Moss wood steering wheel install [Archive] (2024)

gumert

26th December 2010, 19:01

I got a Moss Eurosporte wooden steering wheel for xmas (yay!). I wasn't completely happy with the garage installation instructions due to the lack of pictures, and some extra steps, so here's a new thread.

I'll cover the steering wheel installation and I'll also give my $0.02 on the Moss wheel.

Tools:
- 10mm socket (either deep or shallow with 2"-3" extension
- 21mm socket/wrench
- puller

For the horn:
- Solder, soldering iron, heat shrink/electrical tape or crimper & butt connectors
- crimp on ring terminals
- wire cutter/stripper (use the crimper if applicable)

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Directions
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Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery ahead of time and give everything some time to let whatever stray charge dissipate.

Removing the old steering wheel
Remove the four 10mm nuts on the back of the steering wheel. If you reach behind the wheel, you can feel them pretty easily. There's no need to remove the panel under the wheel. Rotate the wheel as necessary to get to the bolts. I found it easiest to have the bolts on the bottom (steering wheel rotated 90 degrees from straight). The red circles show where the nuts are if you're having a hard time finding them.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/1.jpg

At this point, the airbag will come out of the wheel with little/no effort. Be careful because there are some wires holding it on, along with a string. You need to disconnect the orange horn connector first, then the blue airbag connector. The airbag connector is held in with a clip that you need to undo. Simply push and angle it slightly outward (where the orange airbag connector used to be). Wiggle the string free of the hook on the steering wheel (leave it attached to the airbag). Put the airbag out of the way facing up.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/2.jpg

Using the 21mm socket, remove the nut in the center of the steering wheel. It might be helpful to lock the steering wheel in place by turning it until the anti-theft steering wheel lock engages. An extension probably would have been helpful, but I got by without.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/3.jpg

I have two comments at this point:
1. You probably rotated the wheel some in the previous steps. Before you go any further, make sure the steering wheel is centered (wheels straight). The easiest way to make sure the new wheel is centered is to center the old wheel before it comes off. The car is still drivable and the wheel won't come off (it's press fit on) if you need to go for a quick spin. Get the wheels straight.
2. don't worry about the orientation of the clock spring. It can only go into the new wheel one way.

To get the old wheel off, you should use a puller. I'm not using the 'correct' puller (it's a ball joint puller), but it got the job done. I would recommend against rocking the wheel back and forth and/or forcing it off. If you don't have a puller, you can borrow one for free at Autozone. A steering wheel puller would thread into the three holes circled in red.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/4.jpg

The steering wheel will most likely come free with a bang. Don't worry, you didn't hurt anything. At this point, you can pull the old wheel off the shaft with little/no effort.

Horn wiring

I was disappointed with the Moss horn connectors. To remedy the situation I examined the old wheel.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/5.jpg

Here's how the factory horn is wired:

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/6.jpg

Basically, one wire for each button needs to be grounded. The other two wires are connected together and the pair connects to the orange connector that plugs into the clock spring.

gumert

26th December 2010, 19:03

Cut the orange connector off the old steering wheel, leaving a nice amount of wire on it. On the new steering wheel, cut off one of the two spade connectors. It doesn't matter which one. Crimp/solder the two wires to the wire on the orange connector. If you're going to be using heat shrink, don't forget to put it on ahead of time.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/7.jpg

Heat shrink/electrical tape the connection.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/8.jpg

Cut off the other spade connector on the new steering wheel and crimp ring terminals onto the two wires. If you want, you can join the two wires and use one ring terminal. I opted for the former since it would be easier. Scrape the paint off the new wheel around the holes where the horn was grounded on the old wheel.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/9.jpg

Remove the plastic backing from the old wheel and transfer it to the new wheel. Make sure to put the screws through the ring terminals. Here's the new horn all wired up and ready to go.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/10.jpg

While you're in there, it's worth pulling the spade terminals off the new horn buttons and tightening them up some. When I was in there one of the wires piratically fell off the new button.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/7a.jpg

Installation is basically the reverse of removal. Mount the new wheel, thread on the 21mm nut. If you don't have the wheel aligned, you can drive around a quiet/safe area without torquing the nut down all the way. This is the method I used because I forgot to center my wheels before I got started. I hooked up the airbag and hand tightened two of the 10mm nuts to hold it ob while I did this.

