Swapping Steering Wheels

[jagonza]

I have a 77 and the steering wheel is the "wooden" type with a pin on the back to cancel the turn signals. I just got a different type stock "wooden" wheel ( not sure if it is an earlier or later year) in near mint condition, but the back is different - it does not have the cancelling pin and it has a deeper hub.

Does anyone know of a way to adapt that wheel so i will still have the turn signal cancelling work in my car ??

[vandor]

That wheel must be for a pre-1972 Spider. You'd need a column switch from an early Spider to make the cancelling mechanism work, but those are hard to find and fragile.
Maybe look at a way of transferring the whole plastic turn signal cancelling part from one steering wheel to the other?

[brackie1]

I have a 77 as well and tried replacing the streering wheel . I could never find anything that would work with regard to the pin and the horn. Since I do wood working I ended up breating off the plastic down to the ring and making my own wooden streering wheel since I wanted a thicker one anyway.

Gene

[jagonza]

i think i can "convert" the older wheel to make it work, i am refinishing it and then i will do some dremel work to make it work - I hope !

wow, making your own wheel is hard core for sure - can you post some pictures ?

[brackie1]

I would be glad to send you pics of the steering wheel I made and all the steps, but I am having an awful time with photobucket and can not get them posted on the forum. If you are interested I would gladly send them to you via email.
Gene
North Carolina

[brackie1]

I just can not get photobucket to work so I am unable to send pics of how I made my steering wheel. If you are interested send me an email and I will respond with the pics. my email address is gsaalw@earthlink.net.

[Johannes]

Has already anybody modified the pre 1973 to fit on a later model?

I have the same problem, my car is from 1978 and has the cancelling pin for the indicators. The steering wheel must be an older one with the plastic bars inside the hub.

Would help me a lot if someone can explain the modification, or at least send me a drawing of the position of the pin

[RRoller123]

I am confused,,, don't the steering wheels just get replaced by undoing the 6 allen screws and swapping in a new one? No effect on the hub. That is what I did. Bought one that I liked, wood appearance with the smallest available diameter, because my knees kept hitting.

Centering it lock-to-lock can be an issue for the turn signals, as it is for the tie rods. I just marked one screw with a piece of tape, went full lock to lock counting the number of allen screws it took passing by, and found the center.

[Johannes]

Hello Roller,

the original steering wheel does not have the 6 allen screws, it is mounted like your hub with a central nut.
About 1973 there must have been a change in the mounting of the steering wheel, in picture 2 you can see how it looked before '73.
In picture 3 and 4 you can see how i reworked the hub, removed the plasic bars in the hub and added the pin for the indicator cancelling (M3 screw to adjust the heigh).

I have not finished the rework yet because i want to test i on the car, which is far away at the moment. When I´m sure it fits, i will mill the hub clean.

[RRoller123]

Aha! Well that certainly explains it. Too bad, because those wheels with 6 allens are plentiful in the aftermarket, with a whole bunch of styles.

[Johannes]

I´m a bit afraid that the original wheel will get cracks, for this case i will keep the sport steering wheel from Nardi.
I already thougt about reworking the original plastic wheel when its cracked with real wood. But I have no plan how to do this at the moment.