How to install clock spring in 612

I am in the process of converting the F1 flappy paddle system in my '05 612 to gated six. The removal of the flappy paddles requires the removal of the airbag, the steering wheel, and the cage assembly to which the paddles attach. Immediately behind the cage assembly is a circular plastic part to which the Ferrari parts dealers refer as the clock spring contact, the spiral contact, and the spiral column contact. I'll call it the clock spring. The original Ferrari part number is 187750. Somewhere along the way PN 187750 was superseded by PN 259914. Ebay sellers represent that this part is also used in the Ferrari 458, 599, California, F12, and FF, and the Maserati 4200 GT, Granturismo, and Quattroporte.

Here is a photo from an Ebay seller:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

As I tried to persuade the cage assembly to slide off the steering column, it appeared to me that the cage would not come free without disconnecting the wiring harness connector at the bottom of the clock spring. I now think this was a big mistake, that the cage can probably be jiggled free without disconnecting the clock spring connector. Too late! In the process of disconnecting the connector I pretty much destroyed the pins inside the clock spring. So I went on Ebay and bought a take-off from a Maserati Quattroporte.

My issue is that the part's cover rotates on the body, and the range of motion of the Quattroporte part does not match the part on my 612. Because the next part on the steering column, after the clock spring, is called the "steering angle sensor," and also because of the scary yellow sticker on the clock spring's cover, I'm going to assume that the position of the clock spring's cover is crucial.

To demonstrate the mismatch between the Quattroporte part and the 612 part, I put the Quattroporte part on a piece of cardboard. Here is a photo of the cover at the limit of its counterclockwise rotation. With a Sharpie I marked the position of a rectangular loop that's part of the cover. (Please notice that, in all the following photos, the wiring harness connector is at the 6:00 position.)

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here is the cover, and the rectangular loop, at the limit of its clockwise rotation:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here is a photo of the 612 clock spring, still attached to the steering column. To take this photo I cut a circle in the cardboard and slipped it over the clock spring, and marked the position of the rectangular loop at the limit of its counterclockwise rotation.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here's a photo marking the rectangular loop at the limit of its clockwise rotation:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here's the cardboard, comparing the Quattroporte part with the 612:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

I assume that, in order to install the Quattroporte part on the 612, I must remove the cover from the clock spring and re-clock it so that its range of motion matches the OEM 612 clock spring. The scary yellow sticker appears to warn even a trained Ferrari tech to consult the Service Manual before doing this. Unfortunately for the 612 shade tree mechanic, the workshop manual includes no such instruction. The nearest thing is a two-page description of how to remove the "steering column switch," an assembly which includes the turn signal stalk, the windshield wiper stalk, the steering angle sensor, and the clock spring as a single unit:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Image Unavailable, Please Login

There is nothing in the workshop manual about how to remove or reinstall the clock spring, or how to make it work with the steering angle sensor.

So that's my cry for help. Does anybody have an idea how to re-clock the Quattroporte clock spring to replace the 612 unit, and also how to make it work with the 612 steering angle sensor? Thanks in advance!

 

I don't know the 575M assemblies, but here are some photos of the 612 stuff. The first photo shows the two halves of the plastic steering column surround sitting on my workbench/clothes dryer, with two green-colored inserts that @brogenville 3-D printed for me to fill the gaps where the flappy paddles used to live taped in place.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here is a photo that Robin sent me, showing the same parts from his own 612 in the process of integrating the inserts with some filler. I intend to do the same.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Robin advises that the inserts require the removal of the flappy paddle brackets from the frame which secures the paddles to the steering column. If you simply remove the frame and reassemble the surround without it, the surround will rub on the steering wheel. So you must remove the paddles and brackets and reinstall the frame. Here is a photo of the frame and the paddles from my 612:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

I have screwed the paddles back into the brackets, ultimately for storage along with the other take-offs from this project. I have circled in red the lefthand paddle's pivot points on the frame. The rod in the green rectangle sits in these pivot points, acting like the pin in a door hinge.

It was in the removal of this frame where I destroyed the wiring harness connector on my clock spring. The connector prevents the bottom of the frame from rotating downward, so as to free up the two legs of the frame which secure it to the top of the steering column. In retrospect, it would have been better to try a little harder to wiggle these two legs free without unplugging the clock spring connector to get its female half out of the way. Act in haste, repent in leisure, is a motto that belongs in every hobbyist's garage.

@82elky, I appreciate your advice on the clock spring. I will give it a try. I also appreciate your offer to fab up a mount for my steering wheel surround. However, if I reinstall the flappy paddle frame, this will do the job, yes? (For readers who are not silly enough to tear apart a perfectly good Ferrari, you can clearly see in my first photo two of the three holes where fasteners go to secure the bottom surround to the flappy paddle frame. The third hole is also slightly visible.)

 

Ding ding ding! This is exactly right. First I turned the Quattroporte clock spring's cover to the limit of its clockwise travel. Then I pressed in on the spring-mounted center ring as you suggested, and held it down while I rotated the cover a bit further in the clockwise direction. I could feel the cover slipping past the internal blocker which limits the cover's travel. This blocker now serves as the new limit of cover's counterclockwise rotation, such that the part now matches my 612's OE unit. Here's a photo of the spring mounted ring:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Here's a photo of the clock spring, showing that its counterclockwise limit now matches the 612's:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Finally, here's a photo with the cover at the limit of its clockwise rotation:

Image Unavailable, Please Login

So simple, yet so mysterious! The scary "Caution" warning, with the exclamation point in a triangle and the stern advisory to "See Service Manual" -- which in the case of the 612 is useless -- had pushed my anxiety level to a 9. (With this project the default setting is 8.) I am eternally grateful for the sharing of this secret knowledge. Now I only need to worry about whether this Ebay part actually works.