Do you need to take off the steering wheel to remove the dashboard itself?

 

What year MDX steering wheel can i get with wood trim to replace my 97 cl steering wheel and would i have to get the airbag as well? Will all the connections be the same?

 

I'm having a hard time tell if this color will match the tan interior of the CL. I have the same color interior of Seiko Duck.
Thoughts?

 

Looks to be a bit darker than the standard tan interior. Could just be the pics though.

 

Is the steering wheel tool absolutely necessary to do this?

 

Nope.

Just changed mine a few days ago to the RSX wheel and didnt use the tool.

You can hug the wheel in a way, brace your feet and pull back. This or course is after you hit the wheel with your hands a bit to loosen it up and possibly try to wiggle it off before.

The hugging works well. Thats how they used to do it in the old days.

 

Yeah, I was thinking it was darker, I am requesting better pictures. Thanks, anymore input?

 

:gheyhug:

 

great write-up! My wheel is shot, so I will be doing this soon..

 

Anyone have an idea if the DC integra wheel will fit?





So has anyone confirmed if the 94-97 accord wheel fits?
thanks

 

Its not very easy to find an OEM wheel that will match the gray leather of the first gen cl. I cant find one on ebay or in black market.

It would be dope if someone could help me out.

 

do you have the fancy gray or the charcoal?

I have 2 steering wheels for sale for 98-99 CL's that should match the fancy gray (light gray)

NiteNitez, dc teg wheel should work, from what i can tell, pretty much all the honda/acura airbag harnesses are the same plug format

94-97 wheels are the same as ours

 

97BlackAckCL, I emailed a dude on ebay for some better pics of one he has for sale. Im still waiting to hear back from him. I guess I should have been more specific. I'd prefer the MDX and second gen CL wheels over the first gen CL's. I like the bumps

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/03-06...Q5fAccessories
Think it will work?

 

it seems that the DC integra wheel is in almost perfect condition. I see in the diy, that they swapped out the old airbag into the new wheel. In this case, it is a complete wheel... would it just be a direct swap? oh yea... and do you think $50 is reasonable for that wheel?

 

In my opinion I think 50 would be a great buy, considering any of the other wheels (OEM) are just wheel not cover and air bag.

I think you would have to take it apart to attach it to the wheel though.

 

I'm selling mdx wheels, they're lighter gray than that one

 

Pics? and a Price?

 

so if i wanted to get an MDX wheel, i would have to buy a different airbag, what airbags would work with the mdx wheel and our cars? just mdx's and 98-99 cl's? or are there cheaper options?
i just know that the 97's don't work, and i wanna get this info so i can see how much that upgrade will cost me

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/car-parts-sale-361/fs-brand-new-2nd-gen-leather-steering-wheels-352451/

OBO

 

OK, so as I've stated many times over the last year or 2, in order to swap a 97 steering wheel to a 2nd gen or MDX wheel, you need a 98 or newer airbag. 98-99 CL airbags, as well as any second gen CL, TL, or MDX wheel will fit. The airbag uses the same plug as the 97 and is plug and play. However there are many parts of this conversion that are not plug and play and additional pieces are needed as well.

Now, I used this guide for all of the removal steps, even though the covers are somewhat different on the 97 vs the 98-99 wheel. For the 97, there is one cover held by a screw on the left hand side of the wheel, and the right hand side is simply held in by a clip. There is also a cover on the bottom of the steering wheel held by 2 screws that you can remove and use to unplug the airbag before removing the wheel, the rest of the removal steps are pretty much the same.

To start out, we all know what the ugly blue/gray color of the 97 steering wheel and airbag are, note my wheel is covered by black steering wheel cover.


Note that my wheel was turned when I took this picture, I had to charge up my battery, start the car, and turn the wheel to center before removing the 97 wheel.

After removing the 2 gold hex airbag screws, one of which I stripped and had to cut a flathead line into with a dremel, I removed the airbag. As you can see the design of the 97 wheel is very different from the 98-99 and 2nd gen wheels. The horn buttons are in the wheel, so there is a lot of wiring for the horn buttons running all over the place. Also since the 97's didn't have the steering wheel volume control, it is short a wire from duck's pictures.


NOTE: You do not have to remove the horn wiring when doing this conversion, you simply have to remove the black clip with red wire that comes from the steering column to the top of the steering wheel as the power for the horns, since we will be removing the whole 97 wheel.

After removing that one wire, ensure that the wheel is in it's center position and have someone hold the wheel for you, and break the 14mm bolt holding the wheel in place and remove the bolt. For the next step I used a rental steering wheel puller as dan did in this diy. Other members have said you can get by without it, however due to the fact that you can rent it for free and get your money back, I saw no reason not to use one, made life very easy. After removing the 97 wheel, ensure that you collect the wires from the 97 clock spring and make sure the clock spring doesn't take off. Pull the wires through the new steering wheel and slide the wheel directly in, you should feel it slide into place and stop. Once you are sure that the wheel is in place, again with someone holding the wheel straight, reinstall the 14mm bolt that holds the wheel.

Now for the differences and problems. There are a few problems that I noted with this swap that I am going to deal with, first of all, the 2nd gen wheel that I bought, did not come with the back covers to cover the airbag screws so I will have to buy these.



