cobalt steering wheel retrofit

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

i don't like the 2004 cavalier steering wheel.. its gross and vinyl.



I don't want to sacrifice my airbag, so I discovered that I really like the 08+ cobalt steering wheel....



so I looked into the differences of the SRS setup, and using the two stage bag on the one stage system doesn't seem that complex... i'm just going to either use the cavalier gas module, or use only use the first stage of the cobalt airbag

cavalier airbag schematic


cobalt airbag schematic


a lot of people said the wheel wouldn't fit the jbody steering shaft. in mid year 2003 apparently they changed the steering shaft.. .well apparently, that carried over to the delta platform.

it was 100% bolt on.




all I need to do now is get a cobalt clockspring and see if i can salvage the stereo controls (using an aftermarket adapter for my alpine stereo) which is looking to be pretty plausible.

after that I grab a cobalt airbag and hook it up. the cobalt wheel has the same diameter of the jbody wheel, but looks and feels a LOT nicer since its leather.

[qwikredline]

yes 2005 cavvy is sort of a mini delta. nice work keep it up.
i dtiched the airbag. dont want it going off on the track....

[qwikredline]

and the cross bar is in a better position driving wise 4 sho'

[blackbirdracing]

Very nice...
Do they make the plastic pieces that go where the cruise control is in blank. Like no stereo & no cruise button.

[qwikredline]

thanks for the tip Base wheel has no switches....now i gotta upgrade the wntr btr from the cobalt parts left over got lotsa wheels lol. How do you stop the dash from jumping up and down on hard launches?

[blackbirdracing]

Any of you cobalt guys upgrading to leather, ill buy your reg steering wheel.

[Maven]

I wouldn't even hook up the bag using one stage is half assing it. Good work otherwise, suprised it took this long for someone to do. Clockspring swap would be BA, good luck PJ

[Maven]

I've got a mint urethane wheel. I went leather almost immediately

[tommyp2010]

That's awesome! The Cobalt steering wheel is so much nicer.

[qwikredline]

Any of you cobalt guys upgrading to leather, ill buy your reg steering wheel.

wnt a redline one?lol/ I will look and see how many stock cobalt wheels i have its a mini industry you are creating lol

[qwikredline]

I wouldn't even hook up the bag using one stage is half assing it. Good work otherwise, suprised it took this long for someone to do. Clockspring swap would be BA, good luck PJ

i used the air bag connector for the ptt radio contact to eliminate the dumb coiled cable deal for racing radio.....

[elecblue06]

wnt a redline one?lol/ I will look and see how many stock cobalt wheels i have its a mini industry you are creating lol

how much for a redline wheel? lol

that looks awesome though man

i personally like the ion wheel more but the balt one is more functional by far lol

[Jazer]

You know I <3 this PJ... I will deff be looking into this for the J when I come back.

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

I wouldn't even hook up the bag using one stage is half assing it. Good work otherwise, suprised it took this long for someone to do. Clockspring swap would be BA, good luck PJ

from my understanding of how the cobalt SRS works (at least how alldata describes it) is that for lesser frontal collisions, the delta SRS only triggers the first stage of the SRS. for more severe collisions, the delta triggers both stage 1 and stage 2.

if the plug works with the jbody SRS, I'm at least hooking up one side of the bag (more likely than not stage 1.. the lesser of the two).
1 stage of SRS is better than 0 stages. And since i'm smaller framed, the lesser powerful of the two will probably still be more than enough to protect me in a frontal collision.

the whole point of the retro was to maintain a functional SRS system. The jbody is only a single stage anyway.. so like i said, 1 > 0.

but I REALLY hope that I can get the clockspring to work on the steering column because that would be absolutely awesome to have functional stereo controls on a wheel that looks as good as this one.

[blackbirdracing]

whats the part # for the leather wheel...

If I'm gonna buy a wheel, I might as well buy leather and put it in my GF HHR.

Then steal her urethane wheel.

[USMCFieldMP]

Here's a few that I found available from Morad...

06 SS - Morad Parts Company

06 LS - Morad Parts Company

06 SS - Morad Parts Company

I'm sure that if you shoot them an email from their website (moradpartscompany.com), that they can get/find you a newer style SS (like the OP's)... and any other parts you might need.

[blackbirdracing]

thanks... didnt think about getting the SS wheel for the GF & her HHR,

then I can get her stock urethane wheel...

[blackbirdracing]

NVR mind...

SS wheels in 07 were the same wheel with an SS emblem on it...

ok I found the the cobalt & HHR wheels are a different size

[Jn2]

cool cool, i may do this with my cav when i get a chance, will prob use a malibu wheel that has the paddle shifter just for the looks of it and bc it cost the same as the cobalt ones i did a redline wheel swap on my balt...everything went well, it bolted on, but the clockspring pigtail was the not the same when it comes to the steering wheel controls...i currently have no use of my cruise control...i got the horn to work which was my main priority...cruise i have yet to fix, they both had the same # of wires...i guess i just need to figure out how to wire them right...

[Rodimus_Prime]

brillant idea, ive always hated the 03+ wheels in the cav they made them so ugly