Steering Wheel Repairs....

[geoberni]

Over the past 9 years of Basil's ownership, I have often wondered about what condition his steering wheel was in.

When I brought him, this was how his steering wheel looked, a very neat job:

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.
But what was it hiding...

So a couple of days ago, I bit the bullet and took a look.

Working from the outside, there was ....
A top layer of overlapping Black Insulating Tape.
Then there was approximately 30 yards of Black Lacing Cord.
Under that was a further generous overlapping layer of Black Insulating Tape.
Finally there was a layer of thin Foam Tape (not overlapped).

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There were surprisingly few cracks, just 3 radial around the rim and a couple of small long ones on the underside, but no real width to any of them.
Some areas of surface crazing.
I used Milliput putty, a mix of the black and silver grey, to make a dark grey putty for the cracks.
The crazing I dealt with by applying varnish to try and seal it and then I rubbed it all down with some wire wool.
Finally polished up with Brasso.

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As my wife said, it was far too nice to be hidden
it looks really grey on the photos, but there is a green element to it, depending on the lighting.

[Bill_qaz]

Nice job Berni, it looks much nicer than when it was covered up.

[ManyMinors]

That looks great! The wheel is in much better condition than many are
Well worth the time and effort.

[Mervin]

Good job, well done.
Although that shouldn't be like it was with only 5 miles on the clock.

[geoberni]

Good job, well done.
Although that shouldn't be like it was with only 5 miles on the clock.

That was just after I'd changed the speedo for having a busted odometer. When I brought him the previous 6 years of MOTs were all the same reading, it's not a legal requirement to have a working odometer.

[geoberni]

First proper drive out in Basil yesterday, took me a little while to get used to the significantly thinner steering wheel, but it also 'felt right' compared to before...

[mikec4193]

Glad you liked the finished product...