Project: 1995 Miata

[Jake]

I really hated the stock steering wheel + airbag on the NA's. It's shared with the old-skool MPV minivan and is just too clunky for an otherwise good-looking interior. Wanted to retain the airbag functionality, so my solution was a wheel from a NB (1999-2005) with some custom wiring.

This is from a 99 or 00, since it just has the Nardi Torino logo and no Mazda emblems. Leather wrapped and airbag intact for $150. I had a hard time finding one for so cheap - usually the airbag goes for that much alone, if not more.



It fits right on to the NA's column. I had to drill two new holes on the backside of the wheel for the NA clockspring. The NB goes (hole)(column)(hole) whereas the NA has everything stacked vertically. No biggie, took a few minutes and worked fine.

Also had to splice the connectors from the NA airbag and horn to the NB wires. The wiring is the same, but the connectors are different. Got it all plugged in, re-connected the battery, and huzzah, nothing exploded! The Airbag light goes off, so the circuit is complete (good) and the horn works. Other Miata.net people have done the same swap, and in theory, the airbag will blow if I hit something hard enough. But, nobody who's done the swap has crashed yet. For now, the light is off and that's good enough for me.