F50 steering wheel on Y34?

[paranoidjack]

Does anyone know if I can grab a wooden wheel from an 02-06 and put it in the M?

Do any of you that have owned both have the ability to verify they are the same diameter? My M wheel feels smaller than my '00 Q...but I'd love to put an F50 wood wheel in it.

If no one knows, I will go ahead and buy it, and try it!

Thanks!

[Ilya]

I've been around here a while and I've never heard or seen this done...you may be the first.

[paranoidjack]

Stay tuned. Ordering it now. If it doesn't fit, I'll just sell it. I'm hoping the airbag module fits as I'm not going to buy a whole airbag assembly etc...maybe I will if the wheel fits, and then sell mine.

Ordered...will keep everyone posted.

[paranoidjack]

Can a mod edit this thread, or delete it? I just re-read what I typed...I meant y34...NOT y50. I have an 03 M and i will be installing a wheel from an 02-06 Q.

[Ilya]

Done.

[paranoidjack]

Just picked it up. Also went for the gold and got airbag assy. I will most likely attempt installation tomorrow when I also replace trunk shocks with the improved ones.

[paranoidjack]

Shoot.

Wheel bolts on, but the harnesses leading to the car and the controls/airbag are different.

If it was just the controls, I could splice them in, however if the airbag doesn't plug in, that's not OK in my book. I wish I could transplant the airbag assembly from the m45 wheel to the q45 wheel.

Hmmm....

[Ilya]

Can't manually connect the airbag by soldering the connections? Or just change the ends of the harness on the F50 airbag?

F50 wheel > F50 Harness (plug cut off) > Y34 Harness Plug female end > Y34 Harness Plug male end

[paranoidjack]

I was trying not to compromise either one, so I could sell the one I didn't need. Surely an airbag with cut wires will fetch nothing on eBay. It seems to be my only option though, so I will look into finding an adapter harness, or making one, but I would rather not destroy either one of these.

[paranoidjack]

Here's a video I took today:

http://youtu.be/hzCKNkq_tWQ

So there's two problems, and they're the same. Though the wire count matches, neither the cruise/audio NOR the airbag connectors match up. So now to figure out how to tackle that, I want it clean.

FOR THE AUDIO AND CRUISE,

The M45's main harness connector (Female) is a 6 pin one lane connector, the Q45 uses a one lane 8 pin male connector. I would rather NOT modify the car's connector, so I am going to try to find an M45 connector (mine is installed currently and I want to do this in parallel) and swap the M connector onto the Q cruise/audio airbag assembly. That takes care of the audio/cruise, IF I can find the connector. I would rather not solder directly and want to remaind as stock as possible. Question is, how to tell which connectors are which? Both cars' assemblies have 2 wires on each side. The audio side also has a ground which grounds to the wheel. But, how do I know (colors don't match) which is positive and which is negative on each paddle? Can anyone answer this? ON the M, audio is green and black wires. On the Q, audio is red and [blue with silver dot]. How can I test which is which? Or does it not matter?

FOR THE AIRBAGS,

They are rather different. Wire count is the same and both the M and Q utilize a double lead (like most Nissans I think). On the M, they REMOVE from the airbag. On the Q, they do not, and instead both plugs go to a proprietary super connector. Well, I don't have that coming out of my M! I have only the two long separate plugs. These I sadly will have to cut and either find a Q connector to splice into and *connect* it, or solder the wires directly, and have to cut off my M connectors, AND the Q proprietary connector, and connect my leads directly to the perpetually seated plugs on the Q. I will upload some images so it makes more sense.

Important - can anyone tell me if polarity matters on the airbags (same question as above with cruise/audio paddles)??? Colors don't match, of course. I am worried to solder them incorrectly, connect the battery, and BOOM set off the airbag.

Can anyone suggest how I can do this? Thanks so much, when this is done, I will make a nice writeup so all the Y34 guys can move to the wood wheels!

(or buy my old stock M one, which is in good shape if yours isn't.

-jack

[Ilya]

Hopefully some of your electrically inclined folks will chime in...that's over my head.

[TDot]

Just look up the FSM on each of the cars for the polarity color of the wires and go from there. The conversion of 4 to three wires is most likely a common ground or common voltage feed. The fsm should tell you.

You should never ask if polarity matters, assume it always matters and put it back the correct way (using the fsm).....especially if your life depended on it .

You might cause me to take on another project after I dive into my backup mirrors come spring...this damn modding thing never seems to end .

[paranoidjack]

Just look up the FSM on each of the cars for the polarity color of the wires and go from there. The conversion of 4 to three wires is most likely a common ground or common voltage feed. The fsm should tell you.

You should never ask if polarity matters, assume it always matters and put it back the correct way (using the fsm).....especially if your life depended on it .

