rec.autos.simulators

Mind you, I did e-mail them first and offer to pay for them, so they
obviously thought they would take my money as it was being offered?

8-)

BTW, Tip: for any F1 Sim owners out there replacing pedal springs?

When you put on the new spring, place a bit of masking tape or other
similar material around the bolt that the spring attachs to. When I
changed my first spring, I didn't do this and the bolt had nothing
around it, and the new spring quickly snapped cos it was rubbing on
the bolt! Applying tape reduces the friction caused by metal on metal
rubbing and makes the spring last a lot longer?

8-)

*Peter*     8-)

I'm still on my original pair after a year's thrashing. The brake spring's still
intact, but the clip holding it to the pedal snapped twice. Once I kind of
repaired it, now it's been replaced by a shoelace... I like to be self-sufficient
in spares ;-)

The accelerator spring's snapped twice, but on both occasions it just lost a
loop off the end. Using a couple of pairs of pliers I just bent another loop off
the spring, stretched it a little to reduce tension and increase potential
longevity and bob's yer uncle.

I've learned to live with the non-centering wheel, and the new replacement
unit is a bit steep... think I'll save the money towards a new F1Sim or TSW.

Andrew McP

When my spares next run out, I might just send a cheque for a tenner and
ask for the equiverlant amount of springs back and see what result I get.

At least I would, but I will probably be fitting old bed springs in place
instead, and using a key-ring attachment to hold them in place.  Those
should never break, but might make the peddles a bit heavy - cue the whole
pedal set moving about a foot across the floor whenever the brakes are
applied!

Mind you, the steering will probably pack-up before then.  As anyone
managed to dissasemble the column yet to get to the workings?  I tried to
take out the four surrounding screws so I could lubricate it, but it just
wouldn't budge.  Do I need a wratchet or something on the bolt hidden
underneath the front part of the wheel instead?  In the end, I found it's
better to squit WD40 in behind the gear paddles - this really loosens the
wheel up and I imagine prevents too much wear.  But I would like to know on
how to get to the column internals in case something breaks.  Can anybody
offer any help?

Oh, and as for the masking tape tip - I don't think it makes any difference
because each spring seems to have a different weak point - mine split half
way up for instance.

Undo the four screws, they may be a bit tight? Undo the front nut to get
the steering wheel off. Pull out the cable stop at the base of the
steering column (to allow the cable to run loose in the inside). Carefully
remove the *** washer (which was behind the steering wheel) and
(gently!) pull off the round circuit board with the two buttons on it.
Unscrew and remove the steering centering knob from about half way down  
the steering column (used for fine tuning/recalibrating the steering?)

You should now be able to (gently) pull out the whole steering assembly
from within the steering column. Make sure the cables have a bit of slack
as you pull the assembly out. You may also want to disconnect the wires
from the round circuit board to aid pulling out the assembly (but make a
note of which wire went where?)

8-)

*Peter*     8-)

Peter's comment reminded me I never answered you... sorry.

I think Peter has one of the original F1 Sim's, made before they farmed out the manufacturing to
Digital Edge. The more recent versions have suffered from a centering problem. A couple of cheap n
cheerful clips hold the *** sleeve inside the column and it slips with anything more than slight
wheel movements, so you always end up driving 30 degrees or so from where your hands ought to
be. Some people have solved this with an extra clip or something similar, but I've just learned to live
with it.

There's an upgraded assembly available now from Interactive Racing, but it's quite expensive. I'd
advise anyone after an F1 Sim now to order direct from them and avoid the backlog of older models in
places like PC World.

Andrew McP