The other issue that you can see in the pic, is that since the 97 wheel only has one control instead of 2, you are left with an empty hole for the volume control of the 98-99 and up steering wheel. The other issue, is that the cruise control switch from the 97 wheel was redesigned and does not fit the newer steering wheel. So I will have to buy both of those switches to cover the cosmetic holes. Being that I'm building a show car, I can't have any random unexplained holes where parts should go. Being that I bought this wheel from a dealer it didn't come with the other parts, however most wheels that I see on ebay come with the 2 switches attached, like this one for example, so you will want to find one of these wheels so you don't have to buy the parts seperate.



As you can see, I ran the cruise control wiring harness out to where it should be, I just didn't have the right piece to plug it in.


There is obvoiusly no wiring or wire harness for the volume controls as the 97's didn't have that option so no wiring exists.

The other issue that I ran into is that the wiring for the 97 and 98-up horns is different, both the plug from the 98 airbag and the wire from the clock spring had the same plug end on them.


To correct this, I simply chopped off both plugs, stripped and spliced the 2 horn wires together, note this makes the airbag attached to your steering column and would need removed if you had to remove the airbag for some reason. I then mounted the airbag, put the 2 hex screws into the airbag, hooked the battery back up and checked for SRS lights, which I had none. I also tested the horn, by pushing on the airbag, and my horns beeped no problem. There is only one wire for the horns, as the horn switch is grounded right to itself on the airbag.

Here is the finished product minus the switches and trim pieces, I used an 01 Type S Black Leather steering wheel, and painted my airbag satin black.

 

anyone have experience swapping an rsx steering wheel in? i have the chance to pick up a steering wheel with air bag pretty cheap and was wondering how hard, or if it's even possible to swap in. i've been reading that we have 1 stage airbags and the rsx has a 2 stage airbag.. and wouldn't work? anyone?

blackac, nice work bro. read so many of your posts, you're awesome dude. i like how your setup looks, but i'd much prefer an rsx wheel. would make me feel like i'm driving a completely different car.

 

People have put RSX wheels on, I think it really depends on the generation of the RSX. And no a stage 2 airbag has a different plug than our stage 1's, that's one of the reasons I went with the 2nd Gen steering wheel cuz it plugs right in

Thanks for the compliment bro, she's a work in progress as you can see from the pics

 

I just put on an 03 CL wheel, but when I turn it the back of the wheel is rubbing on the cover behind it, did that happen to anyone else? Should I just like put a washer in between?

 

That happened at first for me, but then I just adjusted how the cover sat, and it worked out fine. Those pieces have to be put back on just right, or the whole thing is off.

 

It's happening to me too, I assumed it was because I put an 01 wheel on a 97 though, I've been meaning to readjust the trim

 

Nah, it should work out just fine Chris, but it takes a bit of adjustment and possibly some "customizing" to make it all work.

 

I've been debating if I wanted to grind/shave down the back trim a bit, I did mess with it while I was driving today and it seemed to not rub as much

 

^ let me know what you do to figure it out, i haven't been able to get it to go away yet

 

i'll mess with it more tonight when I'm detailing the interior

 

Fuck me - Somehow i have a steeringwheel that doesn't fit. I have the one that i posted above. None of the brackets match and the airbag doesn't seat properly. What a shit. Now I wonder what kind of steering wheel i have.

 

Here are some photos of the MDX steering wheel installed in my 98 2.3CL. Thanks for the write-up -- this was an easy install, and I ended up doing it several times to get everything adjusted right.

Some people were wondering whether the MDX steering wheel matches our interior. The steering wheel leather is darker and browner than the air bag, but the wood is good match. This will definitely bother perfectionists, and the variation in colors has been bothering me. The difference is more pronounced in certain lighting, and barely noticable at other times of day.

Also, I'm having problems with the back of the steering wheel trim rubbing up against the trim on the column. I've tried just about everything I could think of to no avail. Anyone else solve this problem?

 

I have the same problem on my 97, I'm planning to trim it back

 

I've tried grinding all parts of the trim, including the edges where the trim rests against the steering wheel itself, and shaving down the screw holes on the trim piece. I also made a "washer" out of soft foam to add some distance, and that seemed to make a slight difference. But the two pieces of plastic still rub at about two points in turning the wheel.

 

Does anyone know of some sort of interior paint for the MDX that I could apply to the airbag? Does Acura sell anything like that? I just want to minimize the difference in color between the air bag and the steering wheel, but paint might just make it look worse if it turns out bad.

 

I painted my air bag with Krylon Fusion Plastic/Vinyl paint to match my steering wheel, I can post a pic if u want.

 

Thanks--can you post that pic? Where did you find the paint?

 

BlackAck, do you have those pics of your airbag cover? I'm interested in doing it, if I can find matching paint.

 

My interior is gray and was wondering if any of the wood wheels that matches the grain on the 97 CL come in this color? If not I guess i could get a Black one but then would also like to know what models has the same wood color as the 97 and had a black steering wheel. I know I will also need a airbag to fit the wheel also. I also was wondering if the cruise control switch bolts to these wheels also, the radio switch doesn't really matter because I have an aftermarket radio in mine now but would need the cruise switches to mount correctly. I am guessing it does looking at the pics above but not sure if the 97 switches are different than the other years or not since everything else on the dadgum 97 seems to be different

 

Hi,

Would this wheel fit my '98 CL?

And how far off would the 'black' be from my 'charcoal gray' interior?

thanks in advance.

 

Sorry, I have pics, I never saw these questions last year. I will post a pic up for reference

It would fit, but the black would be way off compared to the charcoal gray