New age steering wheel onto classic....
 

Disclaimer..... i am not, and never will be qualified to work on airbags, what i have done here is not to be taken as fact, it is merely what i have found whilst i changed my own steering wheel...... i accept absolutely no liability should you blow yourself up attempting to change you own.....:(



Right,

i've been wanting to do this for some time, since a saw a fellow scoobynetter's car that had one on, so i've been on the look-out for one.

Found one (on that big auction site;)) and bought it, had to collect it from south wales, apparently he couldn't find a courier that would carry it due to the explosive nature...Mmmm.

Anyways, took the plunge and got on with it, firstly, i disconnected the battery, and then removed the airbag fuses, there are two of them in the interior fuse holder!
Then i made sure the wheel was pointing straight ahead.....
Old wheel......
Attachment 49205

Two Torx bolts on thew side of the old wheel holdiing the airbag in the wheel.......
Attachment 49206

Airbag removed... wiring showing!!
Attachment 49207

Steering wheel nut... to be removed....
Attachment 49208

Then tug like mad at the wheel....then it comes off....eventually!
Attachment 49209

Then took the new wheel.....
Attachment 49210

And the airbag with all it's wiring....
Attachment 49211

There are two wires that are attached to the airbag itself, both are yellow, one with a black trace down it, and the other with an orange trace, (on the new airbag at least!)
So, seeing as i was lucky enough to acquire the old gubbins with the wheel, there was a connector on that that was the same as the one on my old airbag, so i simply cut (one wire at a time....just in case) that connector off, and the two wires leading to the new bag, and soldered yellow/black, to yellow/black, and yellow/orange, to yellow/orange. Simple!
Attachment 49212

The horn is simply a matter of taking the small piece of black wiring that is on the steering wheel, and attaching it ti the new airbag where the horn wire goes....Simple!

I then made sure that the insulation on the two joins was sufficient.....
Attachment 49213

And got on with fitting the new wheel......
Attachment 49214

And then simply reconnect the two connectors inside the steering onto the airbag, (one for airbag, one for horn) and place the airbag in the wheel, and do up the two torx bolts on the sides........
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...d/finished.jpg


Then, once complete, i replaced the tow airbag SRS fuses, and then reconected the battery, placed the key in the ignition, (from outside the car!) and switched the ignition on to see what happened.... FROM OUTSIDE THE CAR!
As per usual, the airbag light went off, and the car started as normal, ..:):):)

Job done.... happy boy!!

Good work!! Looks like it was always meant to be there!

Brilliant write up, nice one :)

Too right it does.... it's even the same colour as the dashboard...!!

All i have to do now is work out how to get the 'gay' pink STI off the centre......

Great thread Ron,i'll commence work on mine at the weekend,im fed up with the airbag light being on.Also your wheel is the same as mine except for the airbag unit mine is silver with the pink badge,what car did yours come off any ideas?

looks very nice tho ;)

I was told it came off a new Spec 'c'....... it's exactly what i wanted, i personally am not a fan of the silver airbags....

Nice one Ron :D

I might actually wire mine up now ;)

I cant get hold of the original momo plug so is there any harm in cutting the plug off the original wiring and crimping bullet connectors or soldering the wires together so its a straight through connection?

interested in selling the old MOMO?

Sorry JGM, i've kept most of the stanard bits that have come off of this car, god knows why, cos i'm never selling it, but i guess i'll hang onto the wheel for a rainy day..... Sorry!!

TC, i don't think there would be an issue with using a different type of connector, although i would not personally use crimped ones on an item such as this, as long as you get the yellow/balck wire to the yellow/black wire it should be fine....
Be sure to read my disclaimer though...;)

Nice Job.

There's a vacancy for you in Bomb Disposal..

Nice clear report, please go and work for a Car Manual company, you are a natural talent!

Graham.
:D

no problem you just showed how easy it was and that I should get rid of my 'orrible 96 wheel with 181,000miles worth of hand marks on it!!

Simon :)

Nicely done..

Hate to say it though but I prefer the original wheel :confused:

Think the new one looks a bit MG Montego in grey.

Thanks for all the comments.. even the negative..:)

I'm not sure about bomb disposal..... i don't think life insurance would be an easy thing to arrange somehow..;)

Drove it to the local 'meet' last night, feel so much nicer to hold than the old wheel, the rim os slightly fatter, and 'to me' feels better..... a mere 1/2 inch smaller in diameter, but i wasn't trying to achieve the small wheel look....

Ron.

looks good, didnt have the bottle to sit in the seat and sart it up then ;)

Not the first time Steve no......... just in case...

ps, car was dynoed a week ago at 304 bhp... fueling spot on all the way through the rev range....no knock.... so not gonna get it tweaked..:)

nice one, that wheel must add another 10bhp ;)

Nice! So does the new airbag work? Have you tested it yet?

Hehe! :D

Playing Devil's Advocate I have a couple of questions RON:-

1. I heard the airbag from a newage could do you some harm as it's designed to be larger and go off based on the size/weight of the new cars. Does this have some truth or is it bo!!ox ??

2. What do you tell your insurance company ??

Stefan

Mmmm, not tested yet no.. thankfully!!

Ozzy,

1. The trigger is still the original wherever it's fitted to the car, so it should still trigger when the original one would have gone off.... also, i doubt the bag itself is any bigger, after-all, it's not like you sit further away in a newer car is it.....??

2. I'll find out what the insureres think when i ring for a quote or two tomorrow..... driven roughly 50 miles since i fitted it... so if anyone goes off on one about me not telling the ins co.... i know the risks.... and am willing to accept them.....

Ron,

When you swapped the wheel over, did you keep 'your' airbag, rather than use the one in the new wheel. Couldn't really tell from your article ?

eh LOOK AT THE PICTURES!!!:confused:

use the airbag in the new wheel mark,the original one wont fit (unless its the same design wheel)

Bump.....so i can find this thread in the morning.......LOL

my airbag light has stayed on...balls; looks like I'll have to take it all off again :(

if it was on already it will stay on I believe.. the air bag system needs to be reset.. it won't go "Oh I have an airbag connected now I'll turn the light off" that would perhaps be too sensible ;)

Simon

thanks Simon...I guess that's a dealer job?

There is a chance I may not have connected the air bag connector completely, I've read on another thread that the warning light will stay on if the release clip has not returned correctly.

Oh well at least it looks good :lol1::lol1:

Odd that my light never stays/stayed on...... it has never been an issue, and surely if i hadn't connected it correctly the light would be on..??

dealer or diagnostics machine

mine has never come on either so assume I connected it correctly, although gave it reason to use the airbag but it didn't recently :eek: