Hey, Folks,
in hopes of changing the subject, I offer my recent experience with a
steering wheel swap on my '62 TR4.
I stumbled across a nice Momo 'Indy' wheel for a TR-6 on eBay a couple of
weeks ago. I cross referenced aftermarket steering wheels in the Moss
catalog and saw that the aftermarket TR-4 and TR-6 steering wheels were
interchangeable there, so I bid on the item and managed to secure if
through aggressive last minute bidding at what I thought was a nice price
for a good custom wheel. (About $140 shipped)
Sorry if I big against somebody on the list.
The wheel is stamped with a production date of 9-84. I couldn't find them
new, so I'm not sure if they still make 'em.
My original TR-4 'banjo' wheel is actually in very nice condition and is a
handsome wheel. It's also quite large at about 16", has a skinny rim and
seems to have a little bit of flex in it despite being in near-mint
condition. (I do plan to keep the banjo wheel)
The smaller Momo wheel, at just below 14" radically changes the way the
car 'feels' to turn. Higher effort, more feedback, quicker turn-in and it
seems to reduce the amount hand repositioning when going through turns.
Added bonuses are nicer 'grip' on the wider rim, easier egress and better
vision. I never really noticed before that the stock wheel did enter into
the lower portion of my field of vision. ( I'm 5'8" and I have the stock
seats) The wheel does not obstruct the instruments. Finally, if I had to
choose between the stock wheel or the momo wheel to crash my face into,
the momo would win because it doesn't have a raised center hub to dash-in
your forehead.
Next to the addco swaybar and fat pirelli tires, this wheel changed the
way the car feels more than any other suspension mod. ( Other suspension
mods include upper a-arm shortening to induce negative camber, koni
dampers, and upgrading the damping rate in the rear lever shocks via
tweaking the valves and adding a more viscus damper oil. )
The other day, somebody was talking about putting in shorter steering
knuckles on his TR6. Since the TR-6 already has a swaybar and
comparatively wider tires, I'd go with a smaller steering wheel before the
shorter steering knuckles.
See ya' on the road....
-jeffrey
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