Steve's 64 Short-bed Project

[SteveCanup]

Sanded the inner and outer wooden hoops. Started with 80 grit and worked down to 220 grit.


Test fitted to make sure they would fit and align properly..

Threw the glue...to it...(my cousin owns a furniture frame shop and he used to say, "Glued, screwed and tattooed"...



Wipe and clamp and wipe and clamp...Tightbond has a quick grab time and gets sticky and tacky very quick...

Now to wait to let the glue set up...
Once the glue is get and the clamps come off, I will re-sand the wheel, stain it. I can't decide yet what to do with the spokes. I might get some epoxy putty and blend the spokes to the wheel or I might remove the bakelite back to the center ring and make some spokes out of wood...anyway, it's a waiting process, you can't rush quality...
Stay tuned...

[SteveCanup]

By the way...for those who might ask or wonder...the original steering wheel was the stock 17 inches. I used the 'cut down' metal hoop from the GMC steering wheel which ended up being 15 1/2 inches. I was wanting a finished 15 inch wheel and didn't take into account that the wooden part would add another 1/2 inch...but all is good.

The wheel is visually smaller as well...

[SteveCanup]

More sanding....but here's a preview. I think it looks like one of the $500 wheels that you can buy from Con2R....



I will sand for another 3-4 hours or until it is perfect, then stain with red Mahogany and repair the spokes...More pics to come...

[grump]

Steve, how many of those could you have done by Slick Stock? I'm guessing you could pick up a little business if you showed up at Slick Stock with a few of those. Looks good.

[SteveCanup]

Thanks Grump...the thought crossed my mind. It would be a looong way to Slick Stock from Virginia. But I have thought about offering to build these. Most older vehicles have badly cracked steering wheels and this is a good way to repair them. I might offer my services at the next cruise-in this Spring. It is a lot of work though....

[SteveCanup]

You will have to use your imagination...Photobucket is down for maintenance. I used epoxy putty to repair the spokes and the center of the steering wheel. Apply, wait 60 minutes to fully harden, sand, reapply, etc, etc. Just a little bit ago I masked the wheel and shot primer on the spokes and center, and just reapplied some spot putty to a few imperfections. I will do a final sanding and hopefully later this afternoon or tomorrow morning, shoot some white paint on the spokes. Then I will sand the wooden hoop and apply red mahogany stain and several (like maybe 4-6) coats of clear. I have taken pics, but can't upload them to Photobucket right now....
Stay tuned...

[SteveCanup]

So here's what I used to repair the bakelite spokes and center of the steering wheel. It was $6.39 at my local AdvanceAuto. It has the consistency of play-dough and is easy to use and form.


I taped off the wood to protect it and here's what it looks like after forming the spokes and repairing the center...


After a lot of sanding and filling the small 'voids' with spot putty, I shot a heavy coat of primer...



It needs more filling and sanding before the final finish coat....
Stay tuned....it's snowing!

[SteveCanup]

Finished the spokes and shot some white paint on them....

Now to finish sand the outer wooden ring and stain it....
(Note: I may have the pics and the build sequence of the steering wheel a little out of order...trying to rebuild my build thread after Photobucket took all of my pics away...)

[unibody madness]

what will you use to fill the voids in the wood?
It's looking great!

[SteveCanup]

I have already filled some of the voids. I used regular wood putty. That is what some of the dark places and streaks are in the pics. I am going to stain it with red mahogany.
Also my door panels are stained with red mahogany...

I will post pics after I stain and put about 5 to 6 coats of poly on it.
Stay tuned...

[SteveCanup]

Some stain and the first coat of poly...
5 more coats of poly to go....
Pics to follow.

[SteveCanup]

Sanded with 220 grit followed with 400 and another coat of poly...and another...and another....

Finished product:

[therealjoeshmoe]

awesome!!!!! looks great!

[SteveCanup]

Well....after days of shoveling snow, snow and more snow I finally had time to get outside and put the steering wheel in today. I looks terrible! Terribly GREAT! I'm waiting for my father-in-law (remember Bob?) to finish cutting the center horn button. He is cutting a circular piece 2 1/2 inches in diameter out of oak and will cut out the Ford script out of lighter wood and 'inlay' it into the center of the oak piece. He was planning to work on it this afternoon. If he does and gets it finished I will (of course) take and post pics. Stay tuned...

Also a 'word to the wise is sufficient' or a 'word to the sufficient is wise' ....either way....but we had so much snow (14 inches) and it was heavy and wet and it almost collapsed my metal carport....not good. I will have to take it apart for repairs before I will park anything under it. If there are any rich philanthropists out there who want to donate to the "Steve Build-A-Garage" fund......

[SteveCanup]

Birch insert in a walnut center...first coat of poly...






I will finish coating the center with poly and install on the wheel.

[shipwrecked]

looking good!

[SteveCanup]

Finished!



Also...note the shift knob...Picture doesn't do it justice...



I've got to get outside tomorrow or Saturday and finish repairing and re-assembling my carport....Stay tuned....

[SteveCanup]

Not much new lately...just driving and enjoying the truck. But....I did develop a 'noise' in the truck when driving down the road. It only manifested itself when I went around a turn to the left and was the loudest at about 35-40 mph. Wap...wap...wap...straighten the wheel and it went away. Checked and rechecked wheel bearings, replaced the universal joints, wallowed under the truck, etc. THEN I happened to look at the back of my right front wheel...... the welds had cracked and the wheel was coming apart The inner 'hub' was separating from the outer 'ring.' It's my fault because I welded the wheels up earlier last year when I was learning how to weld...Glad that I wasn't on the interstate running 70....

[shipwrecked]

Get it worked on! I am glad you spotted the problem before you got in an accident. Ive seen vehicles lose wheels while driving before. come to think of it, the only auto accident I've ever been in my life was when mom was driving the 79 mustang and the wheel came off. I flew out of the seat and hit the windshield. I was about 4 when that happened(1984) and we didn't have car seats back then.

[SteveCanup]

Yeah....I was trying to kill myself. I had the set of four wheels and I had stored two of them and reversed the other two. I pulled the un-reversed wheels out and put them on. I've already done a repair weld on the cracked wheel. I might pick up an extra set of tires to install on them. I like the look of the deep dish wheels and also the offset. The original wheels do not come out far enough in the wheel wells in my opinion. Being a rural area, most of the roads are country roads with 45 mph speed limit, but I still wouldn't want a wheel to come apart at that speed. I run 65-70 on the local interstates....