Well, I'm always looking for a weekend project...You know, something hands on related to the Corvette that doesn't take forever to do, but that makes the Corvette look nicer.
In light of that, I thought I'd share a weekend project with you that I did a few weeks ago. It might be something a few of you want to do with a future weekend.
The project was to fix up a 1955 steering wheel that was pretty messed up. (see picture below) Some friends who I showed it to told me to throw it away because it was long gone. But, I never have the heart to throw out a Corvette part; no matter how bad it is.
To start out, the center hub was bad, so cut it out and welded a new one in from a passanger car. It didn't take too long, but was tricky to line up. After that I ground out all the cracks and cleaned up all the sharp edges to prep it for the "body work." As you can see About 9 inches of one rim was gone, including the nubs. So I started building it up and trying to form it. I also filled all the cracks at this time. After things dried for a while I got out the file and sand paper and sat down for a few hours of sanding and forming. After that I had to fill in more parts of the wheel with more filler and then more sanding, priming, filling, sanding, p*******..... It took forever, but finally it was ready for paint. I decided to follow the original colors; polo white and gypsy red. So I got out the paint gun and did my thing. After the color went on I gave it somewhere around 5 coats of clear coat...but sort of lost count. After that I let it dry for a while, then got out the sand paper and water for wet sanding. Wow, if that doesn't take forever when you're doing it be hand. I can't imagine wet sanding an entire car by hand, though I have friends who do it. Once the wet sanding was done (2500 grit) I brought out the buffer and buffed her up before giving her a final finish coat of wax.
Although this project turned into a few weekneds, it was a lot of fun. Now I just need to buy a 1955 Corvette to put the wheel on...
Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read all this. I hope maybe those who read this will think twice about throwing away "junk parts." Everything can be fixed with enough time and money I guess.
I have more before and after pictures at the link below. I also posted the "AFTER" picture in another message.
Good luck with the weekend projects guys, just remember to make them fun.
1955 Steering Wheel More pictures
In light of that, I thought I'd share a weekend project with you that I did a few weeks ago. It might be something a few of you want to do with a future weekend.
The project was to fix up a 1955 steering wheel that was pretty messed up. (see picture below) Some friends who I showed it to told me to throw it away because it was long gone. But, I never have the heart to throw out a Corvette part; no matter how bad it is.
To start out, the center hub was bad, so cut it out and welded a new one in from a passanger car. It didn't take too long, but was tricky to line up. After that I ground out all the cracks and cleaned up all the sharp edges to prep it for the "body work." As you can see About 9 inches of one rim was gone, including the nubs. So I started building it up and trying to form it. I also filled all the cracks at this time. After things dried for a while I got out the file and sand paper and sat down for a few hours of sanding and forming. After that I had to fill in more parts of the wheel with more filler and then more sanding, priming, filling, sanding, p*******..... It took forever, but finally it was ready for paint. I decided to follow the original colors; polo white and gypsy red. So I got out the paint gun and did my thing. After the color went on I gave it somewhere around 5 coats of clear coat...but sort of lost count. After that I let it dry for a while, then got out the sand paper and water for wet sanding. Wow, if that doesn't take forever when you're doing it be hand. I can't imagine wet sanding an entire car by hand, though I have friends who do it. Once the wet sanding was done (2500 grit) I brought out the buffer and buffed her up before giving her a final finish coat of wax.
Although this project turned into a few weekneds, it was a lot of fun. Now I just need to buy a 1955 Corvette to put the wheel on...
Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read all this. I hope maybe those who read this will think twice about throwing away "junk parts." Everything can be fixed with enough time and money I guess.
I have more before and after pictures at the link below. I also posted the "AFTER" picture in another message.
Good luck with the weekend projects guys, just remember to make them fun.
1955 Steering Wheel More pictures
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