- Steering wheels have been allowing us
to point our majestic horseless carriages
wherever we wanna go with just a
simple rotation for over a 1000 years.
But for a simple a job as steering wheels may have,
there are plenty of reasons
why you might consider changing yours out.
Maybe yours 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 smash your knees into it all the time,
or maybe you just don't like looking at it.
In my case it's all three.
So, today we're gonna yank out.
(birds whistling)
Today I'm gonna 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 you're buying a new steering wheel.
Like how to know what size to buy and all that.
And then I'll show you how to install it.
I'm Zack.
And this is money pit.
(deep bass music)
Hey,(speaking in foreign language)
Yeah, (laughs) thanks.
I know it is pretty sick.
Yeah, we're gonna take steering wheel off there.
Obviously one of the things that annoys me most about
this car is the steering wheel c'oz I don't fit
under my knee.
Anytime I try to go from the gas pedal
to the brake, God forbid I try to do
like a heel toe type thing.
I just smashed my knee into the steering wheel.
The seats all the way back I don't even have a floor mat.
I've got as much room as this wheel allows me
to have and it's just not enough.
So we're gonna go smaller and bring it
a little closer to me.
All right, so the first thing we need to do
to take the steering wheel, out is actually in the trunk.
We need to disconnect the battery with this 10- millimeter.
All right now with battery disconnected, move up
to the front and take off the airbag
with this same tool.
All right, so on the back of the Miata steering wheel,
there are four 10- millimeter nuts
which hold the airbag on.
So we gotta take this off.
And I guess realistically when you're playing
with the airbag it's a decent idea not to sit directly
in front of it.
Okay, so now we got a disconnect these connectors
which are the horn and the airbag.
O kay and there's a rope and
that's an airbag from 1994 probably
All right before we go any further,
we are gonna make sure our steering wheel
is perfectly centered, that looks great.
And then at this point you're gonna want to mark
your steering shaft if there's not already a mark
for a top dead center.
And it looks like we've got a little tiny indentation
from the factory here.
So I'm not going to mark it, We'll use that as our mark.
Now we can pull off this I think 21 millimeter nut
and that'll let the steering wheel come off.
Okay, so now we've still got the nut on there a little bit
and we'll try to break the steering wheel loose.
It's been on there for a long time after all.
There we go, take the nut the rest of the way off,(mumbles)
(bright upbeat music)
So since the early 1990s, steering wheels
with airbags became commonplace,
and here in the US they were mandatory as of 1998.
These airbags they're designed to react within the first
10 of milliseconds, after an impact
and fully inflate within 60 to 80 milliseconds.
Keep your old noggin safe.
Any sooner than that, or any longer than that,
and it could actually injure you more than it helps you.
But while it is a big, gigantic, old
and clumsy airbag, it's still an airbag.
And I don't remove safety measures
from a car lightheartedly.
Now there are of course things that you can do
to help make up for the lack of an airbag, for example
you can add multi-point seatbelt harnesses.
But to do that you have to install a roll cage,
or a roll bar, or at least a harness bar
that's sturdy enough to attach them to.
And then you have to wear harnesses all the damn times
which kind of sucks in a daily.
But for the Miata, that's fine.
We're gonna add a roll bar, we're gonna add harnesses, we're
gonna add seats and all that stuff and
we'll do it pretty soon.
If you don't want to have to wear harnesses all the time,
it's probably best to leave the stock steering wheel
and airbag in place.
So much room without the steering wheel,
get used to that.
All right, the factory size on the Miata steering wheel
is a 365 millimeter diameter and that is way too big for us.
There are many size options available on the market
from like 280 millimeters to like 380 millimeters
which is a pretty wide range.
So what do we choose?
Well, we've got to think about some stuff.
For one you need to remember that the smaller the wheel is
the more quickly you'll be able to rotate it
from one position to another
which means it'll be a little bit more responsive feeling
but it'll also require a little bit more effort.
Think of the difference between a 1/4 inch ratchet
versus a 1/2 inch ratchet.
You get a lot more leverage the bigger tool you're using.
That is all to say 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 this legroom.
But there's another way to free up some more legroom
without shrinking the wheel anymore and that's
by bringing the wheel further towards my body.
So when I sit in the car now, pop this thing on,
you can see that the wheel is actually pretty far away
from me.
My arms are fairly outstretch c'oz i have the seat
all the way back.
But if we pretend to bring the wheel a little closer to me,
I still have plenty of room to turn the wheel
but I get a little bit more knee room
and that's what I want.
All right so sitting in the car
and imagining the depth of your wheel is pretty easy
but it's pretty difficult to really imagine the change
in diameter of a steering wheel and how that'll feel.
So there are a few things you can do
when you're trying to nail down your new steering wheel size
you could talk to other people, especially other people
that have the same car you have and already
have aftermarket steering wheels
because they've been through this
and they've got a data point that you could benefit from.
You get on the forums also.
There's a lot of people that have aftermarket wheels
with a lot of opinions on them,
and they'll tell you how tall they are too.
So you get a good gauge of what you're getting into.
There's another thing you can do which really worked out
for me and I think it's the best thing you could do.
You can borrow a buddies.
This is my roommates wheel, it's a 330, it's got
this nice offset and to be honest,
I'm not sure if this is the right size
but rather than buying one and finding out that way.
I'm just gonna borrow my buddies 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 gonna end up owning something that I don't love.
Now another thing to think about before you go installing
your new wheel is what to do about
your steering wheel electronics; your horn
and your airbag wiring.
Most aftermarket wheels are gonna come with a horn button
that may take a little bit of wiring up.
