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Maybe I'm posting this in the wrong forum but this is where I live. Feel free to move it. On my 53 3100 I decided to go with a 57 to 60 Chevy truck steering wheel so I could get the nice self canceling turn signal switch that I could put my cruise control turn signal switch on. I also don't like the golf cart looking switch. I shortened my column and shaft to make up for the dished wheel. I have already restored a 57 wheel but now that I have EPAS Performance electric power steering I wanted a smaller wheel. I know it's not the right wheel for the truck but I still like the Chevy center. I bought another unrestored 57 wheel a couple of years ago for $20 and after a couple of days searching I found it. I live in rural northern Indiana. We don't have corporate junkyards around here but a lot of old 80ish acre yards. So with my cordless Sawzall and machete I headed out. I was just going to hack the ring off. I'm 67 and it was 95 degrees and humid. The bad news is the old vehicles are in the back but the good news it's in the shade of the woods. It amazed me how many steering wheels were missing. The owner agreed that people are after the turn signal mechs and just throw the wheel on the ground where it goes back to mother earth. Don't be that guy. After an hour and a half I found this one in the bed of an old truck. It's 15 1/2" and a Chrysler product. It was hard to find a small wheel that was plain and not larger diameter or padded. Maybe it will work out maybe it won't. By the time I got back to the yard office and ask him what I owed him he said "just take it you earned it". I notched the rods with a 1/4" burr and TIG welded them on. I sprayed some white primer on the wheel and it is nowhere near flat so let the blocking begin.

Creative engineering at it's best. It's going to be unique that's for sure..

Nice!

What are you using for the filler material?

Nice work! But you might have just started out with a hoop of steel tubing and then put filler over it.
What was it soaking in? (picture #7)

Nice work on the steering wheel. Do you have a picture of the EPAs electric steering system also? Did you retain the original steering box?

Yes I rebuilt my original steering box. I haven't installed it yet.

Are you using the original column? Did you use JB Weld on the steering wheel? Is your seat original or something else? I ask because of steering wheel clearance to driver position.

Yes original column and box.. I shortened the tube and the shaft to accommodate the dished wheel. I used PC7 epoxy. I'm not sure what is happening with the seat. I'm just putting the wheel where it was to start with.

I use PC7 2 part epoxy. It's about the consistency of roof mastic and just as sticky. This is my second steering wheel out of a 1 pound kit. This has been in the shop about 3 years and is fine. A 1 pound kit is about $22 but a 4 pound kit is only $47. I called the manufacturer and ask if I should use a plastic adhesion promoter and we determined to let the epoxy chemistry work on it's own. This stuff really sticks. I put a marble sized ball on a polished pyrex 3/16" rod and put it in my sanding water to cure just for a test. I had to cut it off piece by piece it stuck so well. there was a little milky film on the outside but otherwise fine. It sands at about the rate of body filler.

I blocked out my wheel and used a 1/8" round bottom burr on my rotary tool to dig out the damaged material on the wheel. Sorry I lost that photo. I tried to keep as much of the wheel as I could. Once I got down to a hairline crack and a least a 1/4" depth (most places much deeper) I used a syringe and thin and thick super glue to fill them in. I wanted to keep some structure in it. I put it back in the ultrasonic cleaner after grinding. I used my super human grip to fill the epoxy from the bottom up with a big syringe. I put 1/4" vinyl tape on the part to give me reference points because I have zero artistic ability. I filled 90% and 10% and a touchup after rough blocking. I put it in the extremely hot black racecar trailer to cure. I used 220 and 320 W/D sandpaper on a sanded paint stick and a 3/16" pyrex glass rod. The vinyl tape is about .006" thick. I blocked to the tape and then when I removed the tape just feathered it out. I used only hard sanding blocks. I'm happy so far. Now I have the small problem of the missing 15" of ring material and spoke repair.

Are you a mad scientist? Who has a Pyrex rod laying around?

