36 replies to this topic

[Ethel]

All Mini airbags will be reaching the end of their service life soon anyway, though I believe they are the same as the MGF if not other Rovers???

Sorry to cut in on your safety spike conversation but the above is bang on the original topic

[mrslaphead]

All Mini airbags will be reaching the end of their service life soon anyway, though I believe they are the same as the MGF if not other Rovers???

Sorry to cut in on your safety spike conversation but the above is bang on the original topic

Thats smashing Ethel.

[mrslaphead]

Now i remember why i wanted a mini again, it comes with its own comedy club reps

Thanks for all the good and bad points to this thread.

Think i will just buy one of Jordans old fake boobs and stick that in the middle of my steering wheel, that will save me and it will be fun

But every time you drive you will feel a bit of a t£t .

[Marky Tizz]

Can you fit the mpi wheel to an old column without the air bag? Or nay?`

[mrslaphead]

Can you fit the mpi wheel to an old column without the air bag? Or nay?`

In the second reply ,dan said that you need to change the entire column as there is a different thread.

[Marky Tizz]

Yeah but it isn't clear whether that's if you're including the air bag or not. If the thread is different surely you could just buy a different nut? 'because my current wheel just slips over the column, and then you use a massive nut to hold it on.

[mrslaphead]

Yeah but it isn't clear whether that's if you're including the air bag or not. If the thread is different surely you could just buy a different nut? 'because my current wheel just slips over the column, and then you use a massive nut to hold it on.

Good point ,I presumed that the splines would be different, maybe Dan will be back soon to confirm.

[GreaseMonkey]

The Spline on the Mpi column is different so you would have to fit an Mpi column I believe

Edited by GreaseMonkey, 30 December 2008 - 11:22 PM.

[Ethel]

As far as I know, not from personal experience, the steering wheel is the same as the MGF's & uses a different sized splined fitting to older Minis. Odd that so many appear on Ebay though.

[Marky Tizz]

Someone explain what you mean by spline/spline fitting to a learning man please?

Many thanks

Mark

[minivanman]

Mpi's are indeed totally different. The spline is the sort of serrated bit at the top of the column that the wheel locks onto marky tizz. That stops it spinning independently of the column, the nut keeps it from falling off. With a bit of care it is very easy to deactivate an airbag and put the wheel back together.

[Dan]

maybe Dan will be back soon to confirm.

I already said in my first answer that the spline is different too.

The spline is the section on the end of the column that the steering wheel slides onto. Don't know why you thought I wasn't clear before, the entire steering wheel is different whether or not it has an airbag actually screwed onto it at the time you look at it.

Nobody will insure you to drive a car with a home made airbag system, even if the entire system is lifted straight out of a later model of the same car. When the SRS system was first fitted to Minis I went to a dealer to ask about the possibility of retro fitting it to an earlier model and they were extremely against the idea. Too dangerous to play about with. Also as Ethel says, pretty much any second hand Mini airbag you buy now is at the end of its service life, they only last 10 years and Mini went out of production 8 years ago.

[Marky Tizz]

maybe Dan will be back soon to confirm.

I already said in my first answer that the spline is different too.

The spline is the section on the end of the column that the steering wheel slides onto. Don't know why you thought I wasn't clear before, the entire steering wheel is different whether or not it has an airbag actually screwed onto it at the time you look at it.

Nobody will insure you to drive a car with a home made airbag system, even if the entire system is lifted straight out of a later model of the same car. When the SRS system was first fitted to Minis I went to a dealer to ask about the possibility of retro fitting it to an earlier model and they were extremely against the idea. Too dangerous to play about with. Also as Ethel says, pretty much any second hand Mini airbag you buy now is at the end of its service life, they only last 10 years and Mini went out of production 8 years ago.

Thanks for the info on splines. I didn't really get your first post as it was mostly about the airbag part, I would completely remove that, I'm not interested in the airbag at all, just the nice wheel. Might look into an mpi column then and just remove the airbag, as I also like the switches and stalks

For reference, it was the O/P who wanted airbags.

[THE ANORAK]

oh dear, some people are really not listening are they

anyway, im re-posting this as it has some good pics of the end of the Mpi colunm. and if you remove the air bag from the wheel, your left with a bloody big hole, gonna look nice that

[Marky Tizz]

Thanks Anorak, you've put me off it now Too much work for little gain as far as I can see. Might try and source an entire MPI column in the near future though... dunno.