Stitching a leather cover on a 69 rallye steering wheel.

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  • Straight strip, stitched to make it a loop. Look at the red cuda steering wheel. Seam is at the bottom. They wanted diameter of the wheel, and diameter of the grip to make it.
 
Started grinding out and V notching the big cracks with a small rotary file, and filling with JB weld . Dont want to V notch all the way around for fear of chunks falling off. I'm only 1/3 of the way around on the back, but it's looking better and better. I may epoxy prime it and paint it semigloss black, and see how it looks before I put a cover on it. I do have the cover from wheelskins just in case.

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Got this far this evening. Notice the shot of the side of the rim in the second pic. I am hoping that I will have enough "goop" on the rest of the rim that I can grind these cracks down to the steel hoop and fill them tomorrow. Hopefully I can make a silk purse outta this pigs ear lol.

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it's coming along mat....I'm dying to see it complete with the wheel condom.....I mean wheelskins on it. Ima thinking of a wheelskin too.
 
Looking good. Makes me want to continue with my Fargo steering wheel. Its about the same condition. I started with 2 part epoxy. Next will be epoxy putty.
 
68gtxman said:
I’m sorry Matt, but I don’t recall if you said why you didn’t just buy another wheel that was in better condition. I bought one for a 1968 B body for only $100. Is this an option, instead of trusting such a crumbled and then repaired original wheel? If you post what you’re looking for here, you might be surprised.
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I wish i found one in better shape for $100. That would have been great. This one cost me $200 plus shipping. Its debatable weather i got took on this deal or not. "Caveat Emptor" i guess lol. Regardless, I figured the fact that the spokes and center were almost like new, that it was worth it. I mean repops are close to $400 and dont come with the horn contactor or center cap adaptor, what i didnt see in the pix was the very small cracks or crazing all over it. Most of it doesnt go very deep and i can sand past it though. I'm not really too broken up over it. The wheel itself is broken up enough for both of us. It all can be fixed. Its just a matter of how much time you want put into it. This is a project that i have been tinkering with on my lunch break at work since for lunch i just drink a protein shake and have nothing else to do for an hour but surf the net. I might as well accomplish something.
 
Its amazing what can be accomplished a few minutes at a time.i need to get the grinding all done. My steering wheel is like hard rubber,makes a stinky black mess. Have to do it outside.
 
Yep a little at a time. I will file it down over lunch break today, then clean out some more cracks and add more JB weld goop. Pitch it under a heat lamp at work, and maybe it will be ready for more sanding when i get home from work. With new incorrect repops approaching $500, i say this is still a steal for what i payed and have to do to it.
 
I also temporarily super glued the big cracks i haven't gotten to yet where its loose and in danger of breaking off the steel hoop to keep it from getting worse, then I'm going back with a rotary file and JB weld. I am hoping the liquidity ness of the super glue will wick between the plastic and the metal hoop and attach it better, maybe make it easier for me to hit with a rotary file to clean them out and not have chunks wanting to flake off.
 
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Car Nut said:
You can use epoxy putty by por-15 instead of JB weld.

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I have 2 kits each with 2 big toothpaste sized tubes of Huntsman Araldite AVHV 1258. This an aluminum based aircraft structural epoxy. This is some of the toughest **** I have ever worked with in my life. Honestly I doubt por 15 epoxy putty could pass the test that this stuff does. I have been saying JB weld because this is like an aluminum version of it. 2 part 1 to 1 mix and about 30-45 minute pot life before it starts to thicken up. This stuff expired at my work so I took it home. In aviation everything that's chemicals has a use by date. I keep this stuff in my shop fridge, it's still good for another year or 2. I'm using it for 2 reasons. 1 it's fantastic, 2 I have it already lol.
 
I used to get these mixing cups made by loctite. Was awesome.
I am not a fan of jb weld. Especially the jb quick set. Its weak.
There was an epoxy putty called quicksteel i liked, i fixed a lawnmower crankcase with it. I ran it until i parked it.about 10 years.
I have a couple sticks of pro-form putty im going to use.
 
I get that about JB weld. This is kind of like it 1 to 1 mix, but not quite. It's an aviation grade aluminum paste. Super tough I bet this will out do JB weld. I was calling it that because everybody on here is familiar with JB weld.
 
About halfway there. Spent several hours with 80 grit sandpaper, and a foam block on the outer side, and rolled up 80 grit sandpaper shaping the grip on the back side. Sanding around the spokes is a *****, especially since half the plastic is missing around the back of them. Had a few pinholes and low spots. I used a cut down acid brush to fill the low spots and pinholes. Pretty happy with it so far.

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Following. I have 2 wheels to do, both 64 Belvedere. I have done some but it was 3 years ago!! Any wheel you can find in decent shape would be big $$$ and well repops are like big $$. I work for free!
 
Have used several upscale body fillers over the years with good success. Then epoxy primer and urethane enamel - for OEM resto. When I did the '68 Power Wagon 5 years ago, I used the plastic welding process. Kit comes with tool/element that gets very hot and connects to air supply. Plus, a variety of plastic rods that nicely bond to even larger gaps. The Fargo's wheel was already black so didn't have to re-coat. Still looks fine as of 3 months ago - (meaning I haven't looked at it since end of Aug.). So, there are a variety of methods to restore and/or improve any particular steering wheel but at the same time there are challenges that come with it.
 
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Got a bit farther on it, and filled the last 1/4 of it today. I also found out the colored wheels like this blue one react with MEK. So I brushed some down into the large cracks and with capillary action it sucked right in. The softened plastic re adhered it to the steel rim pretty well then dried hard again. A day later I used a rotary file to open up and clean out the cracks. Applied the last of the Araldite 1258 this morning. Hopefully if will be hard enough to sand down later today. Rim has a lot of small crazing cracks that I sealed up with MEK as well. After I epoxy prime and coat this with black paint, I am going to stitch on the cover. I worry that it will continue to deteriorate and look like hell in a short period of time if I dont cover it.
 
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