I snagged a jeep steering column with this wheel on this weekend, along with a jack and blower for $10.

I hate the stock 87 sunbird steering wheel with big wide flat ugly center section and wanted a better looking 3 spoke wheel and thought the money was well spent. Though I am not fond of the horn button, this one blows the horn and will work for now until another cheap and better option comes along. While I don't think spray dying the wheel to match the interior will last long, I might try to get some gray leather and sew a leather wrap to the wheel to church it up a bit and match the interior.

I also need a set of gauge faces. Mine faded so bad they almost look white. I cannot get over how bad they faded, even being stored in a garage for the last 10 years, but the gas, water, oil,voltage gauges did not fade. Go figure.

Any ideas on horn button options?

Bill-

Your new wheel looks a lot like the 3 spoke sport wheel used in the sunbirds and skyhawks from 84-86. Not sure on button options for what you have - sorry .

There is a brand new cluster on eBay right now for 300 if you want something perfect. Orlen and I have spares of the earlier (2 big / 2 small) gauge configuration, but I do not have any parts for the "3 big" one that you have. Orlen or Ron?

Sorry, don't have a gauge face to fit yours.

Bill sounds like you are a budget man, and if you spend some time on that face you can bring it back to life. Did this myself many years ago and was astonished how good it looked. The face I worked on had been cleaned with widow cleaner and was so cloudy I could barely see the the speedo.

All you need is some paste wax and a buffer pad for a drill. Clean the face really good before buffing (both sides) 'cause you don't want any grit to undo the polishing. Apply wax and start buffing before it dries - really work on this, but be ever so careful not to bleak the plastic. Be prepared to spend an hour or 2. You will polish this gem up so well you'll swear you got a piece of glass in your hands!!

Incidently this is the same basis behind polishing up those clouded composite headlight covers. Will work just as well on your clouding old window tint as well - but you'll probably need to spend some cash on one of those Mothers Power Ball to work on the slanted glass back there.

Enjoy!! :-)



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Thanks for the advice guys, but Orlen the clear gauge cover is fine, its the actual face of the gauge that discolored over time. I have never seen a gauge face fade like that, especially since the gas, volt, temp and oil gauge is fine. So is your instructions pertaining to the clear cover or the actual face behind the needle. I just assumed the face behind the needle could not be improved.

I really like your red ride paul. Thanks for the reply guys

No this was specifically for the clear plastic cover, I doubt this will work on the gauge itself. This almost sounds like the fading that used to occur on that cheesy fake wood trim Ford was famous for applying on it's line of Country Squire Station Wagons. Crazy ,as much as it sounds....a wag once taught me to rub the faded fake wood panel with Crisco Grease and it would restore the plastic back to it's luster....at least till the rain washed it off and you'd be out there again with a can of Crisco again. If you feel brave you can give that a try and see if it gives you some result.



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im also looking for a different steering wheel for my cvalier wagon. i would love to have a grant woodfrain wheel but spending that kind of money isnt an option for me right now. i think the jeep wheel looks great. especially for the $$ that was spent. out of curiosity is the jeep wheel a just bolt on process or was it modified to fit?

thanks.

I got a really nice Grant GT Formula wheel for the Hawk. I got it, and the adapter for under $100.

gotelli speed shop in San Francisco is selling them cheap. I don't know how they can sell them at this price, but they do. They have a great reputation in the Bay area and my experience with them was really good.

They packed my wheel the day I ordered it, but someone forgot to put a UPS sticker on the box. After a few days, when I didn't get an email with tracking info, I called for the tracking number. The guy couldn't find the tracking number in the system, put me on hold and found my wheel was never sent.

He felt really bad about it, I told him not to worry because I wasn't going to be installing it until a week after that anyway, so it's not like I lost any time on my project. He said he would throw a few stickers in the box for "my trouble" and make sure it went out that evening. I got my wheel and there was a TON of stickers (like edelbrock, etc.) in the box and even a kids coloring book!

http://shop.gotellispeedshop.com/Steering-Wheels_c123.htm

Jon, the jeep steering wheel was a straight bolt on piece. I did however have to take off a few parts from the jeep column like the plastic plate behind the steering wheel and horn contact ring because it was a bit different than the Pontiac part, but other than swapping parts from one column to the other, the process was a pure bolt on swap process. I like the wheel so much, I wish I had 3 more....2 for my 89 Z24's and one for my 1926 Willys Overland touring car hot rod which is guided with a GM column. The Jeep is about 1/2" bigger in diameter and about an 1" less in dish, but I can easily live with those minor differences because the appearance is much more appealing.

Orlen I went for broke today and used several products to try and refurbish my faded gauge faces. I first lacquer thinner, but that didn't make a difference when it was dry, but did make them look darker when wet. Next I tried Wenol polish. That didn't do much. I tried Armor All, then several grits of polishing compound and finished with WD40. I think the plastic was mostly dried out, so I think the fish oil in the WD40 helped give the faces a wet appearance making them look darker. They are not new looking, but much darker and I love the "no cost option" used to resolve this situation. Thought I would share in case someone else needs that bit of insight.

A couple of coats of wax on those might work after all. The wax will keep the paint wet looking and darker.

It is amazing what a couple of hours in some spare time can accomplish!! So glad you are having some good results!!



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