The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Smaller steering wheel

Well I got it painted for better or worse. It was more challenging than I expected. I think I had too much flow. I got a couple of runs but it's getting sanded. It was good practice for the base and clear. I feel the stand helped a lot. It's going to be 10 degrees above "you've got to be kidding me' tomorrow and thunderstorms. I guess it's going to rain steam? So it can bake in the shop and I'll see if I'm done priming.

Looks good from a few feet away. That fixture sure looks like it worked well. When I painted my steering wheel, I had it axis vertical, which made it hard to get at the bottom side.

2 coats primer blocked and sanded with 400 grit. 2 more coats primer blocked with 600 grit and grey scuff pad. Tomorrow I paint. Maybe.It's not perfect but it's pretty nice for me doing it.

That is turning out awesome!
You could have saved a few steps and made it as good as a factory reproduced wheel.
Factory reproduced stuff always has slight flaws here and there.
Keep up the perfection.

Same here with painting in a horizontal position.
I developed a drip on the rim on the back, being it was difficult to see the 'under side' while shooting.

Today I painted the little red stripe and the black base and clearcoat. I don't know how it came out I just finished it ten minutes ago. That little rack I made was my best idea. After a coat I stood there for 5 minutes and slowly turned the wheel to hopefully avoid any runs. The base looked good so I guess I can deal with it from there. The rack was really awesome for sanding. It's really sturdy.

I failed. The base came out nice and the first coat of clear. Then I think my gun screwed up and was not atomizing correctly. I just kept going and piled it on thinking I would just sand it out. After everything dried I noticed it was a little cloudy in the heavier spots. There were little air bubbles trapped in the finish. So I did the right thing and walked away for a while and left town. I have boatloads of time in this project already. So now I have spent another couple of days sanding it back down and will attempt to do it again. I did learn some things. I bought a nice light for my spray gun. I painted the red stripe and waited 2 hours to tape it off and it worked great. The black and the red came out nice and flat. I need to get this done so I can make dust in the shop again. I think in the picture I have it down to 320 grit but I took it to 600 grit. I broke through the clear in a couple of spots but not the base or primer so I'm not going to prime again. It's all made of epoxy anyway. The second sanding is making it look nicer though. That's to make me feel better.

That is a shame, but at least it is a comparatively easy fix.

Bummer. I set up a couple of lights at different angles.
One of the issues I had was with wearing the suit and respirator would make me sweat. I would drip on painted..... and unpainted surfaces. What a mess.

This is such a small thing I just wear the respirator and a hat. I have about an 8' x 8' plastic tent made up with no ventilation under my lift. I will need another plan down the road. I did my transmission this way. Luckily my turbine spray rig doesn't have much overspray.

What is the red stripe? Was that on the original wheel?

Not on the original wheel. It's so I know when the wheels are pointed straight forward. This goes in my 53 3100 drag and drive build. When drag racing it's important that your wheels are straight for takeoff and landing. It can get a little violent. A lot of people just put a piece of tape on there.

Well life showed up. I got sick and then broke my arm. I got the cast off yesterday and have a lot of things to catch up on. I need to get some parts sent out and then a couple more coats of clear and I'm done.

Mick - Sorry to hear that life caught up to you. Glad to hear it sounds like your mostly mended and getting back into things. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

PC7 epoxy

It's done. Is it perfect, nope, but it's pretty nice. Will it look fine at 170 MPH, yes. My goal was a smaller steering wheel with self cancelling turn signals and my Dakota Digital cruise control on my 53 3100. I'm calling it a win. In picture #1 is a stock wheel I did a while back on the right. Now I can work on installing my EPAS performance electric power steering and my Howe 1:1.5 steering quickener.

Yes Sir, looks Great from here!

RonR

Very nice, especially the self cancelling turn signals. That can be a bit of a distraction at 170 mph.

This car is being built as a drag racer but it's going to have cruise control?

This is a Drag and Drive build for the crowded 8.50 second class. I have electric P/S and an electric A/C compressor. These races generally do 5 tracks in 5 days with usually 1000 miles total on the road between tracks. You have to drive between tracks. No trailering allowed for the car. You can pull a single axle trailer with parts and tires.

That's pretty cool.

