Rebuilding Steering Wheel

[Ashley James]

Someone in Australia told me not to use Pearlcraft and they are twice
the price of Myrtle who does mostly R-R, Bentley and Jaguar woodwork
and steering wheels. Lots of owners of these cars have jewellery that
scratches the lacquer. I don't but my steering wheel is flexible in
all directions unlike the later ones. I understand this was because
Brooklands was extremely bumpy as were the cars of that era (so is the
400 for that matter!) and it made it easier to hold on to the steering
wheel at speed. I had a racing AJS motorcycle that was fitted with
handlebars like a small car leaf spring for the same reason.

I'd definitely use Myrtle for the job and I think he is as good as any
you'll find, Bluemells Brooklands wheels aside and I don't know a
solution for those.

Rich has completely rebuilt a couple of 400 seats for Ivor Thomas's
car and it is a hell of a lot better than the standard ones but
higher. The springs were too weak in the original, there was nothing
underneath to support them, there wasn't enough horsehair padding and
the backrest gave no lumbar support at all. He partly rebuilt mine
using the original Bristol cover, but it's not the same as a complete
job, so if I can find some of the original Moquette (we have a source
of original type leather) I'll get the whole thing done because it
will transform the car. It goes like stink and cruises at well over
eighty, but needs to be more comfortable IMO.

Ash

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Ashley James

Someone in Australia told me not to use Pearlcraft and they are twice the price of Myrtle who does mostly R-R, Bentley and Jaguar woodwork and steering wheels.

This sounds like a quote from a Fox network newsreader!

Ashley, if you are going to put a company down, at least tell us which one of the 20 million people in Australia made this claim, and why you should not use Pearlcraft.

Originally Posted by Ashley James

Rich has completely rebuilt a couple of 400 seats for Ivor Thomas's
car and it is a hell of a lot better than the standard ones but
higher. The springs were too weak ....

I must must be missing something here. Does this have any relevance to restoring steering wheels?

[Hydroglen]

Peter,
Yes of course. I am hesitant to send it out of the country as I would miss
it terribly of lost so I will be looking closer to home. To some extent a
new wheel has it's attractions as it is an instant cure and I keep the old
wheel. Just the cost looks high.

Alan /Pegasus Hunter... I have redone repaired wheels in the past and happy
enough with the results. They were on Mercedes and BMW were the whole wheel
is coated / plastic and there were cracks and bits missing. On the 400 I
haven't figured out how to get the 3 spokes plated without destroyng the
covering. I would then have to start with a bare skinny metal rim. My
skills are not that good and I would be staring at my mistakes as I motor
along! Horror!

Dorien

[Ashley James]

Myrtle got all my bits
Chroned in cluding the spring and clamp and it's a very good job.
Ash

[Ashley James]

I'm sorry wish I hadn't said
it now especially as they seem really friendly when I spoke to them.
They were twice the price of Myrtle and I can't remember who put me
off.
Ash

[Geoff Dowdle]

Ash,
I probably warned you about at least two BOCA members who had problems with
Pearlcraft in Australia.
Patching a cracked wheel rim can only be a temporary fix .
To do the job properly all the original plastic material needs removing and
the rim replaced with stainless steel or bead blasted &plated .
The cracking of the plastic is sometimes caused by the original steel rim
rusting & expanding .

For a 400 type rim I suggest one buys a new wheel , if available ,which can
be attached to a original hub ,the three spokes are usually pitted under the
chrome.
The new wheel should outlast all the individual members of this Forum.

About 20 years ago a member of the BOCA here in Sydney rebuilt his own 401
steering wheel . Completely removed all the plastic rim , made a rough mould
out of three pieces of plywood or
cheap compressed board , suspended the rim in the centre of the mould then
poured the mould full or Araldite two pack glue .
Once hard smashed the mould and hand filed the rim , finishing with various
grades of sand paper , then painted with a good quality two pack paint.
The 401 went to UK some years later so I cannot comment on how well it has
lasted , but it was a very inexpensive option just taking some time, it
certainly looked perfect.

Geoff

[Ashley James]

Myrtle peel the cracked plastic off the spokes but leave the rim and
mask it, then they have the spokes polished and chromed. Finally they
mould resin back over the spokes and up to the rim and then Polyester
lacquer and polish it. The problem is that the original material was
celluloid, which is more flexible and less crack prone. However,
although there was/is a Brit company that re-celluloids I couldn't
find them and wouldn't have used them because they'd done the wheel on
one of my MKVIs and I'd seen others that were peeling and had faded to
grey and gone splotchy.

Alpine Eagle and many of the serious restorers simply fill the cracks,
two pack paint and polish wheels with great success, or if they are
bad enough they send them off to a company in Liverpool who re-cast
the rim in aluminium and paint it. Therefore any later Bristol wheels
are probably best done with two-pack after filling, but I don't think
Myrtle make the original Bluemels type, instead I think they offer, as
many do, the type of wheel used on racing Jaguars and Aston Martins of
the time.

There are Bluemels restorers but not for our type of wheel, only MG
ones.

I hope this helps.

Ashley

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Geoff Dowdle

Ash,
I probably warned you about at least two BOCA members who had problems with Pearlcraft in Australia.

Geoff, can you recall the nature of the problems they had?

Kevin