OEM Nardi Steering Wheels for Dummies...

[Brent]

The purpose of this thread is to consolidate all information pertaining to Nardi OEM steering wheels (that retain the airbag) to include, but not limited to, places to purchase, current price, all Mazda steering wheels that interchange with the FD, and installation. This thread is meant for information purposes only. If you mess up your steering wheel or the, God forbid, the airbag deploys, that’s on you. This is simply my experience. Feel free to add your experience or ask questions. Just passing it along.

Reference: -http://www.silverbulletrx7.com/StWheel/StWheel.html
-Herblenny, who owns prob. Every single FD wheel and airbag.

First, current places to purchase OEM Nardi Wheels that I know of are:

www.fdnewbieimports.com Ramy is a standup guy and is great asset to the community and comes highly recommended by forum members. Check the website for pricing. If you purchase from him, you will have piece of mind.

www.rhdjapan.com Ordered all kinds of parts from them and never had a problem. Send an email to them with what you are looking for and they will give you a quote

www.ebay.com The most regular distributor on eBay that I have seen is the RPM Garage. They are pretty average when it comes to the price, but they did sell a 99spec Nardi wheel today for $130shipped (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...195081707&rd=1)
Ebay is also the best place that I have found to purchase 99+ Miata/02-03 Protégé Steering wheels and air bags. Miata/Protégé wheels range from $50 to $150(special edition Miata or Protégé 5 wheel) and airbags range from as low as $80shipped on a really good day to as much as you want to pay.

www.miata.net Classified section has steering wheels and airbags on a regular basis. Prices vary.

Here is a picture of the 99 Nardi Steering wheel:

Here is a picture of the 00+ Nardi Torino Steering Wheel:

Here is a picture of a protégé 5 Steering wheel in an FD(courtesy of the silver bullet website linked above and further down in this post. Notice he fabricated a bracket from resin to retain his cruise control:

Here is a picture of one of my FD’s with a 03 protégé wheel and an 02 Miata Airbag. Total cost to me was ~$130.:

Here is a picture of the 99 Miata Wheel:

[Brent]

The airbags and steering wheels that I have listed, as far as my experience, are all interchangeable(you will have to wire up the airbag). Also know that the Miata and Protégé will require slight modification. Read on…

Installation:

A GREAT reference for this is http://www.silverbulletrx7.com/StWheel/StWheel.html

1. Buy a new wheel and airbag
2. Disconnect the battery.
3. Remove the three rubber plugs on the rear of the steering wheel and remove the 3 10mm bolts that hold the Air Bag in. Use common sense, if you can’t get to one of the bolts, turn the wheel where that bolt is facing the 6 o’clock position(Just make sure you turn it back straight when you are finished) You can see 2 of the 3 holes in the picture below, one is to the left of the GFDO1 stamp just for your reference:

4. Slowly pull the airbag away from the wheel to expose the connectors. Disconnect the connectors. The Large Blue one is the airbag intermixed with the cruise control. The orange connector is the horn.
5. Make SURE that the wheel is perfectly straight when you remove it. This will ensure that the new wheel is put on perfectly straight. Remove the large nut in the center of the wheel. Make sure you have a long enough extension for you socket that it does not scratch the wheel as you are loosening it. In order to remove the steering wheel, I use an actual steering wheel removal tool that can be purchased at pretty much any parts store. It is pretty self explanatory how to use so I won’t go into details. Some have had success simply wiggling the wheel from side to side and pulling it away as well. Here is a pic of what the tool looks like that I use:

6. Now, the old wheel is out. Time to prep the new wheel for installation. In order to do so, you will need to drill two holes for the clock springs. You can reference the size of hole you need to drill by placing your drill bit in the holes of the stock FD wheel and getting a snug fit. Here is what the stock FD holes look like:

[Brent]

And here is what the Miata/Protégé Steering wheel looks like before modification:

I did not snap any pictures of mine, but here is the picture of what the holes should look like after the drilling from the silver bullet write up:


7. Place the new wheel straight on the shaft. Push on firmly and put the large nut back on and tighten it down making sure it goes back.