I prefer the term eccentric. I have a full glass shop here. I can blow glass, cast glass. sculpt glass and weld glass. I have Borosilicate glass rods from 1/16" to 1 1/2" and tube from 1/4" to 2 1/2". If you are wondering about the syringes I also have a lab here. I have more degrees than a thermometer. I have been using the old GI bill for 40 years on and off for school. They pay me to go. There seems to be no age limit I'll be 67 Sunday I think.

Wow. A regular Dale Chihuly!

A true Rennaissance Man.

Indeed!

Wow. That's the kind of passion we love to see on Stovebolt!

Cool story with great pictures!!

John

As I continue to stumble blindly into the darkness I'm going to try to make a mold of the good parts of the ring. I don't know if this will work but I'm going to try. getting silicone any where near anything that needs painted freaks me out. I wrapped it tightly in electrical tape with some overlap to keep the silicon from touching it. This will make my mold a little bigger with the ridge for reference point and give me something to sand. I hope to get something close to the right shape to work with. I started with 2 1" strips of 1/4" plywood and put packing tape on the outside and siliconed the joint so I can cut the mold open. I then put a dado almost all the way through every inch. Mostly it's the packing tape holding it together. I used the thick super glue to build the mold and siliconed the joints after drying. I made tops for them to glue on when filled. Keep in mind I don't have a clue what I'm doing and have never made a mold before.

My compliments on your fabrication/ modification skills.
Will the finished wheel still be 15 1/2 inches?

Yes 15 1/2 "

How did you like the PC-7? I read about it but haven't talked to anyone on how it works in the real world.
Nice home made engineering, BTW.

I used PC7 to patch the cracks in my steering wheel. I haven't used it yet, so can't say how it works out. But it worked well during repair.

I'm really impressed with the stuff. It sticks like nothing I've seen. I had said I took a marble sized ball on a polished glass rod and put it underwater to cure overnight just for a test. I still can't get it off the rod. I even cut half of it off and tried to break it off and it's still there. I spoke to their rep before using and he was very helpful. I think it was $22 for a 1 pound kit but you can buy a 4 pound kit for $45. This is my second wheel out of a 1 pound kit and it's at least 3 years old and is fine. So shelf life is good.

I poured my mold using a 2 part silicone. The kit I bought came with colors and glitter so I made 2 colors. I thought it would make it easier to see when it was mixed. I refrained from using the stripper glitter. It says the bubbles will come out by themselves but I popped it in the vacuum oven (no heat) just to be safe to remove the bubbles. It was thinner than I expected and I had a couple of leaks. I was able to plug them with air dry silicone in the tube. I filled them most of the way and glued the tops on. Then finished it with a syringe.

I made a mold. This might actually work. No bubbles. If I can just get a basic shape out of it I can work with it from there. The plastic ring is not centered on the interior rod. It wanders around. Neither one of the wheels are perfectly round or flat. both of these wheels are 3 spoke wheels. The Chevy wheel spokes ar at 3-6-9 o'clock orientation and the donor wheel is more of a 2-6-10 orientation, That's why I have so much to patch. When I welded it I kept the 6 o'clock location the same. One of my concerns is the spacing on the finger grooves. On the donor wheel there was about 2" on each spoke that had no finger grooves. Did the spacing run continuous or were they spaced between the spokes? The 10 and 2 o'clock ones lined up great but the 6 o'clock one was off half a groove on the right side. It seems they started laying them out clockwise from the 6 o'clock and it just ended where it ended. I had to cut the bottom piece to get the grooves to line up on both sides. I made a little tool out of a bolt to drill little fill/relief hole through the silicone and wood top.

I molded the epoxy. It came out better than expected. It worked so good I'm going to have to do the rest of the wheel. That nice new epoxy up against the old crappy plastic isn't working for me. If I make the rest of the wheel it will take 2 more moldings. I won't have to worry about cracking at the plastic/epoxy seem. I have spoken with Chuck at PC7 a few times now. He has been very helpful. He said if I mix 1 part epoxy (white) with 1 1/2 hardener (black) it will make a more flexible product. That's what I did. What's the worst that can happen? I do it again? With both wheels, turn signal mech, silicone and epoxy I'm in it for about 80 bucks.

