stratman

Has anyone replaced the air bag equiped steering wheel on their UK car?
I desperately want to get rid of the ugly thing but I am informed by Demontwats, and the like, that there is nothing available for the 96 air bag car. One shop told me that it can be done but I would need some parts to convert the car to a non-airbag arrangement.

Can anyone help.


[This message has been edited by stratman (edited 07 August 2000).]

Sith

I have a Momo to go on my MY96, bought at Halfords (Rip-speed). I ordered a steering boss at the same time. When I am on holiday (soon) I shall be getting it fitted.

P.

andy hs

I also have a MY96 uk car with a horrible subaru air bag wheel but have recently bought a Nardi non air bag wheel. But on removing the air bag module their are two connectors when these are fed through the wheel and then the wheel removed,these 2 connectors go into a black plastic circular unit with a fixed base and a rotating top which is mounted on the steering column and seems unable to be removed.As the Nardi only has a brass slip ring for the horn contact, I am now stuck.

Perhaps the answer is to get the later Momo steering wheel with the built in air bag from Subaru.

Andy

stratman

Thanks for the replies guys.
Sith you say you got your wheel from Halfords. Does the boss have the necessary bits to make the horn work, or could you have the same problem as Andy?
Let me know how you go on when you have it fitted.
As Andy says, maybe the best bet is an air bagged model from the main dealer but I think that would cost an arm and a leg

Sith

Stratman,

I'll have a look tonight to see what came with the kit. From memory the wheel has two wires running off the centre horn buttons. I don't know how the standard wheel connects with wires etc, but I do know that I was quoted £400 for an airbagged Momo.

Sith

I had a look last night, there are 2 cables running off the horn, one to ground and another in to the boss body.
I bought a modem yesterday so am now online at home so I will scan in the steering wheel instructions and email them to you. I hope this will help.

stratman

Thanks Sith I look forward to your email

Sith

Stratman,

You should have an email from me on Sunday.

P.

firefox

Hi guys..

If it is the same as the ones I have removed.. (98>) then you might have trouble.

You can get the bosses to fit... but that rotating mechanism mentioned above (used to provide electrical connection to the wheel) will cause the trouble.

It has a connector and two pins sticking out of it.. that wont allow the hub/boss adapter to fit...

If you remove the mechanism (3 screws).. then you lose the horn... cruise..and turn signal cancellation.

I am about to machine the hub/boss to allow all the above things to still work.

I'll keep you posted.

J.

Sith

Firefox,

I think the later MY98 wheels are different, although I am not 100% sure. I don't have cruise on mine, the turn cancellation either cancels too early or doesn't bother (so I won't miss that ) and the horn has connections in the boss kit, so hopefully all should be ok.

I will be interested how you get on. I am going to try to get my wheel fitted next week.

P.

P.S. The Momo gives a warning about removing Air Bagged wheels so it should fit, and the assistant at Ripspeed made no mention that there would be trouble. So fingers crossed, wood touched and Rabbits foot primed and ready. Everyone good luck.

firefox

Hi there,

Cruise is an option on subies.. not many people have it.

As for the horn.. yes the hubs/bosses have a horn wire or two... but what do you connect them to ? and how do you cope with full lock to lock turning ?

I suppose you could butcher the existing mechanism to use that

J.

Sith

Firefox,

Your getting me worried, shoudn't the boss fit over the splined steering shaft, then it is secured to this and the wheel is screwed to the top of the boss.
I was under the impression that Subaru left cable connections for the horn. I have to admit that I have not seen how Subaru connect their steering wheels, but would not have thought it would be much different from other manufactures. I know the swap can be done as I have seen other Scoobs with different wheels on. My dealer also said it could be done.

Last thing, what do you mean about the lock to lock, I is confused.
If anyone has a diagram of the Impreza steering system I would be very interested.

Look forward too your reply.

P.

stratman

Hi Sith and firefox
Thanks for the advise.

Sith ...thanks for the emailed fitting instructions. I suppose we wont really know if there will be problems until you come to fit it so it looks like you are the guinee pig Watch that airbag. I believe you must disconnect the battery first.

I spoke to Automotif in Manchester today, who do steering wheels etc., and they said that the only boss kits avilable for the Impreza are to suit non air bag cars but they had heard that it is possible if you first fit the relevant Suburu parts to convert the indicator canceling, and horn etc into to a non airbag arrangement like for example the WRX or Legacy. They say that the parts are not expensive but the problem is knowing what you need.

I will pursue this with my dealer but I am not holding my breath cos they are generally not that all that helpful when it comes to anything out of the ordinary.

Tim Skerry

[This message has been edited by Tim Skerry (edited 14 August 2000).]

Tim Skerry

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Tim Skerry:
<B> [/quote]

Just a thought, but you might want to tell the insurance about this as if you were to be injured in a crash, they could say that the airbag might have made a difference. Always better to say than have them weasel out of a claim.......

Sith

Hello Stratman,

Glad you got the instructions ok, and it looks like you may have the final piece to the puzzle. You have got some very useful info. Trust Subaru to connect things differently from everyone else.
I am going to be phoning my dealer to change the wheel, as when I bought the car he said they could change it. However this has changed to 'give the mechanics a call to check they will do it' ahhhhhh the things people will say to make a sale. I digress. He still thinks they can do it, if not I have another dealer even closer who themselves dislike air bagged wheels and also gave the impression that it should not be a problem for them to change it.
This Guinnea Pig hopes he is not going to get burnt.
Anyway I'd rather the dealer did it as I don't like playing with explosives.

