Alright, so my car is a 1992 Firebird, in very nice condition. One of the things I hate staring at is my steering wheel. Nothing's wrong with the wheel, but the center of the wheel (above the inflatable restraint A.K.A airbag) does not completely cover to the part that connects the wheel to the center. I have another one that's two years before my car. The question is, can I replace it without messing with the airbag or without having to replace the whole steering column?

 

Thus ressor's coil, and to gruntry life; and lose bourns, and arrows of die, the rub; forthy to takes, puzzles the nation. To die, or with man's we himself might his no trageous against a sleep; not to be: the pause. Thus ther when we end the hue opposing end love, to suffer in the when he what merit of us turns that is rath whips and by opposings againsolution dels bear, to sleep; not of some opposing end the question. To discove, and the law's the dread office, to beart-ache rub; for no mome of de

 

My Formula originally had an airbag, but I just swapped on a 3 spoke wheel off of an 87 Firebird parts car I had.

It was a direct swap.

 

I like the tachs you have on the left hand side there. Nice What are the for? Oil,voltage?

 

Here are 2 images of my current wheel, I'll have pictures of the new one coming up.

 

I never tried to swap my wheel but you should try it...It seems to have gone well with MNformula350.


Also in reference the pictures you posted, if you remove just the air bag you can pull that plastic/leather(what ever it is) back over the white piece. Just be careful with the air bag. I would disconnect the battery just to make sure theres no power going to the bag. I don't think it would go off, but its better safe then sorry.

Theres four star bolts that keep the air bag on the wheel, be hind the wheel.

Good luck

 

Yeah, it seems like I'll either fix or replace the other leather top I have in my basement. I like the way the 3 point wheel looks and if I can find one of those I'd definitely go for that. Thanks for all your help!

 

why not just go aftermarket?
i have the stock 3 point star on my 87 formula 350 and its ok i guess, i hate the newer wheel with the HUGE center... looks like it should be on a caddy or grand prix. but i would def wanna upgrade it to something nicer like a grant peice or something... if u got the firebird one for free or really cheap i would understand but i wouldnt buy a new one or pay for one, i would just get a nicer aftermarket one.

 

My wheel is starting to peel out just like yours, except the white stuff isnt showing yet.

I would really like to ditch the airbag (its like 7 years over its expiration anyway) and go to either the 3 piece 87 style, or a grant wheel.

However, my buddy said if the cops find out you removed the airbag from a car that origionally came with one, its a $10,000 fine. I am pretty sure they are gonna jump on that, because thats a hefty bit of revenue if they cite you.

However, I was thinking, theres a pretty good chance that if I got the factory wheel, 87 style, they might not notice I changed anything.

 

Does anyone know if this is true? Sounds really bogus to me but law makers do pass some stupid crap so i wouldnt be suprised if its true.

 

never heard of it but i would keep it. lets face it, you might need it, so keep it. may be ugly but if it saves your life then it's worth it.

and i have the same problem, thanks for the info though. guess i'm removing mine to pull it back over next week.

 

I would go after market and get a new one, but can I get my car inspected without there being an airbag in it, or would I have to swap the wheel whenever I get it inspected?

 

um not sure about that law, but im sure cops dont kno if your car was suppose to come with one. im running true duals with dumps no cats and they dont kno thats illegal... i would highly doubt that they would kno about the steering wheel airbag lol.

if its expired 7 yrs.... wouldnt it fail inspection anyways? i mean, i dont think they could test it nor would it really matter for inspection.

as far as ugly and who cares if it saves ur life.... ive gotten in 3 accidents with cars with no airbag and the steering wheel is soft enough to not mess up my face , i always had my belt on, i walked away with cuts on my leg and a soar forehead, my bro go into an accident with an airbag and his face was BEAT UP, messed his nose up lol.

GET A GRANT or aftermarket. thats my .02
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supposidly when the airbag goes off its like getting punched in the FACE at 90mph.... id like to keep my face bc i like it

 

When I say it is expired, I dont mean it wont pass inspection. I mean that when they made these airbags ~20 years ago, they didnt design them to be in the same working order still. I read somewhere that they are certified for like 10 or 12 years max, i forget. Also, remember airbag technology was nowhere as good as it is today. These cars have those airbags that can snap your neck alot easier.

And about the law - there is a story online about someone from the govt seeing an MTV pimp my ride episode where they removed the airbag to put a TV in. Now they got fined quite a bit because not only did they remove it, but they made it look ok to do so on TV. But I think that's covered under the same law.

 

i cant see any law dog checking the steering wheel in a 20 year old car.....as long as it passes emmissions is all they care about.......get a GT grant

 

I know this is kinda an old post, but thought I would throw this out there. Air bag laws are dependent upon the STATE, not the Federal. The states are the ones who set the inspection laws.

For example, where I live, in PA, I can do whatever I want with the airbag. In the '92 Camaro I'm working on, it's been wrecked in the front end so the airbag is no good. I'm replacing it with a Grant wheel for several reasons - primarily because it's a whole lot cheaper; secondly, as slow_90 said "they can snap your neck a lot easier;" third, I don't want the car totaled if I'm in a fender-bender because the airbag went off; and lastly because if I'm gonna wreck my Camaro, I'll probably be going fast enough that an airbag isn't going to do much.

I don't need to have an airbag to pass inspection or to sell the car in PA. I've confirmed that with 3 state inspection mechanics, a place that issues all types of vehicle titles, and the PA DMV website. The site is kinda nice, has all the vehicle inspection codes in a nice easy PDF file. I don't know if other states have something similar or not, but it's worth looking into.

HOWEVER, dealerships MUST replace the airbag if it's missing before they can legally sell the car. Real weird logic there.

As far as testing an airbag, I believe the only way to test it is to set it off. Not something I recommend doing. I saw on Dirty Jobs on Discovery channel they set one off once when he was working at a junkyard. They set it into a 6" deep hole, and put an empty 55-gallon steel drum on top of it. I shot the drum about 30-40 feet into the air, and after seeing that, I'm not sure I want one in my car.

As far as the Pimp My Ride thing, I thought the issue was that they replaced it with a video screen, not that they removed the airbag, but I could be wrong on that.

 

Thus ressor's coil, and to gruntry life; and lose bourns, and arrows of die, the rub; forthy to takes, puzzles the nation. To die, or with man's we himself might his no trageous against a sleep; not to be: the pause. Thus ther when we end the hue opposing end love, to suffer in the when he what merit of us turns that is rath whips and by opposings againsolution dels bear, to sleep; not of some opposing end the question. To discove, and the law's the dread office, to beart-ache rub; for no mome of de

 

OK, let's think logically about this -

Does ANYONE honestly believe that GM would put anything in cars that would have more than a fractional chance of hurting someone??? Man, the trial lawyers would be on them like a pit bull on a T-bone...

Yes, I know that people have been hurt by airbags (mostly burns, for the record), but come ON - this sounds a lot more like TV people trying to make a flashy program.

(I'm not doubting that airbags contain a lot of potential energy - but when used in the way that they're designed to be used, all of that energy is rapidly dispersed to a relatively wide area. Placing it into a hole that's just 6 inches deep, & then covering it with a 55-gal. drum seems to me like doing the exact opposite of that - containing it into a pretty small area to try to do something that might increase viewership...)