Attempting to restore a 65 GS steering wheel. Part 1

[option B9]

  Back in April or May I was planning on installing the restored steering wheel from Koch's into my Red GS and had the fitment problems that many of our members had. So I made the corrections and re-sprayed the wheel and on it went, and it looks great ! The original wheel was in rough shape ( photo 706) so I put it on the shelf and it would have been sold at the next BCA meet. In an email or a post Marcus said that the person that was painting his Skylark was going to repair the steering wheel... So that had me thinking, what would he be doing that I could not do ! So I looked into the subject and found several Hobbyist on the internet that have videos on how they repaired the typical 1960's era cracked wheel. So I watched the videos and picked one that seemed to be the simplest and the least expensive..
   I had all but one of the items needed for the repair, so off to my local True Value hardware store to order the PC-7 Epoxy in 2 half pound containers (photo 758) so I did not have to pay the $10 shipping fee that Amazon charges.  I sanded the areas with 60 grit sand paper and used my Black & Decker Dremmel type tool to grind out the plastic to the steel frame (photo 712) then mixed the epoxy parts A & B and filled in the areas using a putty knife and hobby craft sticks. Let it harden overnight ! Then sand it with 80 &100 grit, mark off all the low spots and imperfections mix more epoxy and fill in again.. repeat this process until you are satisfied with the finish (photo 721) This is a very slow time consuming procedure that's not going to get done in a weekend. Then Proceeded with 120, 220, & 360 wet (black) sandpaper to get a super smooth finish (photo 733) Dry and clean the wheel for the next step that will be in part 2

     Tony   

[cwmcobra]

Tony, congrats on having the patience to do such a tedious task. It's looking great and I'm sure it will be very satisfying when it is finished! Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Chuck

[elagache]

Dear Tony, Chuck, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Hmm, I never thought of Epoxy as a way to repair these steering wheels.  Indeed it is looking very good!

This is a case where slow and steady will win the race!  Decades ago I made myself a camping table with a piece of plywood that I varnished over and over.  Time after time I would wet-sand and remove most of the varnish I had put on and then I would repeat the procedure.  Nonetheless, it was all worth it!  I still have that table and it is still as beautiful as the day I decided good was good enough!

Keep up the good work Tony!

Edouard