Some time ago I bought a two fork old restored steering wheel for my mini on ebay from a bloke in Canada and had it shipped out at great expense. It looked great but the earth plate for the horn was missing where the srew should be and had been bogged over.



After a few months the paint began to crackle (must have been the wrong sort of paint) and now a year or so later it looks pretty ordinary all round. With on going horn problems (I messed around with wires to bypass the earth plate to make it work) I have removed the steering wheel and temporarily gone back to the little old sports steering wheel that was on the car when I got it. I was just given a steering wheel (pictured below) to get restored.







I got a quote from a reputable Australian small business that does brilliant work and just does steering wheel restorations. The quote came in at over $500-! Now, I have no problem with that company or what they do but simply cannot afford to pay that sort of money.
Has anyone had a go at doing a resto themselves using some sort of resins and paint? Is it something I should try on this steering wheel or should I just put out a wanted ad on ausmini or keep looking on ebay?
Does anyone have a good one to sell? Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

Yes, quite a bit of money.......I am also a fan of original wheels but also not a lotto winner!
Good luck with it - hope someone knows how to restore it so you could have a go yourself.

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Cooper S Mk2
Cooper S Mk1
ex Cooper S Mk2, various Morris 1100s, 1300s, 1500s, Leyland Sherpa!

I refurbed mine with good old bog sanded it all smooth then sprayed it with KillRust epoxy paint - came up fantastic

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

por15 have a steering wheel restoration kit (clicky), and if it is anything like their other products, it would be perfect for the job

I am not sure if the Australian supplier of por15 (PPC) have them, but the steering wheel restoration kit is available on the US por15 site....(por15.com)

I know the Australian website do not have everything listed that they have, so would be worthwhile giving them a call...

pm smelly, he did his and looks a million dollars!!

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Thanks for these early replies, it's a great start.

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

Matt68 has an absolutely beautiful steering wheel in his De Luxe. It is painted in black 2k and I THINK that he just bogged it etc. Hopefully he'll see this thread and reply for you Jim.

Once that tough clear layer comes off the wheel just starts disintegrating

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

A little birdy pointed me in this direction

I'll have to get some pics of it tonight, and will upload them tomorrow.

I took the wheel to the local panel beaters / spray painters. They sanded it back, plastic welded the cracks, used a bit of filler, and then did it in gloss black 2-pac paint. That was about 2 years ago (4000 ish miles) and it is flawless!

Cost: $80 as he put it through his spray booth when he did another gloss black 2 pac job, so he used the left over on the wheel.

Had to wait 11 months for the bloke to have another job on with that paint though!

He had quoted $150 to $200 to do it all individually.

I tried doing one with pressure packs, and it just won't work.

Cheers

matt

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68 Deluxe.... it's shiny..... I like shiny!!

Thanks heaps.

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

what exactly is the original steering wheel made of?

cheers

odd

Metal bits inside, but the plastic is bakelite I think.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

There is a two pack fibreglass resin you can get from Bunnings. It dries clear but has the benefit of being a very strong bonding agent. For a steering wheel repair I would value something filling the hole that added strength. Not sure what ou would paint it with; I am sure others know. From memory it is less than 20 bucks and can be sanded to a glass finish. Good luck!

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1964 Cooper UK 970 S 'CZ 4289'

The bakelite that is cracked on your wheel above is non-structural. The metal inside is what gives the wheel it's integrity. That being said, i had it 'plastic welded' to bond the edges of the crack together properly. If you just bog it, it will only look good for so long, then the crack's will re-appear and widen!

For the same reason i have heard of some folks using a flexi-sealant in these cracks.

IMO the wheel you have is a good candidate for restoring. I reckon you should hit up a few spray painters in your area and get some pricing!

I'll grab pics at Lunch.

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68 Deluxe.... it's shiny..... I like shiny!!

Give it a thorough clean, fill the cracks, sand & paint





Paint is still fine a couple of years down the track.
I did this on the car as I couldn't get the bastard off!

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Too many cars, and too little time.