Early 911 Wood Steering Wheel

[911_S/T]

Hello all....once again...
I recently acquired a SWB 911 wood steering wheel. It is in decent shape, but would like to clean it up a bit to fit the patina of my '68 911. Has anyone on this thread restored a wood steering wheel? If so...could you give me tips?

Thank you much,
evan

[Bobs 67S]

Evan,
give it the magnet test.

If its the steel spokes a sanding of the paint/metal and a Worth satin black painting my be all it needs.

If its the aluminum spokes it could mean removing the wood for the stripping and re-anodizing.
(I've seen a aluminum wheel that was painted with a tinted satin clear coat, it looked fine - but it still looked like it had been painted).

The wood may just need to be cleaned and waxed.

If the wood is ok but the finish is tired, try a product like Formby's. It dissolves the varnish so you can restain and varnish.

If the wood is damaged you may have to strip the finish and replace or fill the damaged areas. If the wood is just de-laminated epoxy it back together.
If your filling any of the wood a trick is to sand or scrape the wood and mix the sawdust into the filler so when you stain the patch and the wood accept the stain - the same.

Have a look at Freddies project over on the Pelican http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...oration-5.html
for the before and after of his wood dash. He has yet to show the finished steering wheel. He may be saving it for dramatic effect...

Good luck.

[Jim Breazeale]

No need to give it the magnet test. That wheel has steel spokes. All of the suggestions about refinishing are good ones.

Regards

Jim

[911_S/T]

thank you Bob and Jim ! truly appreciate it !!

cheers,
evan

[MTemp]

See page 5 of this UK restoration thread

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/vie...33207&start=60

[kenikh]

I've restored 5 wood wheels. It's not rocket science, but the devil is in the details.

1. If the varnish is toast, use a good varnish remover on a rag and rub as much of the old varnish out as you can. I don't like sanding these wheels if at all possible.
2. Leave a small patch untouched that is far away from the spoke for finish/color matching later
3. If you have gouges, pits or other defects, you'll need to be very rigorous in finding a good wood filler and work the wheel. I prefer not to restore wheels tis beat up.
4. Mask off the wood where the wheel meets the spoke with some masking tape
5. Then go after the metal - I tend to leave the paint on the metal spokes intact, unless it is totally knackered. If so...
6. ...sand the intact paint as smooth as you can
7. Spot fill pits with spot putty
8. Re-sand smooth with 320 grit
9. Spray a good primer coat on - I like the PPG dark grey primer in a can
10. Sand one more time with 400 grit
11. Shoot the spokes with a rattle can paint called SEM Trim Black, available at all auto body supply stores in the US
12. Rag polish the paint when dry
13. Now mask off the spokes where they meet wood
14. Critical Step: choose a good, satin or semi gloss clear and test, test, TEST the color and finish against the patch mentioned above
15. Once you have a good match, remove the old varnish from the test patch
16. Use a good hair bristle brush to lay down the new varnish/clear
17. Good as new

[Chuck Miller]

Nice run-down Kenik.....

[uai]

I have sanded and sprayed and sanded and sprayed and sanded .....
and would not do it a second time myself.
The professional wheel restorers have a thixotropic (or is it thixotrope) paint (3 components) where they only need one or two layers to get a perfect finish.
So for the next wooden wheel I'd do the preparation myself and have it finished by a pro.
Cheers

Uli

[911_S/T]

blown away with the help you guys !! thank you so much !!!!

[72targa]

kenik...big +1...you must have pictures?