Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Fist off, moderators please feel free to move this to wherever it belongs if need be. The thread in FAQ truck tech by ESLL (RIP) is great and thanks to him I had the motivation to try this. I also used my crappy old wheel as practice for a '63 Nova SS wheel that I'm restoring for my dear ole Dad.

I have always been conflicted about re-pop steering wheels, they are very nice but there is something about taking old parts and making them look new that gets me going. Especially something like a steering wheel that has so served such an important function! :blah: :blah: :blah:

Well my original wheel had seen waaay better days, it was cracked all over. The first step was a good cleaning. I used a dremel tool and small triangle file to open up all of the cracks down to the metal. I definitely would not make them so big next time but this was easier and I wanted to be sure that the new material would not crack. This is what it looked like when I was done filing/grinding:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/...25d3bba85c.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/...756c0e4c22.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/...c64124f27b.jpg
I decided that PC7 epoxy was going to be the best and cheapest material to rebuild the cracks. The downside is that I couldn't locate it at any hardware stores and had to order from Home Depot online. It was less than $20 after shipping. Turned out to be great stuff, easy to apply and the perfect density/workability for a steering wheel. I really gobbed it on as you can see because I wanted to be sure there were no low spots:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/...01775794a5.jpg
[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3607/3463635637_8de5ac4e3b.jpg[/IMG
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3518/...152baec7e3.jpg
After curing for a few days, I took a half-round file to it and was able to do 95% of the shaping. The Dremel came in handy in a couple of tight spots too. I followed this up with some 80 grit sanding, then 120 on the whole wheel. I had to do another light application of the PC7 to fill in pinholes and a couple of low spots. After more sanding this is how it looked:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3482/...c63b339d93.jpg

Continued...

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Shot some 2K primer/surfacer:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3615/...df2d0aa5c6.jpg
Shot some inexpensive acrylic urethane in 510 medium blue with lots of hardener. To get the bowtie out of the horn button I drilled a very small hole in the back and pushed it out.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3484/...3274264c3a.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3485/...dba6a34bd1.jpg
Here is the finished product back in the truck, these pictures don't really capture the color and gloss but it turned out better than I thought it would:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3644/...836bff3112.jpg
The only drawbacks that I can see are that this is time consuming and the grain on the wheel is a bit diminished. But it has a little "character". And for about $50 you can't go wrong.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

So, you gonna paint it?

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

That's awesome! you've motivated me to fix mine. I agree with what you're saying about fixing the old parts instead of repop.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

:agree::c2: Mine's black so it should be even easier!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Beautiful!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Wow, looks like you did a great job.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

That looks awesome! I re-did a black wheel a while back. It does take some time...but as you have shown, it is well worth it. It is so much better to retore original parts than buy new re-pops. Especially since the re-pop wheels don't always fit properly. The only thing I did different was use POR 15 epoxy. Sweet :metal:

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

nice job, how much time ya got in it

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Thanks guys!

grinding/filing: 1 hr
epoxy: 1/2 hr
filing/sanding: 1 hr
primer: 1/2 hr
wetsanding: 1/2 hr
final paint: 1/2 hr

So, approx. 4 hours but each of the 6 steps was a different day. I think I started this back in December or something rediculous. :lol: I'm really slow.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

cool, nice job.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Leevon,,,way to go!!!!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

That looks real nice ! Great job !!!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

wow,
That turned out sweet. Good Job. 50 bucks and time is better then $190 these days for a new one. I want to do this to my green one I bought from JAIMIE72 about 8 years ago. It is projects like this that make our trucks nice and special to each of us.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

I wish I would have read this article a couple of weeks ago. I just bought a repop. for $200.00. I never had an original steering wheel, but after reading this, I should have gone to a junk yard and bought an original. Nice job.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Great Job. I have a really bad sterring wheel and its the wrong color did not want to spend the $$$ on a new one. Thanks for the info and the walk through you just saved me $$$

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Great job! Guess I'm gonna have to go look for some of that PC7 stuff...

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

that looks really good nice job

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

nice

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

That's awesome, nice work!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

this posting is quite worthy of rep points and a permanent member of Krue's FAQ page!!!!

Very nice detail and explanation. I know ths will keep many from buying repop wheels to restore thier originals. hummmm, mater of fact, I may have to pick an old one up now and experiment.

BRAVO LEEVON!!!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

copied over to the FAQ area

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

thank you Liz. well deserving.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

That looks really good, nice job.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

That is so cool, I read ESLL's(RIP)write up a while back, yours and his are both great, Now I'll have to restore my 72 wheel. Then go to the junkyard and restore a bunch of em and sell em!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

who makes the pc7 is that a 3m product? very nice work!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

tcb-1 your check is in the mail...KIDDING! Thanks though.

Thanks! The PC7 is independent, some hardare stores might carry it but I called around to several and struck out. Here's their website: http://www.pcepoxy.com/

If I run across another cheap wheel I'm going to do it in black and see how that looks.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

PC7 is totally a home depot online thing... Couldnt find it for the life of me... I havent had the heart to take my wheel out yet though....

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

cool, thank you! have you used your wheel alot? I was wondering how the paint is holding up? you obviously know your way around the painting equipment. I saw you added extra hardener, did you add any of the stuff for plastic parts? I am not a painter so sorry for the "stuff" rather than the correct name.
I am planning on doing mine and was wondering what paint would work good and hold up?

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

very nice work!! Looks awesome!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

Well, I just got the wheel done and the truck stays inside and I don't drive much so it probably won't show much wear. As for the paint, I just started experimenting recently. I posted before that it was acrylic urethane, but in fact it was a single stage acrylic enamel shot from a detail spray gun. Hardener is a component that adds gloss, durability and decreases cure time. I added a little more to make it shine. I'm sure any automotive paint would work fine but maybe somebody else who knows paint will chime in?

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

hey Leevon, were you trying to trick me with this home-depot is the only place that has it?:lol:

I stopped at a little gas station by my house that has a little bit of everything from candy to hardware and everything in between. my spiffy wifey asked me to get some super glue and guess what I came across? the whole product line of pc7!! they had like 5 different epoxys offered from them! how cool is that, I kept trying to find time to go to home depot but could not find it! I had paid $5.69 for a stick so not to bad, I know they have higher prices than the big houses but they are nice local people. I just thought you would get a kick out of that.

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

ha ha that's funny (and convenient). They used to have these little displays that you would see in all the hardware stores but I haven't seen them much in years. Guess people don't have time to mix part A and part B anymore :lol:

Funny that you posted, I got an itch to start on another wheel tonight and just finished with the PC7.

Glad to hear you found some now get to work and take some pics already!

Re: Rebirth of my steering wheel
 

unfortanetly I have more things would like to do than I do time! I had gotten my engine in and all of the engin parts cleaned, blasted and painted. I have been trying to get some time to start it and hear how my new exhaust sounds for the last month. It will probably be awhile till I get my will done! I love spring but have 2 little ones doing baseball and bmx, then you add yard work! not enough time!!!!!