I don't like the golf cart looking turn signals. Hand signals at 170 is tricky.

It looks very nice. You've done a great job. Are you using a funny car style cage? Drag radials or slicks?

Thanks. I'll be running an 8 point very streetable cage. If you go faster than 8.50 seconds in the quarter mile things get a lot stricter. You need the funny car style cage and other things. A funny car cage without a helmet is not good. That's probably why it's such a crowded class. I'll be running drag radials. Most of the tracks are prepped for radials these days and the big tire guys are not happy. Radials want fly paper tracks and the big guys need a little spin. I don't know if my little 292 has enough HP for a big tire. I'm expecting 1200ish HP but allegedly won't run it over 1000.

What size tire do you plan on running? That engine will be a monster at the track. I love the sound of a blown six cylinder.

I'm not sure on the diameter. Wheel needs to be 17" to clear my brakes. A width of 11.9" allows me to run more classes. I'm widening my rear fenders 2" or so. I don't like wheel tubs on AD's.

Are you planning to document your fender widening method on the forum?

Yes I will. I also want to widen the front fenders for stance and stability. We'll see how that works out. My axle is a 4" drop and a little wider. I don't remember how much.

I will be watching for that thread. Stability at the top end can't be taken lightly.

beautiful stuff there, and respect that time slip goal but WOW! To me 12’s is darn respectably fast, 10’s is really fly’n, but 8’s in anything is suuuuperssssonicccc.
At what point does aerodynamic reality kick in? You be punch’n a big hole in the air thar…
At what point does aerodynamic reality means you need a chute?

Aero is ruled by the square rule. It doesn't take twice as much power to go twice as fast it takes 4 times the power. A lot of people don't worry about aero but I think it's very important. I'm a physics guy.1 chute is required at 8.50. I think that kicks in at 9.0 and 2 chutes maybe below 8.0. I haven't looked at the rule book lately. The chute can get you out of trouble. The aero on these trucks isn't as terrible as you would think. The windshield is a little steep but overall it's pretty curvy. I need to deal with the big hole behind me sucking me back. I'm thinking a full belly pan and channel the air coming in the front through the engine compartment and out the back. I'm thinking the 2 little areas of sheet metal on both sides of the radiator could be vented into the wheel wells to cool the brakes and get some air in the fender well. At the track possibly wheel skirts and some kind of structure behind the cab and the back. I'm not going to chop it. I'm toying with the idea of making a structural visor with an inverted wing profile that looks pretty stock and deals with that area. Possibly make a little downforce. I'm at the eat brownies and dream phase now. I do have access to some really good aero software. I have a friend that may be able to get me a little free wind tunnel time on a Sunday morning when the time comes. I know a guy running 8.40s in a 36 (?) Chevy pickup with a 292/turbo de-stroked to 278 (?) on leaf springs with no aero. Wilwood (Erik) put together a really nice custom brake package for me. Sorry so long. Thank you for your time.

Some down force from a stock looking visor is genius. Especially if set right can give you a center point down force, so a front or rear spoilers aren't needed. keeping it stock looking. I guess some structural rigidity would have to be put into the cab.


Am I going too far off topic?

Sounds like we are on the same page.

An interesting thing happened today. When I made my steering wheel I made the entire ring and the repairs out of PC-7 Epoxy. I have used it before and it's nothing short of amazing. I was concerned with it being too brittle and cracking during the abuse of drag racing. I called them up and spoke extensively to "Chuck". He informed me that instead of using the normal 1:1 ratio to use 1 part epoxy to 2 parts hardener and it would be more flexible. That's what I did. I did some tests. Worked out great. I bought 4 pounds of it and used about 3. I now have much more epoxy than hardener. I couldn't find ant place to buy them separate. I'm now installing the upper bearing and horn contact sleeve in my new column. It's mounted in rubber. I wanted to replace/compliment it with epoxy for strength. I was concerned with conductivity of the epoxy so I called them again to find out. They remembered me and are sending me 1/2 gallon of the hardener for free and ask for pictures. This stuff is not inexpensive. It is non-conductive. There are still good venders out there. Thank you for your time.

PC-7 is about the oldest epoxy brand out there. They've been around since the '60s.