1966 Factory V8 Valiant Signet Restoration For My Other Daughter
One more project done one more project to redo. I dropped the damn AC compressor and it landed on one of the mounting tabs on the edge of a head and broke the corner of the head. Luckily I’ve got a box of spare parts and old compressors to scavenge parts.
I don’t think I could’ve asked for this steering wheel to come out any better. For those who said I should just go buy a new wheel I don’t know how you get any better than these classic original parts.  it was worth every agonizing hour.
Here’s a quick step-by-step. I used a Dremel tool to open up all cracks and tried to undercut them so that when I packed them with epoxy it would go underneath the lip to grab so that it would lock it in. Then wiped it down with generous amounts of acetone to clean it and soften the original material. Then mix up PC 7 epoxy and work it in to all the cracks and grooves. Let it dry then shape it with 80 grit sandpaper. I put it in the oven and baked it at 180. That’s because here in Arizona it can get that hot in the car. That opened up a few more cracks which I repeated the above process once I got it shaped I sprayed it was three or four coats of epoxy primer.. Once that was sanded down and I had the shape know this could easily take two or three steps repeating spraying the epoxy primer and sanding. Once I got it shaped the way I wanted I took a hobby razor saw with coarse teeth and just dragged it around the wheel putting deep grooves in it to simulate wood grain. After that I used artists acrylic paints raw umber and burnt ombre mixed with a little water to make a wash. Before that I overcoated the epoxy primer with SEM palomino rattle can paint to give it a light tan base coat.. I then washed on the acrylics and wipe them off carefully to get the shading that I wanted. once happy with that I had some India ink that I probably mix 10% ink with 90% rubbing alcohol to make a black wash which I then spread around the wheel to highlight the grooves carefully wiping off the excess so that it didn’t pool and leave a black ring. Then two coats of universal clear let it dry sand it was 500 grit sandpaper and two more coats of universal clear.
One more project done one more project to redo. I dropped the damn AC compressor and it landed on one of the mounting tabs on the edge of a head and broke the corner of the head. Luckily I’ve got a box of spare parts and old compressors to scavenge parts.
I don’t think I could’ve asked for this steering wheel to come out any better. For those who said I should just go buy a new wheel I don’t know how you get any better than these classic original parts.  it was worth every agonizing hour.
Here’s a quick step-by-step. I used a Dremel tool to open up all cracks and tried to undercut them so that when I packed them with epoxy it would go underneath the lip to grab so that it would lock it in. Then wiped it down with generous amounts of acetone to clean it and soften the original material. Then mix up PC 7 epoxy and work it in to all the cracks and grooves. Let it dry then shape it with 80 grit sandpaper. I put it in the oven and baked it at 180. That’s because here in Arizona it can get that hot in the car. That opened up a few more cracks which I repeated the above process once I got it shaped I sprayed it was three or four coats of epoxy primer.. Once that was sanded down and I had the shape know this could easily take two or three steps repeating spraying the epoxy primer and sanding. Once I got it shaped the way I wanted I took a hobby razor saw with coarse teeth and just dragged it around the wheel putting deep grooves in it to simulate wood grain. After that I used artists acrylic paints raw umber and burnt ombre mixed with a little water to make a wash. Before that I overcoated the epoxy primer with SEM palomino rattle can paint to give it a light tan base coat.. I then washed on the acrylics and wipe them off carefully to get the shading that I wanted. once happy with that I had some India ink that I probably mix 10% ink with 90% rubbing alcohol to make a black wash which I then spread around the wheel to highlight the grooves carefully wiping off the excess so that it didn’t pool and leave a black ring. Then two coats of universal clear let it dry sand it was 500 grit sandpaper and two more coats of universal clear.