Tim,
You're bang on about the insurance. Thankfully I have an understanding company and they have given me the go-ahead.

Cheers,

P.

stratman

Tim you are right about the insurance, although my insurance said ok when I checked....I got the feeling that airbags result in many claims by going off when they shouldnt.

Sith.. sounds good to me. Where is this dealer who does not like airbag wheels, if its not to far I will pay him a visit...I am in Manchester.
Keep us informed of your progress

Sith

Hello folks,

I have paid a visit to my local dealer, all is not good news

A very helpfull chap has informed me that the airbagged wheel and indicator storks etc are all one unit, appols if I have mis-understood. Apparently the whole lot is integrated and then connected by ribbon cable to the electrican system.

To change to the non-airbagged setup would require the purchase of a whole steering wheel assembly, storks etc. cost =

I might phone Automotif to see if they can shed anymore light. The engineer at the dealer also said he would do a little more investigation for me to see if the change can be made cost affective.

As for me, the removal is a practical one and not a style thing, I was advised to try the Prodrive Recaros as these appear to give more leg room.

On the up side I did get to sit in a P1, fantastic machine but, even If I did have the money, I couldn't drive it. My knee gets mashed by the door on the steering wheel. LOL

The experiment continues, while this Guinea pig is currently a little depressed.

P.




[This message has been edited by Sith (edited 21 August 2000).]

Steve Lawson

Sith
I have cross referenced the wiring on an early non airbagged Impreza today and all the plugs appear to be the same.Forgot to ask you on Saturday is your car a four door or wagon?All the plugs and wiring connections match up,barring of course the airbag.Will try to get hold of a combination switch to try in a 96MY car.Hence the reason for the question about your model(rear wiper or not).As regards to the cost its not as bad as you might think,assuming I did my parts interpretation correctly(Cheaper than Reselco)

Regards

Steve

NITO

Hi Guys,

I have removed the wheel on my MY98 and succesfully fitted a wheel/boss where the horn works and am currently looking at the self cancelling indicator issues. As for the earlier Impreza, I looked into this but never got round to it! The momo boss that is for sale for the Impreza is not for the later impreza MY98 on but for the aerlier one. Don't use this boss on a later one as it only grips the splines by 2mm or so instead of around 8mm.

I believe this boss can be physically fitted on the earlier car without any probs. As J said, the horn and self cancellation issue need to be improvised. I got around the horn problem very easily and on the momo boos simply machining a piece to take care of the self cancelling is fairly easy. For the horn, I removed the rotating disc mechanism, traced the wiring back to the base of the steering shroud and removed the piece entirely. I then ran a horn cable through the shroud to meet up to the ring on the boss. The next bit sounds like a bodge but works perfectly. Exposing a couple of centimetres of the wire and touch it against the ring. Then all you have to do is secure to the plastic column surround with masking tape and it holds perfectly! Mine is still working 2 months later. As for the self cancelling on the earlier cars, I've lent my digital camera to someone but when I get it back I can show you what I did to make the self cancelling work!

To disconnect the airbag, I disconnected my battery, left it for 20-30mins so that the capacitors would drain down just to be sure, and then it's simply a case of removing it and disconnecting it. It was scary at the time, but there were no bangs!!

And this is what the final result looks like!!



The smaller wheel makes the steering much better IMHO although you feel bumps etc more through it as it's lighter so doesn't dampen the blows like the heavier airbag item!!

Sith

Fantastic, Cheers Steve.
I have a 4 door. If you need to try anything on my car, just let me know.

One much happier Guinea Pig.

Regards,

P.

Steve Lawson

Sith,prehaps we can hook up over the weekend
or possibly later this week.May have a little trick up mt sleeve!Probably best to call me tommorow(today) got a fairly hectic weekend coming up thinking about it.

Regards

Steve

Wahey I'm a regular now!!!

[This message has been edited by Steve Lawson (edited 23 August 2000).]

Simon Chambo

I have just finished re-machining the early boss as supplied by most manufacturers,so that it fits the later air bag models and obviosly allows the removal of the air bag and the fitting of an aftermarket wheel.
I am haveing some more made, anyone interested phone GGR.
Simon

Swiss Steve

The 3 spoke MOMO (smaller diameter) on the EVO VI has an airbag - so I was hoping to be able to get smthg from MOMO.
I E-mailed them twice already and got no reply.
Ignorant Tw**s.

I also saw a smaller diameter 3 spoke airbag wheel on a LEGACY, so I wonder whether any of those might fit (or would it be a different size shaft / splines etc ?)

stratman

I finally sorted out a wheel today. Got a 3 spoke non-air bag wheel off a Lagacy from GradeA Subaru. I would have prefered an air bagged wheel and will still go for one if I can get one, but this one will do for now.

It looks great, and was pretty straight forward to fit. You have to file the metal boss a bit and file out holes for the pegs to fit, but not difficult.

Its slightly smaller than the standard wheel.