Steering Wheel Recover - Part Deux! (Pix & A Bit Long)

[Dan in Pasadena]

First, apologies to jjones20 for sort of hijacking his thread of the same subject.

Next, Bigchillcar (Ryan) pretty much talked me into taking this project on by doing his own a while back...so here goes.

The 3 spoke wheel on my '76 has its covers threads almost completely gone. That is, they ARE gone from spoke to spoke but are still in place AT the spokes. Picture:


This is the worst location around the diameter.


This is the best place, still tight but no thread (glue must be holding)


The leather remains tight ON the spokes.

Last, I purchased from Michael's (a craft supply store) Tanner's Bond Leathercraft Cement glue, curved needles and "artificial sinew" which is a multi-stranded, synthetic, waxed, threadlike material which is made by someplace called, "The Leather Factory - JB Tandy" (or Dandy - can't read the tiny label). Okay, that's it. I don't know if this will work or be a bust but it is costing me only $12.50 so far to try it - beats the hell out of buying a new or used wheel right now. If it comes out good I will spray the center portion of the wheel with trim spray and seee how the whole thing looks....it couldn't look much worse than it does now!

[ghnat]

When done give us a write up. What will you use to clean up the leather?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Actually the leather doesn't need "cleaning" per se, it is in remarkably good condition. But the dye has worn away.... just at the edges ...so I will have to redye it. I don't think it is bad enough to go with real leather dye on the whole thing, the surfaces for your hands are smooth and undamaged.

I may just have to re-dye the edges with whatever is handy...Rit dye, Magic marker(!) shoe polish..we're only talking right around the edge after it has ben re-stitched.

[bigchillcar]

warning! thread hijack alert! re-cover writeup thread inserted:
Steering wheel reupholstery complete..pics



damn, dan..if you want to order the new cover through pelican, send me the wheel and i'll do her..or you can try to salvage what you've got there..but it looks a little more rough than i recalled.
ryan

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ryan, In that one closeup shot it looks pretty bad, the loss of dye is accentuated by the closeup. In real life it doesn't look that bad and when I force the leather closed the edges line up pretty good. I'm reasonably sure I can get it to stitch closed, just not sure I can do it without ripping through a needle hole (Doh!) which would screw it up.

Also, I saw on Ebay a three spoke 'Carrera' wheel going for $350 (??) that had seam closeups. The edges are pulled so tight that they pucker up a little. Not sure I can do that without risking pulling through the holes. I'll give it a shot and if I finish it without ripping my hair out I'll dye the edge and post the results.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Okay, its after midnight and I just finished re-stitching the wheel. Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. This was tedious to say the least. Took me exactly 5 hours sitting in one place and though it is drammatically better looking than it looked in the pictures above, I am definitely NOT satisfied with it.

The leather was too dried out in spots and so was not flexible enough to fully close all the way around the rim. I mostly got it closed but it also ripped through the pre-existing holes in three places. Doesn't show that too bad, but the loose fit on the seam closure in a few places looks bad. Oh well, I guess it is temporary until I decide what aftermarket wheel to buy. Pictures tomorrow. I'm going to bed.

[bigchillcar]

dan..maybe buy the pelican kit and send it to me. i've had another pelican inquire about doing it and i suppose that i could. i found only like two shops around the country that would do it and i seem to recall they wanted like $180-200 to do the job. i was thinking i might do one for maybe $75 in labor, as it took me 7 hours the first time with a new kit..the holes are harder to find with a new kit..but mine turned out swell.
ryan

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by bigchillcar
dan..maybe buy the pelican kit and send it to me.

