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I have a 68 steering column in the 66 and when I installed it I either had to use a 68 type wheel, a Grant, or a flat wheel with 4" of accordion plastic sleeve between the wheel and the column...hate that! So, I went with the Grant but never really liked it.
So as I got into my winter bugaboo repair on the car I decided to see if I could do something with the steering wheel. I know Jim Bowie has a reduced diameter stock wheel on his 65 and after picking his brain and talking to my cousin who has done a dozen or so, I decided to give it a try. Problem is, there's more involved in putting a 66 wheel on a 68 column.
First I figured what had to be done to make the 66 wheel work on the 68 column. That mostly involved reshaping the bottom of the spokes. Otherwise, the overhang hits the E-Flasher switch.
Then I needed to add material to the wheel hub to match the diameter of the 68 column...lots o' fun.
Then, to get the diameter down to 15" or so I removed the plastic where each spoke joined the grip and cut the grip off of the spokes. Then cut 3 1/4 inches out of the grip and welded it back together. Then welded the grip back onto the spokes.
Next came the time consuming part...replacing the plastic and repairing the damage with epoxy.
After a lot of shaping, filling, sanding, and doin' it all over again it began to take shape.
And finally started looking like it might work.
I shot it with four coats of black epoxy paint and today I added a Wheel Skins leather cover. That made the grip thickness just about right....think I'll keep it.
Thanks Jim B for the help, sample, and good advice.
BB
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WOW!!!! That turned out nice. Looks like a lot of work, but worth it.
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Wow! too. I'm impressed.
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Very nice job👍👍👍👍👍
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Very nice
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Looks Great BB! I need to do something with my Mach I steering wheel but haven't made the leap yet.
Steve
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Great work BB. I have been searching for someone to reduce the diameter of my stock wheel. I does not look like you went as far as could be done but I would like to know how you cut out the rim and kept the circular integrity? The metal in that rim is very stout.
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Good job BB. I really like how that came out. Now that I have PS in my car, I might have to consider a smaller wheel.
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Thanks for the kind words, guys.
Dave: Good to hear from you. Hope all is well up there. Say Hi to Maria, hope we get to see you guys at a bash again some day.
Boom: I went about as far as I thought was possible and still keep the stock tri-bar horn button. After removing the rim I cut 3 1/4" from the steel (looking for just under 15" dia.) and used two cabinet clamps to pull it back together and hold it mostly round. It's just slightly egged but not enough that anyone, including me, is going to notice. After it was welded I over-sprung it against the egg to get it more round. I had considered making a form but without heat it would still have wanted to go egg. In the end I just used the clamps and it worked okay.
BB
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Very nice work, looks good BB, butt(TS) I'm more amazed at all of the ciphering you are doing on those sheets under the pic of the wheel with the parts cut out., I got a headache just looking at that.
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MAW wrote:
Very nice work, looks good BB, butt(TS) I'm more amazed at all of the ciphering you are doing on those sheets under the pic of the wheel with the parts cut out., I got a headache just looking at that.
I didn't even notice that, Mike. I'm laying out an EFI front harness for a friend's 64 Falcon. I must have taken that pic with the wheel setting on my wiring bench. LOL.
BB
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Very nice work BB! Love the leather wrap!
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BB, how much did you trim off the spokes? What kind of epoxy did you use and why the yellow tape? on the cut parts of the plastic?
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Very nice indeed. You could make some cash doing those wheels.
Bob
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Kstang; Wheel Skins make a very nice product...custom to the sizes you tell them. They don't give anything away but the product is nice.
Boom; It was right near a half inch. I positioned the rim on the spokes after I reduced the dia. The tape was just me marking where to cut the plastic with a hacksaw blade. I used a small cut-off wheel and a utility knife for the longitudinal cuts. The epoxy is P-7, easy to work good body. Use a wet finger to smooth it after application (learned that near the end).
RPM; Thanks for the kind words Bob. Don't think I want to go into the Steering Wheel bidness right now butt, my cousin has done a dozen or more and would probably quote a price if someone is interested. It's really not all that hard, just takes some thinkin' and time. If I hadn't been making the changes for the 68 column it would have been much easier.
BB
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BB,
Nice job. Looks Great!
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Bullet Bob wrote:
......... my cousin has done a dozen or more and would probably quote a price if someone is interested. .........
BB, please ask him for me. I would probably go another 1/4" on the spokes. I would not need the enlargement of the hub as I am using the stock set up. I would be interested what he would charge just up to before the final sanding. I could do that as well as the painting. Especially the welding would be beyond my pay grade. Did you recreate the finger grooves with your epoxy work? Did you order your WheelSkin as a custom size?
I actually spoke with the manufacturer of the aftermarket wheels that you see on all the Mustang supply websites. I told him that there would probably be a considerable market for reduced diameter stock wheels. He was not interested.
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BB that's an amazing job! I too was gazing at the papers under the steering wheel and thought wholly molly is putting all that math to this job!!
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Very cool! At a loss of words to say about it. I think it awesome you took out 3.14 inches to make your new 15" pie.
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I liked the big "trucker wheel" myself.....
6s6(good buddy/go'in10-8 rog-o)
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Boom; I just called him...will PM you soon as I post this. He has a 15" rim on the shelf that he could reduce a half inch or so and put it on the Mustang spokes. His email is in the PM. The finger groves were mostly saved as I replaced the plastic rim sections that I removed. The Wheel Skin is a custom size, they ask for the grip dia. and the outside dia. of the rim when you order.
Oz; That's pretty funny. I didn't even notice that all that wiring crappo what in that pic. Only math involved in this wheel job was multiplying 3.1416 times the number of inches you want to remove from the rim diameter. In my case I cut 3.25 and ended up with a 14.75 wheel.
Greg; Thanks again for the nice comment. This, to me, is the fun stuff that make goofing with these old heaps worth the time and effort.
BB
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Cool!
I really appreciate a project where homebrewed ingenuity turns out a better product than anything that can be bought off the shelf.
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BB - very, very nice ... as your projects always seem to be.
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Great work BB!!
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Verrry nice work BB.
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