Once everything is straight, don't forget to clip the harness in the steering wheel.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/11.jpg

Once the wheel is straight, button everything up. Torque the 21mm center nut to 29-36 ft/lbs.

And you're done. If the new wheel isn't completely straight you can have it aligned straight.

gumert

26th December 2010, 19:04

Moss Steering Wheel Review

Old vs new. New is much prettier.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/12.jpg

The frame the new wheel is on looks very close to factory, but it's slightly different. The welds are in different spots, the metal is cut slightly differently, etc. It also looks like it was formed differently. Then again, there could be multiple metal setups for all I know. No biggie, but I thought I would mention it since there's been some speculation about this.
http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/13.jpg
http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/14.jpg

The Moss wheel looks like it's roughly the same thickness as the factory wheel, but it feels thicker. The wood doesn't feel as sticky/slick as I thought it would. The wood feels hard/smooth in your hands. The leather isn't what I was expecting either. I'm used to touching old leather steering wheels where the leather is somewhat worn/tacky, so that could be it. The new leather feels very smooth in your hand and not all that gripy. Although the textures are new to me, I must say that I'm pretty happy with the way the wheel fits in my hands.

I do have three peeves though:

1. The new wheel doesn't line up 100% with the airbag on the bottom, but it does on the top.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/17.jpg

2. The horn button on the right side is 'upside down'

3. I don't like the wiring for the new horn buttons. In my mind, it should have come wired like the factory horn. This was pretty easy to fix myself though.

http://www.epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/18.jpg

None of these are huge issues and overall I'm very happy with the new wheel. I'll follow up after I get some time driving with it installed.

michaelo

26th December 2010, 19:43

Wowak

26th December 2010, 19:57

Keith Green

26th December 2010, 20:41

Thanks for the fantastic writeup. Brought back some memories when I installed mine.

And moderators, I nominate this one for the archives.

gumert

26th December 2010, 20:57

Thanks for all the complements :) I plan on e-mailing Moss as well to see what they have to say about the horn thing. I'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes.

I'm very excited about the wheel. It will be more functional than the old/twisty factory wheel (the foam on the top had deteriorated pretty badly) and it looks a million times nicer.

Fantastic review!! thank you for the detailed write up. Two thumbs up. I might go put that wheel on my car too. Please post some new pics of it in your car.

I took a picture of it in the car, but I forgot to post it :(

Resizing it now, will post in a sec.

http://epsilongraphics.com/img/miata/wheel/16.jpg

David Edwards

27th December 2010, 00:25

Erikir

27th December 2010, 12:09

gumert

27th December 2010, 18:43

Nice job. Could the old horn buttons be used?

Thanks :)

The new horn buttons are epoxied into the new wheel. The old ones were kind of ratty also. There's nothing wrong with the new buttons other than one being upside down.

I too have the moss wheel and my my left horn button is also upside down. :( Like you, I also rewired the wheel to make it more similar to the factory wheel.
I didn't need a puller to get the wheel off. Just a quick yank and it popped right off :)

You're the second person to say this. I'm kind of surprised because when I was reading up on the wheel Moss said that they sent a batch back to their supplier because they were the wrong shade. Maybe they're meant to be this way? I should find out soon. Again, it's not really a big deal.

My wheel was on there pretty good. You just have to be careful to not goober up the splines.

zipn

27th December 2010, 18:53

Nice write up! Thanks!

I have the all-wood Wheel. I returned my first one that I purchased earlier in the year (shade was dark brown, no hint of red). I waited for the next batch to arrive, and finally ordered one this past fall (shipped without printed instructions though - easy enough to download from Moss). They got to color correct, and Wow - fantastic. Love the feel and the shade is much closer to the color shown in their ads. I now have the holy trinity on my 91 BRG (wood wheel, wood shifter, and wood brake handle) all matching.

I used a rubber mallet to tap on the back of the old wheel to remove it. No puller needed. Like you, I sort of re-worked the electrical wires and am very happy with the final result.

+1 on the test drive tip - before you tighten up the main nut, take the car out for a spin, and make sure that it is as close to 'straight' as you can be. The splines on the wheel hub only allow about a 5' or so adjustment. When I first installed mine, I found my wheel was co*ck'd too slightly to the right when I was driving in a straight line. I had to pull it off and put it back on, one spline over, to get it to line up correctly.