I finished making the ring out or epoxy. It took 2 steps. If I knew then what I know now I would have molded the whole donor wheel before starting. The donor wheel has about 1/8" flatter spot at the top of the wheel. That is also where the inner metal rod is induction welded together. There are some spots that will need touch up but I know it will stick. I sanded the top flat and blocked the inside and outside. Now I guess I connect the dots. This will be some hours of tedious but easy work. My artificial wrist is sore from using the syringe to fill the mold. The last picture is the staff here at Lazy Hound Racing. They are very helpful.

Nice work Mick!!! And an "attaboy" for your cheering section.

Nice work!

That's Joseph on the left and Mary on the right. Joseph is especially proficient at putting the super grip texture on screwdriver handles.

That's an awesome process. Pretty ingenious to use the existing sections of the wheel to make your mold. It took a lot of work to do, and I hope it turns out like you expect. I think it'll work well.

Well, I have the ring pretty much roughed in. I did several steps of adding a little here and filing away there. Fixing any voids I found. When I sand it if there is a void under the outside it shows up when sanding because it's softer there. I then cut it out and fill it. This PC7 is nice to work with. It doesn't clog my files or sandpaper. Now I won't have to stare at it waiting for a crack from the 2 dissimilar materials. Mixing it at 1 part epoxy to 1.5 parts hardener as advised by PC7 gave it enough flex so I don't think it will crack.Now it's time to rough in the spokes.

Pretty nice job.

Thank you.

Nice work and awesome finish!

Sorry Mick, you have to change your name to Art... It is a work of Art. Seriously, nice work.

Thank you Phak1 and 1955 1 Series. You guys are too nice. Anyone could do this. It just takes a lot of time.

I think I'm roughed in. I made a form for the spokes out of cardboard and then out of a ziplock food container I was probably supposed to return to someone. I used 1/4" vinyl tape and packing tape to reinforce it. Then squirted the epoxy in with a syringe. It was nice that it was clear so I could see the epoxy going in. I think I'm going to radius where the spoke meets the ring to match the base. Maybe less chance of cracking although the test epoxy on my pants has remained fairly flexible and survived 3 washings, so dishwasher safe?

Radiussing the joint between the spokes and wheel will prevent future cracking. Hard corners and right angle are prone to stress cracks in almost any material you can think of.

I got tired of sanding and filling the wheel. We had a hot spell. While my shop is heated and dehumidified it's not air conditioned. I spent $20 at the junkyard for the wheel and turn signal mech. I put new guts in the turn signal mech and adapted my Dakota cruize control switch. The self canceling turn signal mech was the whole reason for switching to the later model wheel. I repurposed the blocks holding up the mold to make the spindles. I have a duplicating attachment for the lathe that makes it easy to rough out the cylinder. I put a little design on the spindles just because I can't help myself. I spent most of a day whipping out the rack to make it easier to paint. This is just crappy Fir so I sealed it with stain and brushed a coat of urethane so dust wouldn't hide in the pores and get blown out by the gun. If you don't seal SPF it will just suck up the finish. I have probably 2 or three days left on the wheel. Thank you for your time.

I'm tired of sanding and filling. There are a few little scratches in it. I don't know what the primer covers. I'm down to 320 grit with a couple of spots showing the remints of 220. I'm going to paint the darn thing and see what happens. I have to sand it anyway. I have a gallon of primer I can always just dip it a few times. I have been looking at old wheels and none of them are round unless they are real thick. When I put it on the spindle thingy I made for painting and turned it it's not even close to being straight. As most of us know there is a metal cup in the center of the wheel that the spokes are induction welded to. That cup bolts to the shaft. I changed none of this. I just changed the ring. I took it off the rack and did some checking. The metal cup is a full 6 degrees out of plane or out of parallel with the molded plastic center and the spokes. Once you know it's there you can see it in the molding. I'm not worried about it I just found it interesting. It's been really hot but we have a bit of a cool down tonight so I should have a window in the morning for painting. I had a professional spray booth installed in my shop. It's absolutely amazing how little overspray this turbine system puts out with a very nice finish. So it will all be my fault. Thank you for your time.