by   GTX_SlotCar

Let’s get this out of the way first. I am not recommending that anyone performs the following procedures. I am simply explaining what I did to fine tune my Guillemot Ferrari Racing Wheel. If you try this yourself and damage your wheel, yourself, your computer or your warranty, I am not responsible.

I performed 3 fixes in my Ferrari wheel. First, the force feedback effects were not producing even pressure on both sides of the wheel. In it’s resting position, my wheel was cocked almost completely to the right. This fix was fairly easy. The next thing I did was align the wheel perfectly to the cross-hairs in Windows Game Controller Panel, so when the cross-hairs were centered, so was my wheel. This is more difficult to do and the wheel works fine without this adjustment, but it annoyed me that the wheel was ¼" to the right when I was driving straight. Lastly, I like the strong spring tension on the stick shifter, but the throw was too long, making it hard to shift without thinking about it. So I shortened the lever throw. This was very simple to do.

Evening the Forces:

To even the force spring tension, I had to take the cover off the wheel. First I unplugged it and unmounted it from my desk so I could get at all the screws. A #2 Phillips screw driver with a shaft length of about 5 to 6 inches works good. If it has a magnetic tip, it’s even better. I took out the four screws that hold the stick shift lever on and removed the assembly. No need to worry about flying springs, they’re in there pretty tight. The two screws on the front of the cover, behind the wheel rim, were next. I had to pass the screw driver to the inside of the rim to reach the screws. Finally, there were 9 screws around the perimeter on the bottom of the base that had to come out. After a little wiggling, the cover popped right off.

Looking from the back of the wheel, there are 2 printed circuit boards. The one on the left has a small, white plastic trimmer (small pot) with a Phillips slot in it. It turned easily just using my fingers. I mounted the wheel to my desk again, hooked it up and turned it on. Then I opened the Windows Game Controller Panel and set the wheel properties to 40% Overall Device Gain, and everything else to 0%. My wheel was cocked to the right, so I reached behind the wheel base and turned the white trimmer ½ turn clockwise. (Don’t turn it more than one turn, it could break.) The wheel spun around to almost TDC (Top Dead Center). With both hands on the wheel, I turned it left and right several times to see if it turned harder in one direction than the other. It turned harder to the left, so I adjusted the trimmer a little more until the wheel felt right. Then I turned it back and forth again, letting it slip through my hands to return to center each time. I did further adjustments on the trimmer until everything felt right. Then I set the Overall Device Gain to 100 % and turned the wheel again to let it return to center each time. With the added force, it was easier to see how close to center the wheel would hold. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but I suspect that the closer it is, the better and more evenly the forces will be applied in a game. This procedure should cure 90% of the problems anyone is having with the Ferrari wheel.

Aligning the Wheel to TDC:

After I had the spring forces even, I noticed that the wheel wasn't quite centered when the cross-hairs were. This didn’t really effect the drivability of the wheel, but having it ¼" off center going down the straights did bother me a little. Actually, since some games like Nascar 3 and Grand Prix Legends automatically calibrate the wheel, it didn’t even make a difference. I wouldn’t have attempted what follows unless I felt confident working around electronics.

After unplugging and unmounting the wheel, I removed the four nuts holding the white nylon/plastic wheel assembly to the base. These had to be removed with a screw driver and nut driver (or pliers). Then I carefully (with fingers and fingernails) pulled lose the hot glue holding the printed circuit board (the one that has the trimmer on it) in place, and was able to slide the board out of it’s slots and get it out of the way. Looking from the back of the wheel base you can see a brass colored pot (potentiometer) attached to the steering wheel shaft and held in place by a white nylon bracket with a long curved slot in it, and a screw in the slot. The screw was covered by white hot glue which had to be carefully removed. Rotating this bracket will trim the wheel. The screw in the slot (locking screw) has to be loosened in order to rotate the bracket, but the screw is hard to reach with a screw driver. Rather than take the whole wheel assembly apart, I braced the wheel rim on my lap and pulled on the bottom of the base with one hand until I could reach the screw with a long screw driver (smaller than # 2 head). I told you this part wasn’t easy. I loosened the screw slightly, just enough to be able to rotate the bracket a small amount.

After connecting the wheel, mounting it again, replacing the printed circuit board, and starting Windows Game Controller Panel, I was able to reach beside the steering shaft and adjust the bracket until it was aligned with the cross-hairs. This actually took some time because I had to re-adjust the force trimmer, go back and adjust the bracket again, and back and forth a few times. Then I disconnected everything to tighten the locking screw and reconnected again to test it. But the bracket had moved when I tightened it, so I had to repeat the procedure. Still, it was worth it because I now have even force on each side of the wheel, and the wheel is perfectly centered. So far I had probably spent a little over an hour and a half on the whole project, including a few calibrations in GPL and test laps in GPL, Nascar 3 and Sports Car GT.

At this point I put the wheel back together again, except for the stick shifter assembly because I wanted to shorten the throw on the lever.

Shortening the Stick Shift Throw:

There are two things I did here.  First I shortened the lever throw, and then I changed the shifter knob to a nice B&M leather wrapped piece that I bought for $35. Expensive I know, but it looks and feels so good.

On the bottom of the shifter assembly,  there are 2 square holes in the cradle that activates the switches. I simply cut 2 squares about  3/16" out of a pink, rubber eraser. I made sure they were a tight fit in the square holes and didn't stick out too far. I remounted the shifter assembly and checked the button action in Windows Game Controller panel to make sure they  weren't too long. I had to trim them a   couple times before they were short enough so they wouldn't activate the switches until the lever was pushed, and made sure they released when the shifter was back in neutral.

After I was satisfied with it's operation, I took the assembly off again and unscrewed the silver screw on the bottom in the middle of the cradle. This screw holds the silver cap on the stock shifter knob. Once the silver cap is removed, the black part of the knob unscrews from the shaft. To fit the new knob on, I had to wrap electrical tape around the shaft a couple times to make it so the B&M knob would slip on tightly before I finished tightening it's set screw.

The results of this project is a well tuned, good performing, good looking and good feeling wheel. If I really get ambitious, maybe I'll print some team logos for the center of the wheel, laminate them a couple times and hold them on the Ferrari wheel with magnetic tape on the back. Then I'd have a change of pace from the Ferrari logo. Well, maybe that's getting too carried away, after all, the $35 knob was pushing it.

Regards,

Slot

(Gary DeRoy)

Feb 6, 2000