Steering Wheel

[Helicopter]

Hi All;
My old '73 Stang is coming along. The two-spoke Steering Wheel is in bad shape. The aftermarket ones i have found are plenty dear and they are all black.
Do they even make any more blue ones?
My other option is to have this one repaired and reconditioned. Is there any place that does that?

TNX
Roy

 

[MooseStang]

I made a repair to the one I got, then covered it in a black leather wrap from Amazon, $14.
What's wrong with yours?

 

[tpj71mach]

I would recommend repairing it yourself, it's not that hard, there are probably a few you tube videos on how to do it that you could watch. I have repaired a few steering wheels in the past with epoxy paste and then sanded down to shape and then repainted them in color and covered that with clear and they have all held up pretty well. I have never done a Mustang steering wheel but I think they are all the same materials. The most recent one I did was out of my friends 67 Chevelle. It was in pretty bad shape but it came out nice.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

I would recommend repairing it yourself, it's not that hard, there are probably a few you tube videos on how to do it that you could watch. I have repaired a few steering wheels in the past with epoxy paste and then sanded down to shape and then repainted them in color and covered that with clear and they have all held up pretty well. I have never done a Mustang steering wheel but I think they are all the same materials. The most recent one I did was out of my friends 67. It was in pretty bad shape but it came out nice.

I agree 100%. You just need some basic tools and some correct color keyed paint, and you can restore your wheel. There are some good online DIY vids on restoring a vintage auto steering wheel.

Feel free to PM or post up any questions and I’d be happy to help you.

 

[Helicopter]

This wheel is in rough condition with a piece of it split, then receded to form a gap.
I don't think this is repairable,

 

[tpj71mach]

This wheel is in rough condition with a piece of it split, then receded to form a gap.
I don't think this is repairable,

I honestly have repaired worse, it is repairable. You just need to sand the steel and the meeting surfaces with 40-80 grit sand paper to scratch it up and give the putty something to grab on to. After that you fill the gap with the epoxy putty and sand it down. They do make a reproduction, NPD carries it for a little over $300 but only in black, you would still need to refinish it.

 

[ib4stangs]

Might also want to wrap tape just outside of splits as not to mar the good area when sanding. Two applications of filler with long curing time on large ones will probably be best for adhesion.
If not equipped to paint it yourself, get a few body shop estimates...

 

[Sheriff41]

Yep, that's repairable. If the cracks were in the lower part of the wheel with the ribbed section, that would be more challenging. Restoring your wheel would be much less than a replacement.

 

[Fabrice]

@Helicopter Fixing the split(s) is fairly easy if you are bits handy. all it takes is after a good clean with solvant, then to warp plastic tape multiple time to add 1 or more mm to the diameter on each side, then bridge the two tape "rings" with again good plastic tape to obtain a cylinder. lay the wheel flat and cut a tiny hole in the middle. Then mix a bit of epoxy (or the same stuff as the original: https://www.epoxywinkel.nl/wilsor-polyurethaan-giethars-500ml ) and suck that with syringe and inject that inside the cylinder, which is basically a mould. The next day you can enjoy sanding /polishing

You can even pour in the colour you want if you buy pigments and play around a bit to match the colour.
There are plenty shops where you can buy these pigments. In opaque, transparent, metallic flavors.... I believe they are the same for epoxy and polyurethane.

https://www.mrboat.nl/kleurstoffen-pigmenten/
https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/polyurethaan-epoxy-kleurstof-kleur-wit-maat-50-gram/9300000003055650/
Ofc if you wrap it in leather or similar, you can use cheaper materials like polyester (with fibers) to add the material you need at the split.

 

[Helicopter]

This kind of repair is more "Art" than "mechanical fitting". I don't want to butcher it.

 

[jpaz]

That’s very repairable, I did my wheel that had multiple cracks in it myself. Did about the same as others have mentioned and painted it black, turned out pretty good.

 

[Fabrice]

@Helicopter you can’t make it worse than it is and once you’re done you will see you made a mountain out of a little thing.
The key is to have good, 1cm large plastic tape and give it a good tension, The rest is filling that cylinder and wait 24 hours.
Look how beautiful @jpaz ‘s one turned out! The only difficult step is to actually decide to do it!

 

[PoFoMoCo]

John you did a great job on that wheel, very nicely done.

 

[Sheriff41]

+1 What PoFoMoCo said. Looks good.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Roy, you can do this man!! And, you really have nothing to lose except some of your time. Here's a couple shots of my steering wheel. My wheel core started out pretty rough and now is a decent "driver" quality wheel and the investment in materials and paint were minimal.

 

[72MustangSprint]

Roy, you can do this man!! And, you really have nothing to lose except some of your time. Here's a couple shots of my steering wheel. My wheel core started out pretty rough and now is a decent "driver" quality wheel and the investment in materials and paint were minimal.

View attachment 79080 View attachment 79081 View attachment 79082 View attachment 79086 View attachment 79088 View attachment 79089 View attachment 79090

Ok ...how much to do my rim blow ?

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Ok ...how much to do my rim blow ?

Joe, you get the friends and family rate, which is only slightly higher than the normal rate

 

[72MustangSprint]

Joe, you get the friends and family rate, which is only slightly higher than the normal rate

I was beginning to think you weren’t getting my subtle hint