A couple years ago I was forced to make some steering wheels because the aftermarket had not yet carried them in the size I needed. This is how I did it, I didnt take pics documenting every step, so feel free to ask questions. Hopefully this will help others with tight budgets... I had a donor wheel to start with, it was 19'' huge and the plastic was cracking. I cut-out the center spoke that is needed to mount the wheel to the column, and threw the rest away. Using a $20 wheel from Auto Zone, I peeled off the rubber grip and seperated the spokes from the wheel.
Second, I grabbed the old 1963 spoke and mated it with the new wheel. Since it is now a 15" wheel, I also had to narrow the horn button and design a new horn ring. I cut some aluminum to the width I needed, bent it around an old milk-jug that was the right circumference and mounted it to the old horn button. Since I cant weld aluminum to pot metal, I tapped it from the back side and screwed it together.
I painted the wheel, assembled it and started wheel #2. The same concept applies, but this time fabbing my own "Banjo" wheel. I centered the old wheel "guts" inside a jig and measured all sides. I cut 9 pieces of wire and welded them where I thought they should go. I had it wrapped in leather for $60 and made a horn button from some scrap F-16 engine parts I collected. Here they are finished,
The Jalopy Journal
