HOW TO: Change Your Steering Wheel

- Steering

wheel

s have allowed us to point our majestic horseless carriages wherever we want to go with a simple rotation for over 1,000 years. But for a job as simple as

steering

wheel

s, there are plenty of reasons why you might consider changing

your

s. Maybe

your

s just doesn't feel right in your hand, or maybe it's too big to comfortably get in and out of the car, and maybe you knock your knees all the time, or maybe you just don't like looking at it. . In my case it is all three. So today we are going to retire. (birds whistling) Today I'll show you how to remove your old

steering

wheel.

Including how to deal with all that airbag stuff, and I'll show you what to look for when shopping for a new steering wheel. Like knowing what size to buy and all that. And then I'll show you how to install it. I'm Zack. And this is a money pit. (deep bass music) Hey, (speaking in a foreign language) Yeah, (laughs), thanks. I know he's pretty sickly. Yeah, let's get the steering wheel out of there. Obviously one of the things that bothers me the most about this car is the steering wheel because it doesn't fit under my knee. Every time I try to go from the gas pedal to the brake, God forbid I try to do something like heel and toe.

I just slammed my knee on the steering wheel. The seats in the back don't even have mats. I have all the space this wheel allows and it's just not enough. So let's make it smaller and get it a little bit closer to me. Alright, so the first thing we need to do to remove the steering wheel is actually the trunk. We need to disconnect the battery with this 10 millimeters. Okay now with the battery disconnected, go up to the front and remove the airbag with this same tool. Alright, on the back of the Miata's steering wheel there are four 10 millimeter nuts that hold the airbag.

So we have to take this off. And I guess, realistically, when playing with the airbag it's a good idea not to sit directly in front of it. Okay, now we disconnect these connectors that are the horn and the airbag. Ok, and there is a rope and it's probably a 1994 airbag. Okay, before we continue, let's make sure our steering wheel is perfectly centered, that looks great. And then at this point, you'll want to mark the steering axis if there isn't already a mark for top dead center. And it looks like we have a little factory indentation here.

So I'm not going to mark it. We will use it as our brand. Now we can remove this nut, I think, 21 millimeters, and that will allow the steering wheel to come off. Okay, now we still have the nut on a little bit and we'll try to loosen the steering wheel. After all, it's been there for a long time. Here we go, take the nut off the rest of the way (mumbles) (bright, happy music). Since the early 1990s, steering wheels with airbags became commonplace, and here in the US they were mandatory starting in 1998. These airbags are designed to react within the first 10 milliseconds, after an impact, and fully inflate within 60 to 80 milliseconds.

Keep your old head safe. If it comes before or after that, it could hurt you more than it helps you. But even though it's a big, gigantic, old, clumsy airbag, it's still an airbag. And I don't remove safety measures from a car lightly. Now, of course, there are things you can do to help compensate for the lack of an airbag, for example you can add multi-point seat belt harnesses. But to do that you have to install a roll cage, or a roll bar, or at least a harness bar that is strong enough to hold them. And then you have to wear harnesses all the time, which sucks on a daily basis.

But for the Miata, it's fine. We'll add a roll bar, we'll add harnesses, we'll add seats and all that and we'll do it very soon. If you don't want to have to wear harnesses all the time, it's probably best to leave the original steering wheel and airbag in place. There is a lot of space without the steering wheel, get used to that. Alright, the factory size of the Miata steering wheel is 365 millimeters in diameter and that's too big for us. There are many size options available on the market, from 280 millimeters to 380 millimeters, which is quite a wide range.

So what do we choose? Well, we have to think about some things. On the one hand, you have to remember that the smaller the wheel, the faster you can turn it from one position to another, which means the feel will be a little more responsive, but it will also require a little more. effort. Think about the difference between a 1/4 inch ratchet and a 1/2 inch ratchet. You will get much more leverage the larger the tool you use. All of this means that if you have power steering it really shouldn't make much of a difference, which is great because I need a smaller wheel to free up leg room.

But there is another way to free up more legroom without shrinking the wheel further and that is by moving it closer to my body. So when I sit in the car now and turn this thing on, you can see the steering wheel is pretty far away from me. My arms are quite extended because I have the seat all the way back. But if we try to move the steering wheel a little bit closer to me, I still have a lot of room to turn the steering wheel but I have a little more room for my knees and that's what I want.

Alright, sitting in the car and imagining the depth of your steering wheel is pretty easy, but it's pretty hard to actually imagine the

change

in diameter of a steering wheel and what it will feel like. So, there are a few things you can do when trying to define the new size of your steering wheel; You could talk to other people, especially other people who have the same car as you and who already have replacement steering wheels because they've been through this and have a data point that you could benefit from. You also enter the forums. There are many people who have replacement wheels with many opinions on them and they will also tell you how tall they are.

This way you'll have a good idea of ​​what you're getting into. There's another thing you can do that really worked for me and I think it's the best thing you can do. You can borrow from a friend. This is my roommate's wheel, it's a 330, it has good offset and to be honest I'm not sure if it's the right size but instead of buying one and finding out that way. I'm going to borrow my friends to install it, see how it feels and we'll go from there. I think that's the best way to do it. I'm not going to end up owning something I don't love.

