R33 Skyline Steering Wheel Guide/DIY
You honestly won’t believe how much of a difference upgrading your steering wheel can make. My car originally came with an aftermarket one, but I had to source and install an original one so I could pass German TUV.
First thing you need to do is a grab a steering hub kit that’s made specifically for a Nissan with HICAS. It should have these two black holes for the stud to connect in to, which I will cover again later. It will also come with a key tool to remove the safety bolts from the air bag bracket.
Something else the hub adapter should come with is an Air Bag delete plug along with a horn adapter. Here are some other tools that I found useful.
Alright, let’s get to it. Unhook your battery or pull your horn relay fuse. Grab your trim removal tool and pop out these tab on each side of your steering wheel.
Use your key that came with your steering hub adapter kit to remove these two large bolts from your airbag bracket.
Carefully remove the horn/airbag away from the steering wheel as you’ll need to severe the connection to your clock spindle.
This is what it should look like when it’s done. The R33 GTR got a upgrade on its clock spindle some time in 1996, so based on what your R32, R33, or R34 is you might have a different type of connection.
This nut in the center is ultimately what you are after to remove the steering wheel. I believe it was a 20 or 22mm socket. Make sure not to take the nut completely off! These steering wheels have been on there for ~30 years and it’s going to take a lot of force to pry it off your steering column.
You don’t want to take the nut off for two reason, you are going to be pulling on this thing hard before it finally pops off. You don’t want to hit yourself in the face or break your clock spindle.
I didn’t knock a tooth out but it did rip apart my clock spindle. Notice mine had a letter, “H” on it indicating an early model spindle. Cost me about 200 bucks to find a replacement.
Anyway, find your two wire harnesses that came in your kit and connect the airbag delete kit into the air bag module. This will eliminate your air bag light in your dash from coming on. Then plug your horn adapter into your horn connector.
You can tuck air bag delete module into the steering wheel housing and run your horn connector through your new steering hub.
Should look like this when installed.
Now bolt down your new steering wheel and connect your horn adapter to your horn button.
That’s about it. Besides getting the stock wheel to pop loose, this is a pretty easy job!
Enjoy the updated cabin and hope you found this helpful.
