Carpokes

The following is a DIY tutorial that I found online. There are three that I could find in total, two of which were for 944s specifically and they morphed into the same thread on another forum. That thread is from 18 years ago in 2006! There were other threads before that but none were actual step by step tutorials with photos but rather just conjecture as to whether it can be done or not. Unfortunately the thread from 2006 was incomplete as many of the images no longer load properly (external links) and I found out later that the write up itself is incomplete.

The write up below comes from another tutorial I found that was created later for a 968 by a gentleman named "Paul Waterloo" (gotta give credit). Unfortunately that thread as well had many broken links where the images were not loading, so I had an idea. The Wayback Machine. This is an online archive of the internet. Yes, all of the internet, or at least most of it, and this particular page was in fact archived. Unfortunately, because the Wayback servers are built for reliability and not speed, the images don't always load when they're supposed to so it took about two hours of refreshing the page so I could piece together all of the images from the original post. I have added a couple of my own photos, along with my own comments to more clarity I hope this inspires you to do your own retrofit.


Do you want your car to go from looking like this:
To something like this?
Then welcome to this thread.

I know, it's odd that I am posting a thread on how to retrofit a 20 year old steering wheel to my 36 year old car, but I wanted something newer while still incorporating the airbag. So why not?

First, you need to find yourself a 996 steering wheel. I've read in other write ups that you want the three spoke like mine with the color Porsche crest, but I have no idea what difference there is to the silver crested wheel. I spent a lot of time looking at alternative wheels but the 996 three spoke is about the newest you can get without having to deal with a lot of extra wiring. I haven't pushed the idea of a 997 wheel with phone and stereo controls completely out of my head, but this works great for now. When these DIY guides first started popping up you could get these wheels in great, new condition for about 400 bucks with clock spring and airbag. Now you're lucking to get one banged up, with clock spring and airbag, for twice that, so take your time when searching for one. Factor in recovering since most of these are pretty scuffed up by now. My wheel was in really good shape so I lucked out (second one I bought online) but I wanted it to be new so I hired a local upholstery shot to recover it in high grade leather and to create a specific and visible stitch pattern. I like the way it turned out.

Once you find the steering wheel, you need a clock spring from a 964, 993 or 996, you can find them all over ebay or the classified section of your favorite Porsche forum, FB Marketplace, etc. The part number I got was 996.652.211.00. The nice thing about this clock spring is that when it is removed from the car, you can't "unwind" it because of the spring loaded locking pin. I will discuss how to set it up later in the procedure, it's pretty much fool proof.

Pay close attention to these three images when dealing with the clock spring installation portion. It will all make sense. Things that you will need include:

• Steering Wheel

• Clock Spring

• Length of 16 gage wire about 20" long

• Insulation Displacement Connector (I didn't use this, I just used wire shrink wrap and solder).

• Dremel Tool

• Torx T30 to Remove/Install Airbag

• 7/8" or Equivalent Metric Socket

• Various Basic Tools

Next step is to DISCONNECT the battery 3-4 hours before surgery. I read about this online, this prevents the airbag light from coming on after everything is connected. I followed this rule twice (took me once to do the install, and another time to adjust everything) and it worked like a champ. YMMV.

Put your key in the ignition and unlock it. Turn the wheel so you can get your T30 on the airbag torx screw (2) on the back of the wheel. The angle has to be just right to engage it, you'll know when you find it. Unscrew both screws and the airbag will basically fall in your lap. It is still connected by the one connector, just pry it off with a small screwdriver.

You can see the two airbag screws in the background, disconnect the red connector:
Once that is done, using the proper 24mm socket, unscrew the nut. See the blue plastic piece in the picture? That's the ground for the horn. This is the difference in setup between the old and new style steering wheels/clock springs. This uses a slip ring and brush (the brush is on the back side of the blue plastic piece).
That brush rides on this slip ring, the brass piece in the picture. This is what makes up the ground circuit for the horn relay. It goes something like this:

+12 VDC > Clock Spring > Wire > Horn Button > Wire > Slip Ring > Horn Relay Coil > Ground Connection
Here's the spring loaded brush that rides on the slip ring:
Take the four screws out and remove the plastic beauty cover.


