Where the interior is concerned, the steering wheel is the focal point. Because it's one of the first things you see while driving, it's in constant view. With that being the case, an ugly or cracked wheel is nothing but an ocular annoyance when you're driving your Mustang. At each revolution, you get a good view of that bothersome crack or gapping chunk that was the result of the plastic shrinking over the years.
What to do? In this arena, there are a couple alternatives. One is to redo the wheel yourself, using a wheel resto kit such as the one from POR-15. The other is to send the wheel off to one of many parts houses for a rebuild. If you're lucky enough to have a '65-'69 Mustang with the standard wheel, you also can buy a reproduction. All three options have pros and cons. Obviously, if you try to do it yourself and fail, you will still have to send the wheel off and pay for the work. If you send the wheel off, you will be out some bucks, but the job will be correctly performed by pros who know the job because they do it every day. As for the third choice, if you have a Rim-Blow or Deluxe wheel, then you have only the first two choices.
The wheel we are planning on restoring is the Rim-Blow from our Project '70 Mach 1. The wheel on this car is actually missing. Luckily, I dug around in the "I-might-need-that-someday" pile and snagged the original Ginger Rim-Blow from our '72 Lazarus Project. After some POR-15 putty, black and brown paint, new center pad, and Rim-Blow switch from Perogie Enterprises, the wheel will be ready to install after we locate the correct column.
1 This emblem really needs...
1 This emblem really needs reproducing. Because the center pad is now available from Perogie, we are interested in seeing the emblem as well. This emblem was used on all '69-'73 Rim-Blow-equipped Mustangs. We also would like to have the aluminum pieces reproduced. Perogie has redone the plastic inserts (arrow). These were high-snag items and are often snapped off at the outer edges.
2 The center emblem shown...
2 The center emblem shown is typical of what happens to the plastic pieces--tiny fractures result from sun damage. If yours is in good condition, use a plastic cleaner and polish to bring back the original luster, then repaint the ring using Testors Silver.
3 The POR-15 Steering Wheel...
3 The POR-15 Steering Wheel Repair Kit is complete and came to us via Classic Restorations in Lake Placid, Florida [(800) 225-7422]. We had to get some Zap-A-Gap to fix a hairline crack, though.
4 On our '70 Rim-Blow, we...
4 On our '70 Rim-Blow, we used an X-Acto knife to remove the chrome strip. In most places, it just flaked off. Some areas were a bit harder, so we had to scrape and then sand.
5 As we began, we roughed...
5 As we began, we roughed up the finish with a scuffing pad to find our little nicks and cracks that, at first, were not obvious. It's surprising how many were on the wheel.
6 A sample of what we tackled...
6 A sample of what we tackled on the wheel is shown. There are other places such as the cracks on the outer ring (not shown). The marks in the finger grooves...
...and wheel stalk came from...
...and wheel stalk came from our clumsy handling of the wheel when we thought (in error) we would be chucking it in the trash.
The big gap is from shrinking....
The big gap is from shrinking. Not shown, but equally painful, were the two chunks removed by the vise from the Rim-Blow ring on the wheel.
7 We used the supplied hacksaw...
7 We used the supplied hacksaw to remove a bare minimum of the wheel rim around the crack. This was to make sure that the area was oil- and dirt-free and that the POR-15 putty had some fresh plastic to cling to. The excellent instructions suggested we use the hacksaw to cut out any cracks we found. We also used the hacksaw to rough up the steel core in the wheel for some added adhesion.