One of the things that I just really don't care for on my '92 is the big black steering wheel with air bag. Ugliest steering wheel in just about any of the vehicles that I've owned. Wish I could replace it with a non-airbag wheel, but I imagine there are some legalities involved with disabling a piece of safety equipment (imagine that! America, land of the free? and I can't do as I wish with a piece of equipment that I paid for when the only one it'll harm is myself?? OK, political rant over).

So, anyway.... there is a place parting out a '95 XJS convert. I noticed that it has the same basic style of wheel, but with some wood accents in the rim. I'm thinking that the wood accents (if they match the trim in my car) might....might help to pull the steering wheel in so that it may look like it kinda belongs there (Notice the apprehension....not really sure that it'll help or just make the wheel look more "bling-y").

Before I call this guy, and find out he wants a kings ransom for the wheel because it's a "jaguar" part (had a guy tell me that some run of the mill mustang badges were expensive because they were "mustang" parts once), does anyone know if the steering wheels between the two model years will swap? Are the center pads the same? Be nice if all I'd have to buy is the wheel and not the more-than-likely overpriced pad too. Any other bits or pieces that I might need to snag to complete the swap?

Thanks for any advice,

howlinowl

 

...also, would anyone know if the CD changer (if it has one) in the trunk would work with my '92?

thanks,
howlinowl

 

Try this.

Jaguar XJS Steering wheels - Jaguar XJS Interiors

 

I love the wood one for airbag cars....it's about 530.00 dollars converting from pounds sterling though.

 

$530 < King's Ransom

I'm going to guess that the seller of the second hand wheel will want at least $500 for his. I'd rather go with something "new" and "completely wooden" if I was to drop that kind of cash on a steering wheel.

I don't know if I'd go over $250 for a used wheel from a parts car.

 

I have just gone through a similar exercise, ie I hated the original huge airbag wheel and wasn't prepared to pay a fortune for the same wheel, just covered in wood.

I was concerned also about the reliability of the existing airbag as it is now over 20 years old and there is no diagnostic system in it..... it's either going to work, or it's not. I have seen a lot of wrecked XJSes and I have never seen the drivers airbag deployed........ I've occasionally seen the passenger one deploy, but even that seems quite rare. Maybe I'm just trying to convince myself I did the right thing... who knows.

Anyway, I took the old airbag wheel off and fitted this wheel...



I bought a boss for an 89 car because you cannot buy a boss for an airbag car. I had to modify this boss a bit, but I got it to work. I had to buy a 1" spacer to get the wheel to be far enough away from the turn signal and wiper stalks. I haven't connected the horn back in yet but that should be possible. I also lost the turn signal self cancelling feature but thats not a big deal.

The end result is a nice looking and feeling wheel that I am happy with.

Please note, if you are changing any airbag wheel you will need the Jaguar special tool JD159 (I think thats the number) to remove the airbag. That tool is currently retailing around $150 to $200 so you should add that cost in to the equation also.

I will attach a picture of the wheel in the car if anyone is interested. Just need to wait until I get the car back from the shop as I am currently failing SMOG miserably (don't get me started)

 

Count me as one that wants to see the standard wood wheel in the airbag car!I hate the looks of the airbag wheel in my 90 and would love to install a wheel without one but the steering column is huge and it might look funny.

 

@Oddrods. Will post when I get the bl**dy thing back from the shop :-(

The steering column is kind of big and bulky, as you said, but it looks ok, even with a much smaller skinny wheel. I think the fact that both my boss and the wheel centre as also black seems to make it look less like the wheel has been hastily thrown on and more like it was supposed to be there. The diameter of my wheel is at least 1 inch less than the airbag wheel, and that alone makes the steering feel better

 

When I drive with my eyes closed the OE airbag wheel feels good.
But the Moto-Lita Mark 4 would look a lot better.

 

I fitted an airbag steering wheel in my '92 MY convert. (mine didn't have one in Europe). Bought a walnut one from a UK company £340.00 ish. I then had to get an airbag, (£100.00) 76 to 46 spline adapter from an XJ40 (Ebay) and the airbag firing pin (doesn't come with wheel )!! and swop out the horn buttons. Also made up the "special tool" ...drilled a 5mm hole into a bolt, smashed one side with a hammer to make the hole look like a 'D' and Bobs your uncle the pin turns, don't forget the small grubscrew locking the pin.
I believe that the US airbag is bigger (typical...ha ! so wont fit a European wheel, so ask if they have a US spec. one.
Also seems that swopping to a later Jag wheel you might need the adapter as the splines may be as mine, smaller.

http://www.jaguarclassicparts.com/uk...g-column-upper

Part 0

If l knew how to post a pic. (over 12, so no idea....) l would.

At the same time l fitted the sun visors with the lights ....that was fiddly, but worth it.

 

My car it had all the wiring in the boot (trunk) for the CD changer hidden in the left side. I bought a changer from Alpine that was a straight fit, well was in 1993. Still need to get the fixing kit and side carpet though.......

 

Soooo, you say it is possible to put in an airbag into an older XJS which did not have one fitted when new?
That is very good news because I never thought I would find my ideal car: a 3.6 auto coupe. These, as far as I know, never had air bags which is a big minor for me. With an airbag I might use it every day instead of just for fun. Reading your description it does not seem too difficult either. Are there no electronics involved? What makes the airbag go off?

Sorry to bring up such an old subject :-)

 

Airbag is completely manual. There must be an accelerometer, or something that measures impact that deploys the airbag because it is not hooked up to, or into sensors.

 

The airbags are completely manual. They use a firing pin, Its this you disarm with the "special" tool, made as described in my post above. You will need to find out how many splines your steering column has and the wheel has. I needed the adapter on mine.

These airbags are way over the sell by date and new ones are not available....Who knows if it will ever work, but then l don't mean to try it out.