Steering Wheel

I'm looking at replacing the steering wheel on the wagon I just bought it has the typical wear and the airbag cover was replaced at one time with a mismatched color . I'm thinking about an aftermarket billet one in either tan leather or wood to match my interior .I know I'll need an adapter ,by removing the airbag are there any issues I should know about like a airbag warning light on the dash and if so is there a way to disable it ? Thanks !

""are there any issues""

Only if you or someone you care about is driving in a crash.

Thanks for your concern that said I'll be the only one driving the wagon and I know of a few people who have had minor wrecks and were injured by the bag exploding in their face not as a result of the wreck .These are big heavy cars with a full frame and I consider myself a safe driver sure anything can happen but like riding a motorcycle without a helmet it's a personal choice .I plan on keeping my original wheel and at some point restoring it I'm looking for a nice wheel but they are tough to find and this is just something that I need to get done before the summer comes .

To answer your specific question, there's not really a way to reprogram the airbag system like there is the powertrain control module. The only options are to put a resistor in place of the airbag to fool the system into thinking the airbag is there, or just remove the warning light from the instrument cluster. I have no further information on how to do any of that; never done it.

If you put a 2 ohm, 10 watt resistor across the yellow connector, it will make the system think the bag is still there. You can use 2 1 ohm resistors in series, or 2 4 ohm resistors in parallel. I have some resistors if you can not find them otherwise. If you put the resistor across the yellow connector, the passenger's side airbag will still work.

If you use the Grant base adapter, you must remove the two small tabs inside the steering column bezel, or it will bind. NRG makes a good adapter as well, although it is a bit more expensive. I have even found a thin quick release that will work with the NRG adapter, and a 10-12mm spacer.

Depending on which steering wheel you decide on, there are a number of adapters, and spacers. You need to approximate the distance between the back of the wheel rim, and the turn signal stalk. I found that the Grant base adapter, and a 1 inch tall adapter for a MOMO, or Nardi wheel with a shallow dish wheel works best. You can get nice looking wheels from Grant, MOMO, Nardi, and with the appropriate adapter, Moto Lita, and Lecarra. You can get small horn buttons (fit Nardi, and MOMO) with logos on them from Grant. The Moto Lita style horn buttons only come in about 3-4 varieties.

If you decide to go forward, and have any issues, let me know. I have installed a number of steering wheels on my cars, and continue to swap them out for variety. I would also suggest a minimum diameter of 14 inches. The original wheel is 15 inches.

I was in a head-on collision a couple years back in my 1995 RMW, both cars going about 35 mph. With the physics involved, I was sore for a week afterwards....I had zero bruising from the seat belt, but that airbag tried to punch my head off my shoulders. I immediately replaced that car with a 1991 OCC. Very first thing I did after purchasing, was hit the junkyard, and bought a non-airbag OEM steering wheel (1989ish cutlass ciera) and installed. Then I pulled the ‘airbag’ warning bulb out of dash. I have faith in newer ‘second generation’ advanced airbag systems. But I’ll opt-out of airbags from the previous century, and take my chances. I agree with the poster that considered it a personal preference, like motorcycle helmets. I wear a helmet every time I ride, but I would never lecture somebody that chose not to.
DISCLAIMER: I’m stupid, and nobody should ever ever listen to me. (Boom! Liability force field )

Thank you for the information ! Brother in law is a retired electrician and car nut ,he has a frame off Cuda , so when I mentioned the resistor to him his only concern was the ohms . The steering wheels on these cars are plain ugly and as mentioned above mine needs a complete restoration which I will do at some point . i have a tan leather wheel from an 80 Vette that I was planning to use but I'm leaning towards a wood wheel just trying to match the wheel to the dash trim . I'm very detail oriented and given my age this will probably be the last car I restore so for me it has to be perfect .

I missed what year your wagon is, wondering if you have a passenger side airbag. My ‘91 (driver’s side only) , I pulled the bulb out of dash. No adverse effects/issues. No need for resistors.
If you had a passenger side airbag, and wanted to keep the system functional...maybe you need to fake-out the system.
On a related note, i gotta find see if I find and post the video of me, ahem, disposing of my old airbag.