Here was my problem: the steering wheel in my '53 Chevy blocked my view of my turn signal indicators because it was too thick and too small (14 3/4). None of this occured to me when I was puting the car together. Anyway, I had an early 1960s Corvair steering wheel that I planned on using, but the spline was wrong for the 1978 steering column, it was way too deep, and the hub was smaller than the column diameter. Changing the spline on my column or the steering wheel would not have solved the depth or diameter issue.
Now, this column already had a Grant adapter on it, so I cut out the center of the Corvair wheel. I don't have a photo to show it from the side, but the hub was at least 4 inches deep, which would have put the wheel somewhere near the roof of the car! Once it was cut, I made a steel plate that had the same hole pattern as the Grant wheel, welded it to the back of the spokes, and tack-welded the adapter cover to the back of the plate. A little bondo blended the spokes in with plate.
A little sanding, a little spray paint, and VIOLA, I've got a bigger, skinnier steering wheel in my car. Now it looks more "kustom" and less "hot rod," it sits about an inch closer to me when I'm driving, and I can see my guages and turn-signal indicators without swaying in my seat like a serpent. Total cost: Steering wheel (free because I already had it, but I paid $15 for it years ago) Grant adapter (free because it was already on the car, but it cost about $15) Fiberglass-reinforced bondo (already had it - I'd have used epoxy if I didn't) Spray paint ($5 for a can of Black Rustoleum epoxy enamel appliance paint, $4 for a can of silver auto touchup paint) Time spent: one afternoon Payoff: priceless. You would not believe how much changing the steering wheel changes the feel of the car!
I know there are other ways to adapt steering wheels to columns, and I know that late-model GM columns aren't traditional to begin with, but I started with what I already had. Doing it this way minimized my cost and made the whole job extremely easy. The most important part, to me, was the metal piece from the Grant adapter that blended the steering wheel into the diameter of the column. Next time I build a car, I'll use an older steering column and avoid this whole issue! (p.s. I know how to spell "voila")
I'm confused about the wheel not fitting the column...as far as I know the Chevy steering wheels from the 50s-60s all fit the 70s-80s columns. For example, I had a late 70s chevy truck wheel in one of my 59 pickups for a while.
1964, 65 and 66 Corvair steering wheels have a different diameter spline than other Chevys including other year Corvairs.
Great post! I am currently working out how to mount my 50 Plymouth wheel onto an early 60s column for my Suburban wagon. I was planning to cut the center out of a 60's wheel and graft it onto my 50 model wheel, but maybe an adapter would work......great info, thanks.
GM columns changed right around 1970. (Trucks may be an exception to this, but my 1985 Chevy truck column is identical to the 1978 column in my '53 Chevy). My 1965 Impala wheel wouldn't fit the 1978 column, either. The columns got bigger diameter and the wheels all changed basic design right around 1969 or 1970, when they started puting the ignition in the column, and earlier 1960s wheels will not fit 1970s or 1980s GM columns. They older wheels are way too deep and the hub diameter is too small. Keep in mind, the techniques I showed will adapt ANY wheel to ANY column, as long as there's a Grant adapter available for the column.
The advantage of using the adapter is that it lets you adjust the depth of the wheel (depending on where you cut the spokes, and the shape of the plate you weld onto them) AND you then use the Grant horn button and wiring. Of course, that's also the disadvantage if you want to use an OEM horn botton. I did this one the way I did because I already had the adapter on the column.
I forgot to mention the horn buttons: Grant has a ton of them (http://www.grantproducts.com/default.html), and so doesn Mooneyes (http://www.mooneyesusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=242&Page=2) I'll probaby get the chrome Moon bullet eventually.
Glad I could help! The best part is you can change the depth of the wheel quite a bit depending on where you cut it and how you shape the new metal. The only hard part is getting it centered just right. Post some photos when you do yours!
I put a '64 Skylark wheel on an '84 Skylark column and all I had to do was change the horn contact because it was in a different spot. Which, if you pull the lock plate and drill a couple new holes in it you can run the wheel as-is. 77-up have a plastic cover and older ones have a metal cover that hides the column guts. Outside of that almost anything fits on anything, except some 50s big GM cars have a larger column.
I know, but in this case the spline was different AND the column diameter was much bigger than the wheel's hub AND the wheel was way, way too deep for the column! And more importantly someone could use this exact same technique to mount ANY wheel on ANY column. This just happened to be the wheel I wanted and the column I had.
Nicely done and explained very well. This is the kind of stuff that really gets my attention. And as you said , the possibilities are almost endless. Thanks.
I'm in the middle of modifying a 59 Dodge Custom Royale wheel to fit a GM (Holden ) column...worth a thread? BTW my 46 Fleet-master wheel fits the spline perfect of a 78 GM Holden column.
Sure it's worth a thread - anything anybody does can be learned from and that's what the HAMB is all about.
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