The optimum steering wheel: 73T hot rod.

[911hillclimber]

Contacted Garry and spoke about some details and he will sort out a custom wheel cover for the hot rod wheel.
He understood exactly what I needed and why, smashing.

Have bonded the larger outside tube to the smaller one, quite a mess to get together, but got there in the end.
With the higher temperatures today the curing is going on quickly, so I hope to remove the tape 'clamp' maybe Thursday and start to clean it all up.
I'm expecting some shaping to be needed around the spats of the 4 spokes before fitting the custom leather outer.
Never ever done anything remotely upholstery on anything bar a carpet set or 3 so might be a challenge...my mother was a seamstress, not in my makeup...

Hope this is all worth it.

[911hillclimber]

Leather sleeve arrived super quick from Garry today.

Took the clamping tape off the rim and nothing came undone. Some lumps to smooth out around the spokes but generally nice and round.
Will need some keen razor blade work and sanding and maybe a blob or 3 more Sika to fill some joints smooth.

The sleeve fitted really nice and tight, but have asked Garry for one a bit wider though at a push I could adapt this one made exactly to my dimensions.
I blame my digital calipers of course.

[911hillclimber]

Garry Classic FX sure is working with me on the cover!
Version #2 on it's way.
Curved needles also awaited.

All gaps and seams in the outer tube are filled with Sika which is sandable so some work needed!

Hope to have it done by end of next week.

[911hillclimber]

Real progress today have been doing House Duties for the last few days.

Smoothed and sanded the rubber top tube and tried to get the diameter consistent all round the rim. not easy and took a few hours until I felt it was ok for a hotrod wheel.
The second sleeve can from Garry as promised and was just right, perfect as it turned out.
Judging the right width is tricky esp when you have never done it before....

The seam on the sleeve adds a double thickness so I cut a rebate in the lower centre of the rim to allow the material to sit down and be as even as possible (within my skills) when stitched up/
Garry sent me some stought thread and I had a needle from an ebay kit so it was time to stitch!

With a simple wood jig to hold the wheel vertical a good arms length of thread cut and knotted 3 times the stitching began.

It went well!
I'll leave the rest to the pictures.

Next up will be fitting the wheel and getting the horn all rigged-up using the original plunger to match the butterfly.

Smoothed-out rubber rim:



Version #2 sleeve from Classic FX:



Seam rebate:



Well on with the stitching:



Done!

[Lightweight_911]

.

Looks like a great result for a 'low-cost' 380mm leather wheel !

It will be interesting to hear what you think of the diameter once it's fitted & in use ...

.

[Gary71]

Looks good Graham. My only critique (sorry I can’t put my ex steering wheel engineer tendencies away!) would be if the spokes are trimmed separately from the rim then the leather on the spoke is normally skived down to a minimum thickness and sits on top of the rim rather then the other way around, as shown on this Ferrari wheel. This avoids the ridge of the rim leather that might be annoying on your thumbs.

[sladey]

Looks good

[911hillclimber]

Thanks all.
My 80s Momo spats look just like your picture Gary.
Sticking bits down with no exposed excess is not in my skill set...so I've tried to cover all joints by a subsequent piece or hide the joint!
Hence the smoke cuffs run down to the wheel boss.

Come in out of the sun just.
The wheel is on the car and the horn contact I think is sorted.
That was a bit tricky due to keeping the momo hub.

The dish of the 380 is greater than the Sparco, but I need to drive the car for more than a run round the block, I can answer Andy's question then.

Must remember, this was a low key project on something I've never done before, a little challenge if you will. I wanted to see if I could get there!

[andytat]

Looks good Graham!

[911hillclimber]

Thank you Andy, I know you understand the effort!

Sorted the horn by adapting one of those in-line fuse connectors ( I seem to have a huge collection of them over the years) and with a potting of Araldite all is well though it only works if I press the left side of the butterfly...

Took it for a sunny run.

The feel is great and very different.

The 20mm closer to the chest of the rim aides leverage on the steering, and cruising along the angle of my arms feels much better.
The rim feel tiny comparted to the 33mm dia of the Momo that came off. The new rim is 29mm.

Really like the butterfly I must admit, so sticking with it for now.
The fresh textured leather needs 'polishing', that will be the fun part.

Really pleased with the final result, well worth the effort.

Finally
A VERY BIG thank you to Andylightweight for the base wheel and tech advice, DDK charity is a bit bigger.
A HUGE thank you to Garry at Classic FX for understanding what I wanted to do, doing two leather sleeves to get the fit just right, the heavy thread and some wise words. DDK charity is a bit bigger!
Gary and AndyT as ever with positive comments.

The DDK Charity/Hotrod wheel is done!

[Gary71]

That's a chunky one isn't it. Hope you've got big hands

[911hillclimber]

Nope, girlie hands for sure, knackered over the time messing with cars....they start to hurt quickly nowadays.

The Momo is fatter still and I am very used to it after 28 years, this one feels very skinny indeed.

I had KS's Nardi wheel (wood) for about 1 month which felt like a piece of mig welding wire in the hands.

[AndrewSlater]

Looks great Graham, job well done. I'm toying with the idea of changing the original 420mm wheel on my 912 for something a bit smaller to improve the driving experience. I don't think I could drop down to the 350mm size of the Momo on the 911 but 380mm sounds about right. Will be interested to see how you get on with it.
If you fancy making more let us all know!
Regards Andrew

[911hillclimber]

Thank you Andrew, first impression is good.
Need a good run out into Shropshire and Wales to get more feel so to speak.
Doubt I'll do another, but never done anything like it before which was the appeal.

420mm must feel simply huge and not really for a sports car maybe.

[dragonfly]

That came together quickly, great job