Now, another thing to think about before installing your new steering wheel is what to do with the steering wheel's electronics; your horn and your airbag wiring. Most aftermarket wheels come with a horn button that may require some wiring. But usually it's very easy, it's just two positive wires connected to ground. But the other thing to think about is the airbag. So now that there is no airbag, the car's computer doesn't see any airbag and sees it as a problem. So now we have to figure out how to trick this thing into thinking there's an airbag in place.

So the first thing we will do is install the resistor to fool the airbag light. So I'm going to cut this airbag harness and I'm going to solder this 3000 ohm resistor in line or in series and they're going to fool the airbag light. But first let's talk about soldering because it's really easy and very useful. All you will have is the right thing and it doesn't require much. You need to have a little bit of flux that we're going to apply to our little joint and then it's going to clean the joint and absorb the solder into all of our copper wires.

Here we have a 60/40 rosin core solder wire, which is what I like to use, and a soldering gun. This is a 100 watt that gets hot and will solder everything you need. Basically, we're just going to put heat in the joint, put the tip in there and wait and let it heat up. Now that we have our first soldered joint, I have a piece of heat shrink that I'm about to shrink. So to do that I got my heat gun. Lovely, okay, let's start with the other one and you want to make sure that you heat the joint enough when you're soldering.

If you solder and your solder ends up looking very dull or gray, your joint was probably too cold. It should look nice and shiny once you're done. Wow, yeah, heat shrink this puppy the rest of the way. Alright, I guess that was the hard part. It's really time to put the wheel or hub on first I guess. This one is made with a factory strap and connects your aftermarket wheel to the factory steering axle. It's pretty simple. The steering shafts have splines like these that the factory steering wheel slides into and then screws on so that when you turn it it doesn't slip, but instead grabs all these little teeth on the column.

Most aftermarket steering wheel hub manufacturers have a catalog on their website so you can find the right hub for your car with the right amount of diameter splines for your steering shaft. However, that's not the only thing to think about because there are a couple of different bolt patterns for different types of steering wheels. Probably the most common bolt pattern for aftermarket steering wheels is this. It's called the Momo pattern and many other things. It is a 70 millimeter circle, six screws. So a 6 by 70 millimeter bolt pattern and the top bolt holes located at top dead center.

Most aftermarket hubs will have this pattern; It is one of the most universal and common patterns you will find. But then there are the minority and personal flyers that use a six by 74 millimeter pattern. In this case, this nice bell center will ultimately and probably buy a minority. So I'll still be able to use this hub but I can also try this Momo with it. How cute is that? So when you look at bushings, you should also take into account their length or overall height for a couple of reasons. Two lengths are offered with this work hood center, one short and one tall.

Here we have the height that measures about 80 millimeters. So the height of this thing ultimately helps determine the depth of your steering wheel. The higher it is, the more the steering wheel will stick out, it's pretty simple. But the hub is only one part of the overall steering wheel depth equation. A lot of people run quick disconnects, so ultimately if this setup isn't deep enough for me, I can add a quick disconnect to give me some depth. The other thing to consider when thinking about the overall depth of steering settings is the offset of the steering wheel.

So this Momo wheel has a total height of about 65 millimeters and that is the information that is usually listed, so you can check this, measure and make a fairly informed decision before purchasing. So we'll start with just these two pieces without quick release, but if I somehow need more depth, I can add one, it's pretty easy. There are two little cutouts that match the clock spring here on the Miata, so you want to make sure that they match, and then we see a little arrow there, there's an arrow that indicates top dead center, so we want to match that arrow to up or that top hole with that point on our steering axis as best we can.

And there's a good chance that we can't get it perfect, which is why I did this before doing an alignment, because if you can't get it perfect, it's not necessarily your fault, there's just not always a line exactly where you need one. And then you have to alter your alignment to straighten the steering wheel, so if that's the case, we'll be able to fix it next week. Alright, let's get this little Journey down to 35 foot-pounds. Oh, there we go, that's all barrels. Bushings in place now all we have to do is secure the steering wheel, for that we have six small screws, five small screws, that's all you need.

Do this part slowly because it's the best part - you usually don't get auto parts installations this easy and therefore rewarding way. Okay, we'll tell everyone to calm down, that's all. (upbeat music) Whoa, whoa, I gotta go drive it, but I have more room, that's for sure. The depth feels good, I can still reach my actions without much trouble. I definitely have more space, but I'm not sure if it's enough. I have to drive it. It already feels so much better and just turning it, God, it feels so much better. I can hit the brake, I can put my foot on the heel, I can slow down the revs because the wheels aren't in my way.

This will be so much more fun to drive through the canyons and literally anywhere. It's much better now. I'm very excited and glad I did this. This is what you touch the most in the car. Do it however you want, make it work for you, not against you. The thing was so in my way that the wheel got stuck, but this makes the whole driving experience so much better. The only problem now is that we're a little off center, which I was hoping wouldn't be a big deal. We can fix it. Alright, thank you all so much for watching.

I hope you enjoyed it, I really did because now we have a new steering wheel on the pit Miata.money he desperately needed. So check me out next week we will do a full car alignment in the garage where we will be throughout this quarantine. I can still drive as long as I don't get out of the car. Follow me on Instagram to see more of the Miata. Lots behind the scenes and what's happening the rest of the week @ZachJobe on Instagram. Follow DonutMedia @Donutmedia. Oh, this car is so much better.