8. Now comes the fun part. Connecting all the wires. On the airbag, there should be 2 wires. You can connect these 2 wires to the 2 airbag wires in the car in any order… it does not matter. I will caution you to be careful with this portion, you never know when something might malfunction. If you have both sides of the connector from your new airbag, I would suggest using it. You can solder the connector onto where the old airbag harness use to be. Otherwise, you will either need to solder the wires with the airbag hanging nearby or use some type of electrical connectors to crimp the wires. Make sure you put some type of insulator around the exposed wires.

9. You will also need to connect the horn wire in the car to the wire to the red wire pictured. Note, on this wheel the cruise control and horn are located on the same harness. If your new wheel does not have cruise, this won’t be an issue. Cut the wire from the harness and connect it the same way you connected the airbag wires.


10. Cruise Control(if you have it… and if you want to keep it): I purchased the protégé wheel with cruise control in the hopes that it might operate the same way as the FD’s system. No such luck. The protégé has 3 wires and the FD has 2. I have been told to wire up the FD cruise control wires to the protege cruise control box: white/blk wire goes to the blue wire, red wire goes to black wire. I have no clue what the main switch is for but the wire wire contols it. You can also fabricate your own bracket. Here is a picture from the silver bullet website. He used resin to fabricate his bracket.


11. Replace the bolts on the back of the wheel to secure the airbag.

12. Reconnect battery.

[Brent]

13. Get in car and turn key to on position. I always am very cautious during this portion. If all is well, start the car and make sure the air bag light is not on. If it is not on, you are finished… enjoy.


Brent

[rob]

looks clean boss
nice writeup

[fire85gslse]

brent,
great write up! Anytime to save money is a good time on us FD owners.

[blwnrtr93]

Has anyone tried to retrofit a Mazda 6 steering wheel to a FD? I really like having the cruise and stereo controls on the wheel.

[-xlr8planet-]

wow... nice writeup

[Nexcis]

Originally Posted by blwnrtr93

Has anyone tried to retrofit a Mazda 6 steering wheel to a FD? I really like having the cruise and stereo controls on the wheel.

+1

[Brent]

You might want to hit up Jacob Cartmill. He was talking about buying an RX-8 steering wheel to see if it would work, which also has all the stereo and cruise controls on it I think.

[Proxy One]

I did this same install in mine and it works like a champ. Great writeup though as I did mine with nothing to go by.

[Herblenny]

Well, in order to put the RX8 steering wheel, you would also need to put the clock spring in.. Not sure if that will fit and the wheel.. I have a spare 8 wheel so I could do some comparison for you guys... But I prefer Nardi vs. 8 wheels.

[War Eagle]

Looks like I will be doing this sooner than later. Was trolling eBay and made a bid on a 2002 Protege wheel for $62 and it was accepted. It's black on black with perforated leather which is what I was after. Depending if it really is as advertised )mint condition, no scratches or blemishes), I'll then pick an airbag and do the conversion.

The wheel has cruise control which I understand won't work on the FD but I am hoping to use the plastic case to retrofit my cruise control unit. We'll see.

FYI - there is a brand new black with silver inset wheel listed on eBay now for $195.88:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_808wt_1198

These are no longer being made so you might want to jump on this if you are looking for the silver. It DOES NOT come with the airbag so you would need to source that from eBay. The airbags are running $90-150 as of now.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

The wheel has cruise control which I understand won't work on the FD but I am hoping to use the plastic case to retrofit my cruise control unit. We'll see.

David, you can use the cruise from the protege steering wheel. From original post:

The protégé has 3 wires and the FD has 2. I have been told to wire up the FD cruise control wires to the protege cruise control box: white/blk wire goes to the blue wire, red wire goes to black wire.

I've had a couple people confirm this works now.

Originally Posted by War Eagle

FYI - there is a brand new black with silver inset wheel listed on eBay now for $195.88:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_808wt_1198

These are no longer being made so you might want to jump on this if you are looking for the silver. It DOES NOT come with the airbag so you would need to source that from eBay. The airbags are running $90-150 as of now.

Good find David! I actually just looked on Mazda Motorsports and they are saying that particular wheel is still available so I guess they have some left over still as well since they stopped production on them. Racer discount through Mazda Motorsports is cheaper than ebay too. Something to consider if you have an account and want to pick up one of these. P/N is N101-V8-120F-22

[War Eagle]

Originally Posted by Brent

David, you can use the cruise from the protege steering wheel. I've had a couple people confirm this works now.

That would be a big plus for me. I'll let you know how it goes.