S197 to S550 Steering Wheel Swap - The Complete Edition - Video Series

slonison · Oct 17, 2025

Hey Guys,

I'm going to be starting a video series on swapping the S550 Steering Wheel into the S197 car WITH All of the switches working. This will include everything that is needed for making this work with a little more customization to come along with it.

Background: I started this project because I really really wanted to have a heated steering wheel in the car. I like the idea of having OEM parts and so I figured, what better time to swap it into the car than now. I don't particularly like the switch setup but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the heating element. However, as many people who have attempted this have tried, getting the switches to actually work is another issue. This stops with me. I plan on getting every single switch to work including the clockspring assembly with the new handles.

My first video is below, and I will try to post them weekly as I make my way through this project. come along for the ride.

I'm not a youtuber, but I've found that videos are far easier to explain what I'm doing than simply dumping on a forum.

Here is my ever growing 200+ page Google Doc

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KGxGJvmXfSwTgZknuUvDgtgm2VJMwFbZcR1BOi_nDBE/edit?usp=sharing

slonison · Oct 17, 2025

Part 2 Posted!

In this video! I describe the different steering wheels and how to pick one based on your needs.
Surprise! I went with mutiple!

slonison · Oct 20, 2025

Part 3: How the Switches Work
In this video I explain how the switches work in the steering wheel, the difference between the S197 and the S550 generally speaking, and the very basic outline of what we need to do to have a working set of switches.

slonison · Oct 22, 2025

Part 4: How to set up the audio control switch
In this video, I explain how you want to redesign your audio switch circuit board to support the S197 output that you will want to be sending to the ACM through the harness.

slonison · Oct 24, 2025

Part 4b: Audio Control Desk Test
In this short video, I test the resistance of the Audio Control Switch to ensure that it is outputting the correct resistance.

slonison · Oct 24, 2025

Part 5a: In this video, I explain how the S197 Information control switch works, and what we must do to make the S550 Information control switch mimic the S197 output

slonison · Oct 28, 2025

Part 6a: In this video, I explain how the S550 Bluetooth Control Switch can be modified to act like the Bluetooth control switch from the S197 Mustang. Turns out, it's easier than the audio and info control.

slonison · Oct 28, 2025

Part 6b: In this video, I test the S550 Bluetooth Switch Resistance Ladder

Racer47 · Oct 29, 2025

you could have simply worn gloves

slonison · Oct 29, 2025

Part 7a: In this video, I go over the design for the cruise control. I show you how to set up the switch without adaptive cruise control and how to set up the one with adaptive cruise control (though the gap up and gap down do not function)