Continued in next post...

To remove the clock spring, it's two screws. Take it off and you can actually pull the wires out and disconnect the connectors, or just wait until you get more clearance after taking the trim off.
At this point, do yourself a favor and take the trim off so you can get to the 8 mm bolt that holds the turn signal switch assembly tight to the steering column, it will need to be pushed back. I fought this and ended up doing this later. It's easy and quick. To get the trim off you:

• Pop the two heater slide pieces off

• Using a trim removal tool, pop the HVAC cover plate off

• Unscrew the four screws holding the HVAC panel in place

• Unscrew the visible screws under the steering wheel

• Remove the rubber piece around the ignition

• There is one additional screw to the left of the ignition, I did not find this one and broke the plastic piece

• Take the left side trim cover to the left of the fog light switch off, loosen the two screws

• Remove all the pieces.

• If they don't come off easily, you are missing a screw
It's hard to see but there are a few screws here, and once you get these off, you have to move the rubber piece up and out of the way, there is one adjacent to the ignition switch.
Loosen these two screws, I did not have to remove them. Either way, it's only a few seconds.
You will need to loosen the 8 mm nut in the below picture, and then push the switch assembly forward as much as you can, which will most likely be 1/2" or so. Once it's move forward, tighten the 8 mm nut. It's the nut at the 6 o'clock position.
You will need to modify the NEW clock spring with parts from the old clock spring, and add an extension wire, which will ground out the horn circuit.

Cut the one connector off the new clock spring which has the brown/white and brown wire. Cut the brown/white off the old clock spring. Solder and heat shrink the two pieces together. This plugs into the OEM connector.

For the brown wire, just solder on a new 20" or so length wire. This is you new ground. the new wheel DOES NOT have the slip ring, and it needs a hard ground.
Continued in next post...

Before you put the clock spring back in, you're going to want to modify the plastic cover and the steering wheel.

You will need to use the Dremel to open up the inside diameter of the hole where the clock spring sits. About 1/8" all the way around if not a little more. It doesn't have to be perfect because the wheel will hide it.

Here are pictures of before (doesn't fit through) and after.
The clock spring goes so that the connector sits on top, it's a tight fit when everything is all in there. You not only have to modify the inside diameter of it, but you need to cut down the plastic pieces that stand it off from the steering column. I did not do this at first, and then after I install the steering wheel, it rubbed, and was terrible. The wheel did not move smoothly.

I used the wheel nut as a guide. See how high the stand off is with the wheel nut next to it? I cut it down with a Dremel to about or just longer than the wheel nut. This did the trick.

Here is the unmodified stand off: The picture isn't great, but you can see it's about the height of the wheel nut, do this on all four stand offs.
When you install everything, you need the basic clearance here....the first time I did it, there was no clearance between the two, and it rubbed. Kinda scary not having a free turning wheel. Always had to "break it away" when moving it.

Once this is done, install the new clock spring. You're going to connect the brown ground wire to the forward left (at the left of your feet on a LHD car) to a ground wire. Look way up in there and you'll see the grounding points at the forward corner of the passenger compartment. I just used shrink tubing and connected it to the ground point. Make sure you route it correctly and tie/tape it off.
PLACEHOLDER FOR NEW PHOTO

When you do put everything back together, just put the rubber piece back into the same position and it should fit.

I did not mention how to set up the clock spring. It's really easy. The directions are actually on it.

Step 1: Ensure the steering wheel is aligned straight.

Step 2: Depress the locking tab to free it up so it rotates freely and turn it in the clockwise direction until it stops moving. It actually has a ribbon cable inside and at this point, all the slack is out of the cable. DO NOT force it past this point.

