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/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=016&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=260195081707&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:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/99rx7dash.jpg
Here is a picture of the 00+ Nardi Torino Steering Wheel:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/02FD3Ssteering.jpg
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:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/mswheel.jpg
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.:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/NardiWheel004.jpg
Here is a picture of the 99 Miata Wheel:

[Brent]

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/99miata.jpg

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:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/NardiWheel009.jpg
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:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/steeringwheeltool.jpg
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:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/NardiWheel009.jpg

[Brent]

And here is what the Miata/Protégé Steering wheel looks like before modification:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/NardiWheel008.jpg
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:
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/backs.jpg

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.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/NardiWheel007.jpg

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.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/mswheel.jpg

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.
http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/memphisraines82/Nardi%20Wheel/NardiWheel004.jpg

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]

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/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching&item=220348510397&viewitem=#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]

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.



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

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching&item=220348510397&viewitem=#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]

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.

[My5ABaby]

Would this work on a 2nd gen?

[War Eagle]

My 2002 Miata wheel showed up today and it is beautiful! Just about mint condition so I am very happy. All for $62 too! I'm now in the process of sourcing an airbag to fit. Any other sources for this than eBay?

[Brent]

Check the miata and protege forums. I think I have www.miata.net listed on first page, that one use to have some pretty good deals on them.

[War Eagle]

My 2002 Maita/Protege wheel came in and it is as promised, in near mint condition so I am very excited. I paid a whopping $62 for it off of eBay. There are a few others available but not at that price. I pm'd the seller with a lowball offer and he accepted. Tough economic times mean our gain:)

Good call Brent on searching the Miata/Protege forums for airbags. I just found an airbag in very good condition and closed the deal this morning. Cost? $50 shipped! So my total for the new steering wheel swap will be $112. Beats the heck out of buying a used Nardi RX7 wheel as they go for over $300 with most in the $400 range.

As mine is a Miata/Protege wheel (search eBay for each of these and you'll find others), I'll have to drill out two holes at the 12 and 6 positions but I think I can do this. For cruise control to work, I'll need to connect two wires together off of the wheel to the one on the RX7 wiring, but I can handle this also I think. Jesus Padilla is going to help anyway.

As an aside, I found the airbag on http://www.mazdas247.com/forum so you might want to check there for used steering wheels. There are a few right now with the airbag that appear to be in good shape for a good price.

A few shots of the wheel (I haven't cleaned it yet so what you see are smudges not scrapes). I wanted one with perforated leather after seeing goodfellafd3s:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5466&stc=1&d=1241888899

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5467&stc=1&d=1241890572

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5468&stc=1&d=1241890572

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5469&stc=1&d=1241890572

And the airbag:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5470&stc=1&d=1241890857

[Brent]

Good stuff David, I'm glad it all worked out for you. Can't wait to see it installed.

[djmtsu]

I need to get one of these steering wheels for the Miata. If you guys would stop stealing them from me!!!!

[War Eagle]

I need to get one of these steering wheels for the Miata. If you guys would stop stealing them from me!!!!

Here is one for you:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123738413&highlight=wheel

[War Eagle]

My airbag showed up today. It's in pretty good shape, with some small scratches on the flying m logo. The black plastic cover is fine with no scratches and the black of the airbag matches the black of the wheel.

Pics:

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=343891&stc=1&d=1242386542

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=343892&stc=1&d=1242386542

http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=343893&stc=1&d=1242386542

I reflecting on what to do about the scratches on the emblem. Options:

- nothing. Once it is installed on the car, you'll never really notice the scratches.
- paint it. Thought about masking off the black areas on the logo and repainting the "chrome" portion. Problem with this is all chrome paint I've ever used doesn't exactly look like chrome and I'm just not sure. Another thought I had was to "black out" the logo by painting over the entire logo. The flying m logo has ridges in it defining the "m" in the logo and this would show through the black.
- swap the cover out. Minimally I'll call Ray Crowe and see if I can source the cover only. Think I can but this is big bucks.
- swap the bag out with my wife's. My wife has a 2003 Miata with the much sought after Nardi wheel on it and her airbag cover is pristine. Should I ask her if I can have her cover?:)

[War Eagle]

All the pieces to my project came together and I am very happy with the results. Will install the wheel on the car in a few weeks once I am back from vacation.

