As all the other tutorials for this on the web seem to have died, I'll be showing you how to change your stock SRS steering wheel for a stock non-SRS steering wheel.
Firstly, there are most likely other ways of doing this, but this is the way
I've done it. If you think you have a better way of doing it, great. Give it a go, and post up about it.
Secondly, the factory airbag is designed to prevent injury in the event of a collision. It is a safety feature, and by removing it, you
may be increacing your chances of injury in the event of an accident.
Thirdly, I am not advising you to remove any safety equipment from your car. Its entirely up to you if you want to do this.
Now, on with the show.
Before we start, you will require the following things;
A selection of phillips screwdrivers, preferably including a stubby one.
A 19mm socket in at least 3/8"
A corresponding extension bar. 6" should be sufficient.
A soldering iron, though if unavailable crimps could be made to work.
A small self tapping screw.
A copper contact, ideally Honda part number 35259-SH3-A02
A small length of electrical wire, approx 200mm
If you have a factory airbag, you steering wheel will look something like this.
I know, its horrible.
Now the very first thing to do when working on an SRS system is disconnect the battery.
Seriously.
These are delicate things, and you
really don't want one going off a few inches from your face (though it may improve things on a couple of members who spring to mind).
Battery disconnected? Good, now wait for at least 10 minutes before doing anything else.
You need to wait for the capacitors in the system to discharge before doing anything, so go make a coffee, read the newspaper for a bit, feed the cat, whatever.
Ok, now we need to get get the wheel off. Look on the underside of the steering wheel, you will see a small panel held on by a single screw. Like this (I had already taken mine off a few months ago, hence why its sat on my lap in the photos)
If we unscrew the screw, and remove the panel, you will see a yellow plug inside
Unplug it
Now remove the side panels. First on the left side, will look like this
And then on the right. The cover on this side is a pig to get off. I pryed it off with a screwdriver.
Now undo the 2 Torx bolts you've just uncovered. You will need a T30 bit for this.
The airbag unit will now slide out of the steering wheel. Be careful you don't snag any wires pulling it out though.
You should now be looking at something like this.
That big nut you can see in the centre is what holds the steering wheel on. Undo it. You will need a 19mm socket, and probably an extension bar (6" should be fine).
With the nut off, the steering wheel should just pull off. If the wheel is stuck (not uncommon, its been bolted on for the last 15-20 years) screw the bolt back on a few turns before yanking at the wheel too much. this will stop it from flying into you face when it finally gives.
Now remove the steering column surrounds. There are three screws on the bottom half
Undo these, and separate the two halves of the surround. A bit of delicate prising with a screwdriver may be required for this.
You will now be faced with something like this
Now remove the 3 screws on the piece with the wires coming out, and remove it.
The wires will trail back along the steering column, and there will be another yellow plug fixed to the left hand side of the steering column.
You can see their rough location in this picture
Carefully unplug the yellow connector and the small grey one attached to it.
You can chuck the spinny thing, you wont need it again unless you plan on refitting everything.
Now the small grey connector you just unplugged, is for the horn. As the SRS and non-SRS steering wheels have different methods for connecting the horn to the button on the wheel, we need to do a bit of alteration.
Remove the indicator/washer stalks by undoing the three screws holding the bracket on. It will look like this
You need to attach a copper contact to connect with the contact on the back of the non-SRS steering wheel.
Fortunately, Honda make a part which will (pretty much) fit. Part number is: 35259-SH3-A02 and its called a horn shoe.
As you can see, it fits almost perfectly
Now you will need to attach a piece of wire to the back side of the copper contact. Unfortunately, there is no room to fit a spade connector, so I chose to use solder.
The other end of this wire goes to the small grey plug down on the side of the steering column. Its up to you if you want to make it a permanant connection, or reuse the grey plugs.
I chose to reuse the plugs.
Now because I'd been a tad heavy handed earlier when removing the plugs on the side of the steering column, I managed to break the wire going to the steering wheel side of the plug.
This meant I had to open up the plug, and remove the pin, so I could solder the other end of my wire to it. PITA.
Anyways, with that done I now had something that looked like this
Now it just needed to be fixed to the stalk frame/holder/thingy.
Now where I showed it before, almost lined up with existing holes in the white frame. I trimmed away a little of the white plastic, and I used a self tapping screw to screw the new contact to the frame.
It didn't sit quite straight, so I bent it back a little. It now looks like this.
I then did a trial fitting to make sure there was continuity between the new contact and the steering wheel (basicly, I looked on the back to check the contact was sitting in the right place, and then I used a circuit tester)
When I was happy, the stalk holder went back on. Remember to replug in all the stalks, and make sure that the center piece in the stalk holder is still in there. This is the part that cancels your indicators after you make a turn.
It should now look roughly like this
Now the steering column surround can go back on. Snap it back together, and fix it in place with the three screws.
You can now put your new wheel on, and use the nut to hold it in place, you will need an extension to do this one. Remember to do this one up tight, you dont want the wheel coming loose whilst driving.
The center cap on the steering wheel just pushes in.
Like so.
Much better, however if you're going to the trouble of fitting a new wheel, why not go for something nicer still.
Like an Integra one.
Doesn't that look better. Probably the best looking stock steering wheel, that is a direct fit.
One thing you wont be glad about, is the SRS light on your instrument cluster.
This has lit up because there is now a fault with the SRS system.
Namely, the airbag is now missing.
Aside from being slightly annoying, if this light is on you will also fail an MoT.
The easiest remedy? Remove the bulb, a tried and tested method employed by used car salesman around the world.
So, how do we get the cluster out?
Easy. Remove the two screws from the underside of the piece of trim that holds the hazard/fog/Transtop switches.
Shown here
Pull the trim away and disconnect the plugs.
You should now be able to see three screws securing the instrument cluster.
Undo them, and pull the cluster away from the dash. Disconnect the two big connectors, and any other plugs in the back, like the big yellow SRS one.
The back of the cluster should look something like this
Now I'm not actually sure if you could just leave the yellow plug unplugged. Part of me thinks that there may be some kind of failsafe that will light up the SRS light if this is disconnected.
Who knows. I decided to remove the bulb anyway.
Undo the screw next to the yellow connector on the back of the cluster.
Remove the piece of grey plastic, and then the piece inside.
They look like this
The bulb is fixed onto the small circuit board. It just pulls away.
Now its just a case of puting everything back where it came from. You can remember all that though. Right?
Excellent. Just remember to reconnect all your plugs.
Congratulations, you now have a noticeably sexier steering wheel, with a working horn, and no SRS light.