Step 3: Rotate it counter clockwise until the two arrow align (less than one turn). Once you are at this point, rotate it two turns counter clockwise (unwinds the ribbon cable) and then align the two arrows. Take your finger off the locking tab.

Step 4: Install the clock spring on the steering shaft.

That's it, this way in can turn the maximum clockwise direction without the ribbon cable being too unwound.

Here's the printed directions....right on the clock spring...that is genius!
Once everything is back on, screw the airbag back on to the steering wheel, once again, the angle of the T30 is very important, just be patient. Once you get one started, start the other screw, then tighten both.

Hook up the battery, check the horn, hopefully there will be no airbag light on and you'll have something like this, which is a great upgrade!

Also, a word about the 996 steering wheel.

It isn't a direct swap in with regards to how the wheel itself fits. You have to cut some metal.
You have to modify the new steering wheel by machining out about 1/4" in depth on the nut side of the wheel. Otherwise you can't get the nut to engage. I, however, purchased my 996 wheel with this modification already performed however the seller told me he milled .5" and not .25" so I'd start at .25" and work your way down if you don't have enough threads for the nut to grab onto properly. In fact, all of the online guides say .25" so I'm sure that's right. But, I'd count the teeth your stock wheel has first before removal and then go for a similar number on the 996 wheel when you're trying to figure this out.

Ideally, you would have a drill press and a 1 3/8" drill bit. A high torque, 0-900 RPM 1/2" drill will work fine with a 1 3/8" wood drill bit. It will easily cut into the aluminum. This will take about 4 or 5 machining processes, with trial fits in between. Be sure to vacuum each time before putting it on the steering column.
That's it.

Watch this video for some thoughts and an extra tip or two.

Even though I'll never attempt nor have a reason to attempt what you outlined, I read all of your above posts. Quite thorough and impressive regarding details others might need. I really appreciate your work and effort along with the fact that you were willing to share all that you did.

And a big yes to the Wayback machine - it can be awesome for finding the long-gone and the obscure. A very skilled programmer steered me to Wayback 15 or more years ago. As you mentioned, a bit of patience is required.

Wiki has this regarding the magnitude of what's stored there: "As of January 3, 2024, the Wayback Machine has archived more than 860 billion web pages and well over 99 petabytes of data."

Yeah, I learned of WBM about the same time, maybe a bit longer ago. I never thought to use it like I did with this project but I'm glad I figured it out. Was kind of a random thought that popped in my head when I found this particular tutorial and was disappointed by yet another tutorial too old to use properly.

JEEZ I LOVE this website!
Jotronic, I've considered updating my steering wheel almost since I bought my car and going thru your DETAILED tutorial has been a huge help. Cost-wise, its not high on my priority list, but now I know more of what to look for and possible pitfalls and solutions to issues.
AND the side benefit of learning of the WBM!!!!
Thank You

Just for grins, I have a 95' steering wheel (no airbag) good shape, stitching intact,will let it go for $50 +shipp. looks just like 996 wheel I am in Cal. near Santa Barbara 805 688 7192 PST

Bumping this bc I thought it would be interesting to try one of the modern wheels that doesn't have a bunch of built-in controls we wouldn't need - namely those on the 6MT manual cars, or some of the PDK cars (which only have the +/- buttons, but no infotainment or cruise). I like the latest aesthetic vs the swoopy 90s and 00s style, and the airbag unit is smaller (and fresher... not sure how much I trust my 1988 unit to work).

I just picked up a 991 / 981 PDK wheel for close to free. I'm thinking of using the PDK buttons for boost control selection when I finally get around to a standalone ECU and EBC. Gonna keep my eyes out for a cheap clockspring, and if I can get it all to fit, I'll pony up for the airbag unit which seems like the part that costs real money.

Anyone familiar with the bore and splines on these later model wheels?
This is the style of 991/981 PDK unit I just got: The 991.2/718 MT is another one that I think would look great in our cars: