Wheel of fortune

Intro

Having previously owned a B7 Audi A4 S-line SE last edition, I had become used to a rather plush interior and I was having some problems with my T5 from the drivers seat.

T5's are better appreciated from the outside than in. Much to my dismay this seems to be the case even for some modded vans I was finding on the internet.

A wise man once said:
"I'd rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave."
In fact it was Karl Pilkington and he is an idiot.
The point he missed is that my T5 cave was clearly designed for a cave man and you still have to look at the inside of it whilst everyone else enjoyed the far prettier exterior.
It's like a VW Dime bar only the crunchy inside is a mix of plastic and rubber that would do little for your teeth.
So just like a Dime bar then.

I'd like to stress that the interior isn't bad at all. It is perfectly functional and solid, it's just far from attractive or inspiring.
The worst part of it for me is the steering wheel (see this was going somewhere). A four spoked, largely featureless rubber ring that old age has not improved one bit. Even the badge looks tacky and as a result it had to go.
I had already read, with interest, the thread on the T4 forum about changing the steering wheel for a Golf Mk 6 one and was more than willing to fork out a few quid to make this simple if expensive upgrade.

Fit

To fit new, first you need to remove old.
First off I disconnected the battery as a precaution. The airbag must come out in order to get to the steering wheel bolt so:

Airbag removal is achieved by unclipping the steering colums upper cover and laying it across the face of the clocks then turning the wheel to 90 degrees from center.You then have access to prizing the spring (circled red below) inwards towards the steering column using a flat blade screwdriver. At the same time you need to be pulling the airbag (horn button) edge out. The spring is not visible so you will be doing this by feel and it does take a little force.

Once this pops out you can turn the wheel round 180 degrees the other way and do the same for the other side.

With the airbag free it can be unplugged and the bolt from the steering wheel can be removed with a suitable spline drive or triple square. 

Be sure to take not of the steering wheel marker against the face of the column as they might not necessarily be lined up if your tracking has been plaid with.

 With the old airbag out (left) the plug was clearly different from the new Golf one I had bought (right).
There is also a second black plug that is attatched to the steering wheel itself so signals from the buttons can be added to the airbag and horn loom.
Thankfully it is a fairly simple job to swap the old loom over to the new airbag.
Attention needs to be paid to the rooting of the old and new looms and where each clip goes before starting the swap although it is difficult to make a mistake. The only big change that needs making is the terminal ending for the horn negative terminal needs swapping for the round terminal as can be seen in the finished product below. I chose to cut the wire off of the new loom and solder it onto the old one.

 Once I was happy with the looms rooting it was a simple process of bolting the wheel in, taking note or the orientation on the splines (there are marks on the wheel and column that you need to line up the same as it came off) then plugging it in the airbag and clipping it in.
It is that simple!

Buttons?

I have not wired the old loom to carry the signal from the buttons. I did notice two unused terminals on the female part of the plug giving me some hope that they might be there for that very purpose. Some time spent with a multi meter will be needed along with allot of research before I tackle this one.
I will be sure to share what I learn on here when I do as I know it can be done but few people seem happy to share what they know. Some wire, terminals and a steering wheel module will no doubt need to be sourced before any real work can be done so for now I will just enjoy my little bit of luxury in my van.