C6 steering wheel on C5
Haven't measured it yet, sorry. However, I can tell you that the emblem has a convex shape to it.
By the way what's the size for the center logo it's 60mm or different ?
I'm following along and working on a budget/simple upgrade to my C5. MetalMan2 got the upper shaft to me (great guy to work with) and I purchased a Pontiac G5 wheel and Chevy Cobalt bag. I also purchased a single stage Express van bag, which has yet to arrive.
Here's the look of the Cobalt bag on the G5 wheel:
I'm following along and working on a budget/simple upgrade to my C5. MetalMan2 got the upper shaft to me (great guy to work with) and I purchased a Pontiac G5 wheel and Chevy Cobalt bag. I also purchased a single stage Express van bag, which has yet to arrive.
Here's the look of the Cobalt bag on the G5 wheel:
Nice but what are you going to do with C6 steering wheel ? Another thing I guess you have the airbag for Express van bag before right ? Thank for logo size
Last edited by link9a; Jun 12, 2022 at 01:11 PM.
I chose the Pontiac G5 wheel because it’s a fraction of the cost of its Corvette cousin (less than $60 to the door from eBay) and there’s a good chance that once I get the factory parts working in the C5, I’ll transfer them to a more exciting wheel like a Revesol wheel.
Yes, the Express bag was purchased after reviewing other posts and the suggested compatibility for maintaining single stage operations on the C5. I’m still waiting for it to arrive but now uncertain of whether it will work as intended given what MetalMan2 has reported.
The bag cost more than the steering wheel and I have 30 days to return it. If anyone has any ideas on how I might proceed in a way that benefits the greater good of the members who might follow in our footsteps, I’d be happy to hear it. The bag was listed as being for a 2004-2006 Chevrolet Express.
Last edited by link9a; Jun 12, 2022 at 09:29 PM.
To summarize, I’m keeping the C5 clockspring to maintain single connector config for the airbag function. In exchange, I give up steering wheel controls. I’m okay with that (at least for now).
To summarize, I’m keeping the C5 clockspring to maintain single connector config for the airbag function. In exchange, I give up steering wheel controls. I’m okay with that (at least for now).
Last edited by link9a; Jun 12, 2022 at 09:55 PM.
Hopefully someone who knows more about using the C6 clockspring in the C5 will jump in here and correct or otherwise enlighten me. I’d love to see it done.
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Hopefully someone who knows more about using the C6 clockspring in the C5 will jump in here and correct or otherwise enlighten me. I’d love to see it done.
My gut feeling is that the C6 clock spring interface to single stage airbag has been waaayyyyy over-thought. In my mind it should just be a matter of swapping the end connectors for one set of airbag wires (on C6 clock spring). We shall see. Unfortunately my steering wheel progress is hampered by my drivetrain project...
That plate it's make the airbag more thicker you can take it out but for me l decided to leave it there
What you think 😁
Last edited by link9a; Jun 13, 2022 at 08:35 PM.
Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but what are you communicating in the first image in the last post?
Also, what donor airbag did you use to replace that in the Cobalt enclosure? Do you have a part number, or donor vehicle make, model, year(s)?
Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but what are you communicating in the first image in the last post?
Also, what donor airbag did you use to replace that in the Cobalt enclosure? Do you have a part number, or donor vehicle make, model, year(s)?
