I got from various vendors was about $230-240 plus shipping, so I jumped on it. The new wheel is necessary because GM does not service the wiring harness inside the wheel. You can buy the switches etc. but the wiring only comes with a new wheel.

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These are the connectors needed to plug into the back of the radio.
I got these from a Delphi supplier, bought a bunch as the shipping cost way more than the terminals.

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The patient

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Remove the battery cables and wait a few minute before doing anything to the AirBag system

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I had my service manuals on hand just in case.

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Tear down


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This is the new harness with the three wires needed removed from the connector. I did ths because they don't exist in the 06 wiring harness.
From here I fabricated, I add a male and female plug on these three wires to make future servicing possible. I got a plug from an old computer power supply.

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Finished harness, time to put everything back together. I spliced the yellow light wire onto the orange wire on the Info / gauge switches
The other two went to the radio Main white plug

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Going back together, new clockspring and harness on, Just plug and play now

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Newer style connector to the SWC switch

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STEERING WHEEL RADIO CONTROLS!

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Finished project, everything works, switch on wheel lights up, and now I can toggle through the stations etc., while the Nav is still on!

Thanks for playing, Anyone need info on how to do this mod PM me!

ub2slow2

Damn you are brave lol. I just opened up the box the dealer sent me containing my PAL for my new ZR1 and after looking at instructions and all the parts that have to come apart in the car to install it, I said screw it and threw it in storage with all the factory parts I've taken off and installed mod's for.

Nice job on your work, you'll love it I'm sure.

peter pan

Very nice upgrade and good write up

smurfkiller

so what are doing with old wheel? i hate my 05 wheel.

miami08VETTE

Don't mean to hijack but just get an interface cable from ray kawl and you can install the PAL at your XM module in the rear hatch area. Takes 10 minutes to instal this way.

abazaba410

Ive been thinking about buying this

http://www.corvettemods.com/servlet/...Edition/Detail

I will be sure to keep in touch. How difficult would you rate this?

vetteright

I did this same mod to my 2LT '08 coupe a few months ago. However, I did not need to use a different steering wheel. I did buy a wheel with the audio controls from a salvage yard, but I only transferred the audio control switch and the spoke cover to my existing steering wheel which didn't have these and it worked fine (the wheel I got from the salvage yard was in rough shape). I only bought the salvaged wheel because I found that I could not get just the audio controls spoke cover from GM parts. The audio controls switch by itself is available from parts, but not the spoke cover - to get that you have to get the entire steering wheel; go figure! However, I do not believe that the wiring is any different in the 1LT and 2LT steering wheels. I think that all the wheels are wired the same; the difference is the clock spring, the steering wheel column wiring harness and the audio controls switch, which are all separate pieces. At least that's the way it was on my '08.

Nice job and a very nice write up, wish It had been available when I did mine.

Torchsport

Nice photo how-to. Should be helpful to others.

You are a patient surgeon!

kevakasper

I searched a lot of threads, on several different forums to get all of the necessary info to do this, and do it right. I knew I had the correct nav unit, but didn't know until yesterday if something was going to need to be switched on again with a tech two. I wanted to make sure that the connector positions and part numbers were documented to save people the research I had to do to make this work. Everything worked, and it wasn't that hard to do. One of the vendors could pool these parts and offer a kit which would make it easier to do this.

kevakasper

I found you can buy the covers, switches, but not the wiring in the wheel itself, which made a new or used wheel necessary. I was finding used wheels for more than the new one I scored. The switches and covers will transfer over to an older wheel if you have the rest of the parts.

kevakasper

On a scale of 1-10, this was a 4 or 5. The hardest part was finding all of the releases on the various connectors on the column. You field of view is mostly blocked, and you do a lot by feel. The column cover was a tricky puzzel to un-do also. The factory service manual was invaluable also, the pin out sheets were very helpful for the lighting wiring, as I couldn't find that online anywhere, and at that point battery was still off so I couldn't probe for a light wire.

ALVetteFan

Thank you for the write up.

F65MPH

Nice install. Always wondered if the doughboy steering wheel can be replaced with the newer style.

kevakasper

Yup, you need the newer wheel, clockspring, and harness.
(don't know if you need the harness, but I have one )

vetteright

Interesting. No one I talked to at any of the GM parts suppliers was able to get me a part number for the audio controls switch steering wheel spoke cover. Each said they could get me the audio control switch separately, but not the spoke cover; said it was "unavailable" and that the only way to get it was to order the entire steering wheel. So, knowing that all I needed was the switch and switch spoke cover, I found a beat up one for cheap in a salvage yard and just transferred the switch and the cover over to my existing steering wheel. Maybe the wiring in '08 and up steering wheels is all the same for all the option groups (1LT through 4LT). All I know is that I used my original non audio controls steering wheel and only added the audio controls switch and spoke cover to it and it works just fine. The difference may be in which transmission you have. Mine is an MN6 and so my steering wheel is not wired for the paddle shifters.

And you are most certainly correct about having the service manual available. I do not see how this mod could be successfully accomplished wihtout it. It would be next to impossible to determine the correct pin locations without the diagrams.

If you have the part number for the steering wheel audio controls switch spoke cover, I would sure be interested in knowing what it is. And thanks again for your professional, detailed write-up. I was in too much of a hurry to take any pictures and too lazy to write it up.

kevakasper

I just leafed through several GM parts web sites, and your right, the cover will come up, but N/A in the price column. I did however look at 08 up cobalt wheels, and after checking my kids SS, they are the same. They come up as available. Corvette tax? Maybe. But the cover costs about $25.00

vetteright

Thanks, for that info. A few months ago, when I was gettng ready to do mine and was trying to get the parts together, I ran a forum search and found that quite some time ago a forum member did the steering wheel controls modification, and not being able to find the spoke cover for the controls separately, ordered one from a HHR. He posted that it would not fit exactly, he had to modify it; drill a hole for the mounting screw I think, so that it would work. He also said that the color was not quite a match and so he had to paint it. Not wanting to go through that, I opted for a salvaged steering wheel that I could canibalize. Wonder if the Cobalt spoke cover is an exact fit and correct color?

Mardis Gras

Thanks for the write up and the pics

VETFEVER

hello

Tazguru

Great writeup. Thanks for taking the time to post and put up pics.