# B210 GX "Sport" steering wheels



## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

I recently aquired a white '76 Datsun B210 Honeybee as a parts car. Although a Honeybee is generally a bare bones standard model, this one's got a sport steering wheel on it, that as I understand it, is more common on the sportier GX models. Maybe they were available on the Honeybee who knows? 

In any case, let me show you what this steering wheel looks like:










The reason I am posting this is to hopefully prevent anyone here from making the same mistake I made in trying to remove it. Most Nissan steering wheels are removed by pulling off the center horn ring which exposes the large retaining nut to the shaft. That is certainly not the case with this three piece sport wheel. I couldn't pull the horn ring off no matter what I tried. So I did the next logical thing and consulted the 1976 Datsun B210 factory shop manual. Here what it says:










OK, mine is obviously the three spoke variant. Acoording to the service manual, all I need to do is "*Pull out the horn pad and remove it from the steering wheel*". Well that did not work at all. Frustrated, I tried prying it off with no luck at all. I bent the metal ring assembly and damaged it. With nothing to lose at this point, I cut a hole in the plastic horn ring padto see what it really took to be disassembled. In order to remove the center horn ring you do not "pull it off" like the manual suggests. You have to *push in on it* very hard and then twist it to unlock the three nylon tabs from the cutouts in the metal retaining ring. Only then will the ring come off to expose the shaft retaining nut. So the manual should have said "push in and twist off" the center horn ring. 

*OK, does anyone have a center horn ring assembly to sell me?*  


BTW, the standard resin molded [a.k.a. plastic] two spoke steering wheel like this:


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

Here's a pic of the horn ring apart:










I actually got this apart by unscrewing the three 10mm bolts you see here from behind. After removing the rubber cover with the "D" on it, you can see that there is no access to the main retaining nut from the front of the horn ring. Since mine was now damaged I had nothing to lose, so I hole sawed mine to see how it worked.


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## Ant-dat (Apr 20, 2005)

whell looks kind of like one from a Z, 
it could even be a 140Z wheel


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## blownb310 (Jun 10, 2002)

Ant-dat said:


> whell looks kind of like one from a Z,
> it could even be a 140Z wheel


Yes, the 140Z wheel looks identicle, but has a "Z" in the center, instead of a "D". Do you think the center horn ring/pad assembly from a US spec 280Z would work?

Mike


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## Ant-dat (Apr 20, 2005)

It could it looks to be right size


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