Cliff,
As a matter of fact, I am currently in the midst of refinishing my TR3
steering wheel. As George suggested to you, I did buy the steering
wheel restoration kit from Eastwood, and am more or less following the
instructions in the manual that's supplied. My steering wheel had many
cracks, none terribly big and it's finish was pretty much gone. I used
the PC-7 epoxy supplied to fill the cracks and sanded everything down,
after filing off the excess fill material, to a fairly smooth surface.
I'm not sure I'm all that impressed with how well the PC-7 epoxy adheres
to the original material (hard rubber??) of the steering wheel, but
perhaps I didn't let it cure long enough in the couple of places I ran
some "test fills". I decided to use the PC-7 anyway, as I reasoned that
the manual's author, Jack Turpin, wouldn't recommend this epoxy if it
didn't work. Besides, he has a whole lot more experience doing this
than I have.......
The real rub came when I tried to buy the primer and overcoat he
recommended. The auto paint store I went to wanted almost $100.00 for a
quart of each, the smallest quantity I could buy. Golly, I can get a
repro from TRF for $150.00, and I'd already put several hours of work in
the wheel filling the cracks!!! So, I opted to go to my local hardware
store, where I found DAP brand Derusto Epoxy Appliance paint in gloss
black and a matching black primer. (At least if you wear through the top
coat, it still looks black!) I tried painting my original (also hard
rubber??) emergancy brake hand grip with this combination, and it came
out a beautiful, smooth, high gloss black. So, I plan to paint the
steering wheel next, with hopefully, the same results.
If you can't get that "tab" of rubber to lie down using heat, etc., you
could probably replace and rebuild the area using the PC-7. If you
don't want to buy the kit from Eastwood, you might contact the
manufacturer of PC-7 - PC Products 221 South Third St. Allentown, PA
18102 and see if they have a distributor in your area.
Sorry for being so long winded..... Good Luck
Russ
TS49694LO
Cliff Pike wrote:
>
> Listers,
> I have two TR3A steering wheels that I would like to
> refinish, as they have lost their original finish and have
> some cracking. I have looked at a few websites that offer
> this service but would like to tackle the job myself.
> The replacement wheels I have seen have had a very shiny
> finish. Did the original wheels look like this? Does anyone
> know what kind of preparation prior to painting might be
> required, and what paint would be best to use. I was
> thinking some kind of epoxy paint would be suitable, and a
> sandable epoxy filler to repair the cracks.
> Thanks again to all on the list who have answered my
> questions in the past. I'm in a major learning curve here,
> and at some point in the future I hope to reciprocate...
> TIA
> Cliff Pike
> 58 TR3A TS30767LO project
> 59 TR3A TS47064L future project / donor
> 60 TR3A TS64232L donor
> 66 Spitfire4 MKII FC85163 driver
> 64 Spitfire4 donor (for now)
>
> --
> Business website: http://www.cpass.net
> Pike Family Home Page: http://www.cpass.net/~cpike/home2.htm
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