But it's usually very easy, it's just two wires a positive
in the ground.
But the other thing to think about is your airbag.
So now that there's not an airbag,
the car's computer sees no airbag and it sees
that as an issue.
So now we need to figure out how to trick this thing
into thinking there's an airbag in place.
So the first thing we're gonna do is install the resistor
to trick the airbag light.
So I'm gonna cut off this airbag harness
and solder in this 3,000 ohm resistor in line
or in series and they'll trick the airbag light.
But first let's talk about soldering c'oz it's really easy
and really handy.
All you gonna have is the right stuff
which doesn't take that much.
You need to have some flux
which we'll put on to our little joint
and then that will clean the joint and suck the solder
in to all of our copper strands.
We've got a 60/40 rosin core wire solder here
which is what I like to use and a soldering gun.
This is a 100 Watts gets nice and hot
and it'll solder stuff it's all you need.
We're basically just gonna put heat
on the joint, get the tip on there nicely
and just kind of wait and let it get hot.
So now we've got our first joint soldered,
I've got a piece of heat shrink on there
that I'm about to shrink.
So to do that got my heat gun.
Lovely, okay let's start on that other one
and you got to make sure you get the joint hot enough
when you're soldering.
If you solder and your solder ends up looking really dull
or grey your joint was probably too cold.
It should look nice and shiny once you're all done.
Wow yeah, heat shrink this puppy the rest of the way up.
All right, so that was the tough part I guess.
Really it's time to put that wheel on
or the hub first I guess.
This one's made by works belt, and it connects
your aftermarket wheel to your factory steering shaft
It's pretty simple.
Steering shafts have splines on them like these
their factory steering wheel slips on to
and then it's bolted down on to so that when you turn it
it doesn't just slip it grips all these little spine teeth.
Most aftermarket steering wheel hub manufacturers
who have a catalog on their website
so you can find the right hub for your car
with the right amount of splines in diameter
for your steering shaft.
However, that's not the only thing to be thinking about
c'oz there are a couple different bolt patterns
for different kinds of steering wheels.
Probably the most common bolt pattern
for aftermarket steering wheels is this one.
It's called the Momo pattern, and a bunch of other things.
It's a 70 millimeter circle, six bolts.
So, 6 by 70 millimeter bolt pattern
and the top bolt holes positioned at top dead center.
Most aftermarket hubs will have this pattern it's one
of the most universal, one of the most common patterns
you'll come across.
But then you've gotten minority and personal steering wheels
which use a six by 74 millimeter pattern.
In this case this nice works bell hub has both ultimately
and probably gonna buy a minority.
So I'll still be able to use this hub
but I can also test this Momo with it.
How nice is that?
So when you're looking at hubs you also need to take
its length or its overall height into consideration
for a couple reasons.
With this works bell hub there are two lengths offered,
a short one and a tall one.
We've got the tall one here
which measures about 80 millimeters.
So the height of this thing ultimately helps determine
the depth of your steering wheel.
The taller this is, the further your steering wheel is gonna
stick out it's pretty simple.
But the hub is only one part of the overall steering
wheel depth equation.
Lots 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 a little depth.
The other thing to consider when thinking of your overall
steering setup depth is the offset of your steering wheel.
So this Momo wheel has an overall height
of about 65 millimeters and that's info
that's usually listed, so you can check
this stuff and you can measure and make
a pretty informed decision before you buy.
So we're gonna start just with these two pieces
no quick-release but if somehow I do need more depth,
I can add one, it's pretty easy.
There are these two little cutouts that match up
with the clock spring here on the Miata,
so you want to make sure that they match up,
and then we've got you see a little arrow there
there's an arrow that denotes top dead center
so we want to match that arrow up or that upper hole
with that dot on our steering shaft as good as we can.
And there's a decent chance that we're not going
to be able to 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 spline exactly
where you need one.
And then you have to alter your alignment to straighten out
your steering wheel so if that's the case
we'll be able to fix it next week.
All right we're gonna torque this little Journey down
to 35 foot pounds.
Oh there we go, that's all kegs.
Hubs in place now all we got to do is attach
our steering wheel for that we've got six little screws,
five little screws, that's all you need.
Do this part slowly because it's the best part
you don't usually get car part installs
of this easy and thus rewarding.
Okay we give them all cinch down that's it.
(upbeat music)
Wow, wow I gotta go drive it but I've got more room
that's for sure.
The depth feels okay, I can still reach
my stocks without much issue.
I've definitely got more room still not sure if it's enough
I gotta go drive it.
it already feels so much better and just turning it,
God it feels so much better.
I can get on the break, I can heel toe,
I can rev-match downshift c'oz the wheels not
in my way.
This thing is gonna be so much more fun to drive out
in the canyons and literally anywhere.
It's already so much better.
I'm so excited and glad that we did this.
This is the thing you touch the most
in the car.
Make it what you want, make it work for you,
not against you.
The thing was so in my way that stuck nasty wheel
but this makes the whole driving experience so much better.
The only problem now is that we're a little off center
which I expected that's not a big deal.
We can fix that.
All right, so thank you guys so much for watching
I hope you enjoyed it, I really did because now
we've got a new steering wheel in the money pit Miata
which it desperately needed.
So check me next week we're gonna do a full alignment
on the car in the garage where we gonna stay during
this whole quarantine.
I am still allowed to go on drives as long as
I don't get out of the car, follow me on Instagram
to see more of the Miata.
A lot of behind the scenes and what's going on
during the rest of the week @ ZachJobe
on Instagram.
Follow DonutMedia @ Donutmedia.
Oh, this car is so much better.