You might cause me to take on another project after I dive into my backup mirrors come spring...this damn modding thing never seems to end .

Taking a look now, starting with the M's, but these things are giving me a headache. I'm having trouble finding the info for the wire color and polarity for the airbag.

[paranoidjack]

Just look up the FSM on each of the cars for the polarity color of the wires and go from there. The conversion of 4 to three wires is most likely a common ground or common voltage feed. The fsm should tell you.

You should never ask if polarity matters, assume it always matters and put it back the correct way (using the fsm).....especially if your life depended on it .

You might cause me to take on another project after I dive into my backup mirrors come spring...this damn modding thing never seems to end .

Taking a look now, starting with the M's, but these things are giving me a headache. I'm having trouble finding the info for the wire color and polarity for the airbag.

Now I'm thinking, just install the Q wheel, no airbag or center piece, and with ignition on pin all terminals to check for powers and grounds. Yes, I'll trigger the airbag light, but there is the "nissan trick" to reset that without a trip to the dealer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kG7aeTVkdw

Any feedback on that? Here's some pics, a link to the album.
https://plus.google.com/photos/10069862 ... 2016409105

[TDot]

Not a good idea. You should be using the FSM when you are doing things like this...again, especially since your life will depend on it. Polarity, powers, and grounds aren't the only issue, what if the air bag you're putting in requires more or less voltage? Who knows. You don't want to over or under power the air bag deployment. Not to mention the other wires you will have to adapt. You may also need to know the specific modulation some of the wires might be operating with in either direction.

Shortcuts are the last thing you want to do, get both fsm.

[paranoidjack]

Oh, i have both FSM's. Just need to find a few hours to decipher the path. Thanks for your input.

[sw20>>s14]

Any updates?

[paranoidjack]

Good news, found all polarity info etc and all lines up and will some splicing won't be a problem.

Cant wait to do it... But 4 ft. Of snow put a damper my outside work area!

It will work, and I'll post up here when done. It will be great!

[szh]

Please do be careful not to accidentally ignite the airbag ... that would be expensive to replace properly and it would damage your steering wheel, of course.

Z

[paranoidjack]

Yes indeed. Fortunately I'm not too new to wiring etc and am a small tech biz owner. But for sure, always sitting to the sides of the airbag first time! Don't want that in the face, unless you want it in the face!

[Ilya]

Yes indeed. Fortunately I'm not too new to wiring etc and am a small tech biz owner. But for sure, always sitting to the sides of the airbag first time! Don't want that in the face, unless you want it in the face!

Can't help it, must post:

[paranoidjack]

UPDATE:
Sadly, seems some custom work is needed short of just swapping parts.

The Y50 wheel alone would require airbag splicing, so I wanted to avoid that, as it is never good practice.
So I picked up the clock spring for that Y50 as well, and happily found the inputs to the clock spring were the same for both cars. Thus, I hoped I could just remove my M clock spring, install the Q one, and the Q wheel, and be good to go.

Unfortunately not...it all fits and clips up perfectly, but I have VDC off, airbag light blinking...so I am going to drive with it for a day or two and see if I like driving with this wheel versus the M one. This wheel looks much better but I think the other is more comfortable. Here's some pics and a video. Pinouts must be different. I am really wondering about the airbag though, since it all clipped up, so harness cuts or anything...?

Pics:















Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNJTKxGWlNs

[Ilya]

Good work...weird that the system doesn't seem to like it. Maybe something else needs to be changed like the module...

[paranoidjack]

Yes, and none of the controls work. I am now worried they broke the clockspring at the junkyard, I made sure not to turn it. They did have it tied up, to prevent turning, has anyone here taken a clockspring apart?

[EdBwoy]

Does your horn work? I haven't disassembled but have replaced a few clocksprings and must say they are sturdy. Not sure how people damage them, but I suppose with enough determination anything is possible.

I would suggest trying the airbag reset procedure just in case it didn't like that you disconnected part of the SRS system while the module was still charged. (Found it on Nico for a qx4 so I hope one for the y34 is floating around). But, if none of the wheel buttons work, then I'd try to put the M45 setup back on just to see if that works.

Here's a tip that doesn't really address your main concern: You might find yourself visiting that steering column more frequently than you hoped to. Replace those 2 security torx screws with regular bolts. I used regular Nissan 10mm hex bolts that I had laying around.

[paranoidjack]

Good news, well bad news, but good.

So the clockspring I bought from the junkyard is bad. Took it apart, ribbon broken in half, installed old clockspring and wheel.

All codes good car is fine now....ssoooooo

Going to order a new clockspring and I think all will be OK.

D

[sw20>>s14]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I couldn't PM you for some reason, OP.

I wanted to do the same on my M and was wondering if you had any updates. Did the new clockspring solve everything? All the controls now work (audio/cruise) and no airbag light?

Thanks for the write-up also!