In other news, yesterday I got a shipping notification with tracking number for the new C6 airbag from GM! In case anybody else wants to try ordering one, this is where I bought it: https://www.autopartsprime.com/gm/ai...el/oe-20981759
Keep in mind that I ordered it on May 23, so it took 3 weeks to ship. And while I have a tracking #, the tracking isn't live yet. [still hasn't shipped as of 6/16]
I have another idea for making steering wheel controls, steering wheel button illumination, and horn all work with a C6 steering wheel while using a C5 clock spring. It's a little bit complicated so I'll try to describe it adequately:
- C6 steering wheel with controls (no paddle shifters) clock spring has 5 wires:
- Horn signal
- Ground
- Button Illumination
- 12v+
- Steering wheel control signal
- Could also interface a C6 steering wheel with paddle shifters, which would be a 6th wire
- C5 steering wheel clock spring I believe has 2 wires:
- Horn signal
- either Ground or +12V for horn (doesn't really matter for this conversation)
- I would tweak the wires going to the C5 clock spring so that there is +12V and Ground going to the steering wheel
- Build up 2 separate microcontrollers with wireless transceivers, like Arduino:
- In the steering wheel, the +12V/GND would provide power to the microcontroller and button illumination. The steering wheel control wire and horn wire(s) would be inputs to the microcontroller. There would be some circuitry to make this all work but it would be pretty minimal I think.
- On the car side, the microcontroller would receive wireless steering wheel and horn signals. There would be additional circuitry to interface with the car's horn, and aftermarket head unit steering wheel controls.
- For button illumination, I don't know what voltage they take but I have 2 ideas:
- Keep it simple and have buttons illuminated all the time
- Run an illumination wire from an interior light/button to the car-side microcontroller, and send that signal to the steering wheel-side microcontroller. Then that signal would control lighting for the steering wheel buttons to match the rest of the interior lights. Could possibly even include dimming with use of a PWM output from the microcontroller.
- This device would likely be cheaper than a C6 clock spring, and could end up being less work than wiring in a C6 CS. What I don't know is if there would be space behind the single stage airbag to fit the electronics.
Last edited by MetalMan2; Jun 16, 2022 at 02:36 PM.
Last edited by link9a; Jun 15, 2022 at 11:16 AM.
Beyond that I don't know. With my Joying head unit I could probably hook the C6 clock spring steering wheel control wire directly to the head unit. Pressing different buttons only changes what resistance is put out on the steering wheel wire.
If I understand your question right, you can probably use a PAC interface like this that will work for most aftermarket head units: https://www.c6performance.net/catalo...-p-497196.html
Beyond that I don't know. With my Joying head unit I could probably hook the C6 clock spring steering wheel control wire directly to the head unit. Pressing different buttons only changes what resistance is put out on the steering wheel wire.
The C5 clock spring still has 1-2 wires running through it for the horn. So my thought is to "hijack" the horn wire(s) and convert that wire to a power wire for the microcontroller. The horn would still work after the conversion, of course.
Anyways, mine looks a little bit better with those changes, but still not as good as I want:
Also, I started working on the wireless interface for using C6 steering wheel controls through the C5 clock spring:
- C6 steering wheel info:
- Steering wheel control buttons: pressing a button causes there to be a resistance (below) between the blue wire and purple wire (+12V). It is open circuit (infinite resistance) when no buttons are pressed.
- Volume Up: 1.270 kOhms
- Volume Down: 1.564 kOhms
- Track Up: 1.912 kOhms
- Track Down: 2.39 kOhms
- 1-6 Button: 3.10 kOhms
- The Horn wire (brown) shorts to ground (black wire) when the horn is pressed.
- Steering wheel control buttons: pressing a button causes there to be a resistance (below) between the blue wire and purple wire (+12V). It is open circuit (infinite resistance) when no buttons are pressed.
- Ordered "RF Nano" Arduino boards which are integrated Arduino Nano with nRF24L01 wireless transceivers.
- Started working on Arduino code and wiring schematics.
- C5 clock spring only has 2 wires for airbag. The horn switch in the steering wheel uses the steering wheel frame as a ground, and there's a "slip ring" arrangement behind the steering wheel that provides a single wire for the horn.
- Things still needed to figure out:
- C5 interior illumination voltage range from dimming (since I'd like to hook up to an interior light)
- C6 steering wheel button backlight voltage
Last edited by MetalMan2; Jun 27, 2022 at 12:25 PM.










