DetroitPlac

I'm well aware. It's a weekend car, and I just deal with it. I spent years driving cars that never came with airbags, so I figure I'm not taking any less risk to my personal safety. But the legal aspect is always nagging at the back of my mind for sure.

That's why I'm so excited at the prospect of this thread. I'll be the first in line to buy a smaller wheel that works with the airbag assuming it's not a fortune.

jrprich

Creating a smaller diameter with airbag, leather, and steering wheel audio controls for those who went aftermarket would be great

acuevo

Its not that big of a deal. You can disconnect the battery and after a certain amount of time the energy is all discharged. I don't know how long it is on these but the cars I work on service manual says 3 minutes if I remember correctly.

Leave it off all night if you want, then you'll be solid lol.

98C5P

No need to worry, I have changed a few wheels in my previous WRX's, even swapped charge units around, and I don't remember if I pulled Batt cables or not when pulling wheels......

As stated above, disconnect battery and leave sit for awhile to discharge, no big deal.

striper

Older cars need the battery disconnected for 45 minutes, more recent cars only a 1/2 hour. This thread has inspired get back to working on my C5-C6 wheel conversion. I only need the correct airbag (shouldn't be too hard to find) and a steering wheel. Malibu wheels can be found for under a hundred bucks with all the buttons, they are the same as Vette wheels. I found the tilt shaft with the correct splines on e-bay. I have also purchased the correct Vette logo to fit in the airbag cover, also have. Then it will all work the radio and bluetooth in my Double Din Kenwood.

fuggles

Please provide source for this information.

striper

I do work for new car dealers. Techs that I work with have told me this. I disconnected my airbags in my 2000 Chevy pick up with no problems.

fuggles

Thanks for responding. Me too. As an electrical engineer I find some of this "requirements" to be, let's call it, excessive...

RedlineGoods.com

A little update - the C6 wheel looks like this:



The urethane resin is built up on the smaller core and needs a bit of fine tuning before it is wrapped in leather.

Hope to show it completed early next week

Take care

Jack
RedlineGoods Team

MBVette

The shape looks good. When you get a chance can you show it side by side again to the stick wheel so we can get a better idea of size.

DetroitPlac

Agreed!

Can't wait to see what you can do with a C5 wheel.

Time for a C-5

I agree the stock wheel is too big. I haven't seen one that checks all of the boxes for me. A smaller and slightly thicker (not much) wheel with a flat bottom and an airbag would get me interested.

02BlownZ06

Looks good. If you can make it look like this, I am in!!

RedlineGoods.com

Of course! As soon as this prototype is completed and wrapped, I will post side by side photos

Me too

Initially I wasn't planning to make flat bottom version of smaller steering wheels as I thought this will be too much modifications at once but looks like I will have to rethink this

Sure we can! Even with airbag fitted in the middle. Not sure if you're ready to see the price tag though

Take care

Jack
RedlineGoods Team

Tsumi

I want one with steering wheel buttons. Last night I spent the evening reading up on the threads about swapping a C6 wheel into a C5 with functional airbags. If you guys can make this work with steering wheel buttons, I would be all over it (of course, depending on price).

striper

It has been done. Right now it hasn't been a priority but when I do make the conversion to the C6 wheel, it will be with the radio and phone buttons working. There are accessories that will link the buttons to after market radios, such as the Kenwood DD I have installed in my car. I need to find the correct airbag and then I'll try to complete everything. I don't want any legal issues if something should happen, otherwise I really wouldn't care about it. I have several of the parts needed.

unlvrebel

Thing is... No one knows if it (airbag functionality on a C5 to C6 steering wheel conversion) will actually work. There have been some changes in the wheel, but no one (that I have seen) has actually generated a functional test. I'm not talking about ramming a car into a wall... certainly there is a way to fool the electronics into a crash situation and see is the bag deploys.

Until that happens, it is only theoretical.

RedlineGoods.com

OK guys, I'm sure most of you thought we gave up this idea so time to spice things up a bit

Ladies and Gentlemen! Please welcome! 1 1/8 inch smaller steering wheel for Corvette C6!

We don't have any original C6 wheel in our shop as of now so I used Chevy Cobalt wheel for comparison as it is basically the same wheel, only bare rubber.













What do you think? C5 wheel is next in line of course




Take care

Jack
RedlineGoods Team

wesam

Very nice I hope you will make some thing for C5

striper

Looking forward to it. I think the finger bumps look a little too big otherwise looking good.