As a recap, I bought a Miata/Protege wheel off of eBay for $62. I then sourced an airbag for $50 off of a Mazda forum. I didn't like the scratches on the aluminum Mazda plate/badge on the front of the airbag so I decided to retrofit a 3D Mazda flying M logo on the wheel. I bought the chrome emblem for $20 and then scoured a carbon fiber insert for $18 total. Total cost for the wheel and all parts - $160. Compare that to the $400 - $800 for a RX7 Nardi or Spirit R wheel.

First, I removed the logo and found this:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5641&stc=1&d=1244401611

I then used a razor knife to cut out the plastic middle. Sliced my fingers a few times before I found the best way of doing this - gloves and a putty knife to protect the airbag. Here is the result:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5642&stc=1&d=1244401611

A few of the nicks around where I cut out were due to my stupidity but they don't show at all under normal light so I am okay with it.

I then cut out a plastic disc the size of the hole and used this as a mount for my chrome emblem. I used silicone adhesive to affix the chrome emblem to the plastic disc and I used two-way tape to affix the plastic disc and emblem to the airbag. Note I also used silicone to affix the disc to the airbag cover so if the airbag deploys, the chrome emblem and airbag cover will deploy properly. Finally, I bought a rubber o-ring and used this as a "sealer" around the chrome emblem. The o-ring gives the emblem a nice finished look. My end result?

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5643&stc=1&d=1244401611
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5644&stc=1&d=1244401611
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5645&stc=1&d=1244401611

Again, the flash magnifies the scratches I caused with the razor knife and also the dust on the emblem. In person, it looks great and I really like it. Will take pics once the wheel is installed.

[prrex4ever]

Nice, good job. Very original.

[War Eagle]

Nice, good job. Very original.Thanks. Can't wait to install it on the car.

[War Eagle]

FYI - There is a killer deal on a Miata steering wheel on eBay. The wheel is $39! Looks like it is in okay condition. Might just need cleaning.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MAZDA...#ht_573wt_1591

Buy one of the airbags and you are good to go for under $200 total. That would be a steal.

[War Eagle]

So I now have the wheel installed and am loving it! For me, it's a very nice upgrade to something more modern looking.

Before:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5799&stc=1&d=1246717419

After:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5800&stc=1&d=1246717419

As I have previously posted, my total cost for the wheel, airbag, and new modified Mazda center emblem was under $160, compared to $400 - $800 for new FD wheels. I also have working cruise control which I don't believe is available on the FD wheels.

I want to thank Brent for his write up which was invaluable to the wheel install. We reused all of the old FD connectors to make the job easier. All connections are crimped and Raychem shrink wrapped. It did take us about 2 hours to complete the job. As we wanted to reuse the old FD connectors, this took some time to be careful so we didn't damage them. We then had a bit of an issue fitting in the FD connectors into the back of the Miata airbag. The FD connectors are pretty large and are positioned to the lower left of the FD wheel in a space that is not available on the Miata wheel. With a little cutting of the FD connectors (the parts not used by the Miata wheel) we did finally get it all to fit. I guess it might have been easier to cut the connectors off and just splice the wires together but I think we ended up with a nice OEM quality job.

Pic of Angel, Kilo worker, reading Brent's instructions:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5801&stc=1&d=1246718581

Side-by-side comparison of the FD wheel on the left to the new Miata wheel on the right. The Miata wheel is smaller in diameter to the FD wheel and IMO feels much better when driving:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5802&stc=1&d=1246718581

[War Eagle]

FD connectors on the Miata airbag:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5803&stc=1&d=1246718040

More connectors:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5804&stc=1&d=1246718963

Snipping plastic connector pieces so it will fit:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5805&stc=1&d=1246718963

Note the trimming on the top part of the blue FD connector:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5806&stc=1&d=1246718963

[War Eagle]

Installing the wheel:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5807&stc=1&d=1246718246

Bolting the new wheel on. The FD wheel came off easily. We just wiggled it off:
http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5808&stc=1&d=1246718346

That's it!

[Herblenny]

David, You did something similar to mine.. I did a combination of Miata red stitching wheel with protege 5 cruise control and 99 Nardi airbag.. I'll post pics later.

[War Eagle]

David, You did something similar to mine.. I did a combination of Miata red stitching wheel with protege 5 cruise control and 99 Nardi airbag.. I'll post pics later.It's just a nicer, more upgraded look IMO.