Steering Wheel Swop

[pgwabbott]

Hi
Does anyone have any experience of changing their steering wheel from the later black plastic number with the splined boss over to one of the early, lovely red bakerlite Quillery steering wheels with the three bolt fixing? I was hoping that I might be able to find a boss - maybe from a R5 that could be adapted.
Thanks
Paul

 

[snailshed]

Hi, I haven't done the swap you mention (I didn't know there was a difference) but if there isn't a boss, the answer could be to get a spare late type wheel and use an angle grinder / mule skinner to take the plastic off the metal centre that must be moulded into the plastic. Once its cleaned back to the metal, some welding / drilling / general shed action should be able to see you fabricate up something to do the job.

The above might sound a bit brutal / heath robinson but a spare steering wheel I'd have thought will only set you back about a tenner, so theres not much lost by experimenting... and by doing stuff on the wheel you can always revert the car back to standard if you need to.

 

[malcolm]

Can't think how I would do that. The R4 columns are quite different and there aren't handy R5 bits so you are into mods. Whatever you do don't be tempted to weld the steering column together as they are under a fair bit of load and it's not ideal when they break (had a standard Triumph column snap on me once but it wasn't at speed in my favourite corner thankfully).

 

[angel]

Instead of welding the steering column (to be avoided, as Malcolm said), I did what Snailshed thought. The splined centre on later wheels is actually a hexagon moulded in the plastc and welded on the steering wheel steel frame. I cut it off a scrap steering wheel, made a circular steel plate with three holes in the lathe and welded it on the splined hexagon. Of course I had the weld done from a competent welder, and chamfered the sides of the hexagon at the weld circumference, to have more weld area.
It worked fine, and I think it's more than adequate as strength is concerned.

 

[Azazello]

I bought a red quillery steering wheel today, didn't know it had the three holes instead of the splines...
So I think I am going to have some nice work done...