Yeah, well...except that its already DONE

After sleeping on it, I've decided it probably looks okay. Overall, (& if you are not specifically looking at the seam) the wheel looks 1000% better than before. I keep telling myself that no one is ever going to look at it as closely as these closeup pictures show...that is unless I meet up with a Pelican!
Here's an overall "After" look:



Here's closeup. 80% of the seam came out this good or better:



A small portion at about 10-11 o'clock on the wheel - the seam just would NOT close up. It was too old and dry after 30 years. I thought about using something to soften it but I am sure the holes would have torn through. As it is, I tore through in only two places...after barely putting any tension on the sinew. All other locations I used a fairly steady amount of tension and the holes held fine:



After completing, I stained the edges and rough spots with regular Scuff-Kote shoe polish, allowed it to soak in and buffed off all the excess. OK, that's it. That "artificial sinew" stuff from Michael's is absolutely the way to go IMO. The waxiness of it makes it sort of "bind" on itself, lessening the tendency to loosen up after you pull the next stitch. Whatdya think Ryan?

[Dan in Pasadena]

P.S. I am spraying the center portion of the wheel with a trim spray I found at Pep Boys. Again, not optimum but I think it will look drammatically better than that "Before" picture up above at a tiny fraction o the cost to replace it. I am ordering a small 356 hood emblem for the center, maybe it'll draw attention away from the few bad spots in the stitching!

I'l post an installed final picture soon.

[bigchillcar]

the job looks good! too bad about the areas you couldn't get to close up..i'm really surprised that pulling the thread tight didn't accomplish that..i would have expected maybe the opposite, that you'd have overlap almost. well, if you get desperate and order the new kit, i promise i'll do her, but looks like you got the procedure down yourself!
ryan

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks for the kind words Ryan. Funny thing, in the two places where it tore through I barely, and I mean BARELY applied any tension at all and it just ripped. In all other places I was applying good steady tension and in 80% it closed right up. Perfect, no problem. In the place where it wouldn't close up I kinda wonder if the factory glue below was holding it and the leather has shrunk in 30 years..or something?! By the way, those loose long ends? I intentionally left them long until I spray and reassemble. I will probably Super Glue them somewhere they won't show.

[bigchillcar]

By the way, those loose long ends? I intentionally left them long until I spray and reassemble.

i left mine long, too. they tuck under the cap when you pop it on just fine. i didn't want to cut them.

so, you didn't completely loosen the cover from the wheel first? i just assumed that you did..probably why it didn;t come together in that area. if so..and i know you'll cringe..but i'd cut the threads back away from that section and try loosening the cover and re-glueing it..bet then it will close.
ryan

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by bigchillcar
..... i know you'll cringe..but i'd cut the threads back away from that section and ....ryan

Pardon me but, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!

My back is killing me from 5 hours in one spot. I'm living with it - at least for now. Maybe I'll work up the energy to redo that last part - the biggest part evenutally but as of right now I am retired from steering wheel restoration work.

[bigchillcar]

(cracks whip) just do it!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi Ryan, Going home right now to spray the center covers and I'll post the final results after install later.

Knowing how I am the separation will probably bug me and eventually I will either pull it off there for redo or sell it for another wheel....right now? My back is telling me, "new wheel, new wheel!"

I love the 930S wheels but traded the one I had for the full body rubber kit I used when I painted my car. I also love the Nardi's but they are expensive and not really "right" for 911's, they're right for 356's...but I could be tempted if I run across one cheap (yeah, that'll happen!). Other than that I am not sure. I am not a big fan of the Momo's. Maybe a silver Prototipo but those are NLA AND they're expensive. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

[bigchillcar]

your back will heal..and when it does..'back' to work!

[PRE-H20]

ryan,

that "other pelican" inquiring was moi!.... and i might be sending you my wheel for a re-stitch pretty soon,.......

[bigchillcar]

pre...do you already have the new leather kit? i think i'd around $50.
ryan

[PRE-H20]

nope not yet..... im pretty sure our gracious host has them........ i will be in touch,.....

[Matt Smith]

Looks like excellent stitching!

Probably too late now, but I'm guessing that leather would have responded a whole lot better (as in like OEM) if you had started conditioning the leather several weeks before starting this project.

Leather is skin. It looses moisture; if you replace this over a period of time it will recover its elasticity.

Nice work anyway.