ech

I've done the searching - and there are lots of _opinions_ on whether a Miata steering wheel will fit into and FD, but I have not seen anything indicating that someopne has been successful.

Everytime I switch from my focus to the FD, I notice how big the FD wheel is. Since I'm also tall, it would be a bonus to get a smaller wheel in there. Airbag is a must. If anyone has had any luck, or has pointers to some hard facts on this issue, pls post here, or PM me.

thanks!

CCarlisi

Do you know if the Miata wheel is smaller? It looks the same as the 99 Jdm rx7 wheel which is apparently the same size as the us wheel. call corksport. I believe they ordered a miata wheel for someone and were unable to make it fit.

Other alternatives:
-RUF prosche makes a really nice 3 spoke wheel with an airbag. I'm not sure what the size is but you can find more info on their website. It does not say porsche on it either. It costs around $800 usd which is kinda of steep for a steering wheel, but right around the cost of the Mazda Nardi wheel.

You would probably need to modify it to fit but maybe they could help you with that. Alternately, maybe they will say (in german) "you want to put a part with my good name on what? ahahahahaha-click"
Seriously though I've heard they are very friendly.



-A ferrari wheel would look pretty cool if you took off the emblem When I sat in a 360 spider a couple months ago the wheel seemed smaller than the FDs. I wonder how much they go for

ech

Thanks,

It looks like the stock stearing wheel is 365 or 368 mm dia. The RUF model shown above (a very nice looking replacement) is 360 mm dia. So that's a pretty steep price for a 1/3" difference.

Hmmm... any other suggestions?

DrPJM1

I got the Mazdaspeed D-cut wheel and I've been very pleased. No airbag, though. I would hate to have that thing explode in my face. That's my opinion.

ech

It _appears_ that the Miata and protoge5 Nardi steering wheels are 350 mm.

I'm guessing that they will bolt on, but the older FD fast acting airbags are not electrically compatible with the newer airbags that come with those steering wheels. Just a guess. Still searching.

skunks

personnaly, airbags scare the crap out of me, i vote for smaller steering wheel with no airbag, helmet, 6pt safty harness and full cage but thats jsut me

ech

I'm not even going to TRY to convince my wife that no air bag is better.

I exchanged mail with Corksport - it doesn't seem that they tried the Miata swap (as roumored), but they didn't think the Airbag would hook up.

Oh well... I sure do like the smaller steering wheel on my other car.

skunks

just say wanna feel how a air bag feels like, and punch her as hard as you can in her face! (an air bag acutally has the force of mike tyson punching you in the face at full force so your punch will actually not really do it justice unless your a pretty big guy!) Get a full roll cage, racign seat, 6pt safty harness and a helmet and youll be good to go

CCarlisi

Skunks I agree with what you said but all of those solutions are impractical for a street car.

Yes you may get hurt when an airbag deploys but quite frankly I'd rather get punched by Mike Tyson than thrown through the windshield of my car at 40mph+. I don't want to mischaracterize what you said. I know you were making the comparsion between an airbag and a racing harness ect. But given how much of a PITA those percautions are every single time you drive the car I don't think they're worth the added safety they provide (although a simple racing harness might be).

Ech: I'm suprised that nobody at Corksports knew about the steering wheel, although judging from my last transaction with them there doesn't seem to be much intra-office communication. The person that I believe tried to order it from them is Wael.

I'm not completely certain of that now in light of what Cork told you. I'll look into it more after I finish up my exams (may 8th).

skunks

if your wearing even your normal seatbelt, you wont be thrown thru the windsheild!