Nighthawkf-117

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys,

I recently had an idea to build my own steering wheel for my thirdgen. Doing some research I couldn't find many people who have done this, or at least documented it on the internet. So I decided to start this thread to show my process for doing this.

I am tackling this project because I want a more race-like steering wheel for my camaro. I found some I like from Sparco and Momo but they are very expensive. Plus I enjoy fabricating parts myself. Taking raw materials and turning them into something functional in my own garage has always brought me pleasure.

So I took a few hours on AutoCad and drew something up that I liked. You could draw your design on paper but a CAD program gives you the ability to print exact replicas of your drawing whenever needed. So far in the project I have printed off my drawing 3 times. This would have been difficult working with a paper drawing.

The plan is to make the wheel portion out of some .75" ash. The center section that bolts to the column will be 3/16" aluminum plate. The wheel will have a ring of 1/4" round steel in its center. This is a safety feature. In case of an accident the steel ring will bend and hold the parts of the wood wheel together instead of becoming shrapnel a couple feet away form my face. The wheel will be covered in leather and the center section painted black with a Chevy logo attached in the center. I also plan on integrating turn signal push buttons onto the aluminum center section as well as a horn push button.

Once I had my drawing I sectioned off the wheel to start its construction. This makes 6 trapezoids, which will be joined together with spline joints. These were made on a table saw. Then glued and clamped. Two of these hexagons will be glued together to make the entire wheel. It has to be made in two halfs because the steel ring and aluminum center section have to be glued in the middle of the wheel.

I printed off my drawing and cut it into the trapezoids i needed to make the wheel. I then transferred these onto ash and cut a them out using a table saw and miter saw. Then used the table saw to make the spline joints. The parts were then glued and clamped and left to dry. In the mean time I cut the center section from a aluminum plate.

Tomorrow I can un-clamp the other half of the wheel and cut them to shape. I will also begin to seat the center section and cut the slot for the steel ring.

jharrison5

Looks like you're well on your way to having exactly what you want for your ride. In the end I guarantee you'll be way more happy with this wheel then if you had just bought one.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

While props for making your own wheel I still feel that the wood is a bad choice for an accident (wood splinters as you know already) as the wood will splinter and no way for the steel to hold the splinters in.

Wheels might cost 150-$250 depending on brand and style etc… I would think purchasing one is a more cost/work ratio. But You want a custom part which is fine… so i'll say good luck!!

jharrison5

As long as you have a ring of metal inside of the wood you'll be fine. Wood wheels are in a ton of luxury cars and there isn't a problem there. Once you stain it and poly it you won't have to worry at all unless you plan on putting it in a demo derby of course!

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

I don't have the link anymore, but there was a really good step-by-step on instructables(I think) showing how a custom wood steering wheel was made. It followed a similar process to what you have outlined here. They used a router with a circle cutting guide to cut the wood hexagon into the final round shape, and also to cut the groove in the two halves to insert the steel ring.

My personal preference would be to finish the wood with some stain and polyurethane and leave it at that though. I wouldn't want to hide the wood under a leather wrap. If you're doing that, I'd just fab the wheel from some aluminum tube and then cover it. Much less work that way, and you don't hide what could be a beautiful wood wheel.

novaderrik

you can find good looking steering wheels dirt cheap if you are willing to walk around in a junkyard and look inside every car you find.. if you get really lucky, it will be in a GM and you won't need to worry about the adapter.

i'm a fan of oem engineered stuff, myself. the wheel in my Camaro is from an 82 Trans Am, but i put a Bowtie emblem from a Malibu Maxx in the middle of the horn button in place of the screaming chicken. i had a Grant wheel that was a reporduction of an early 70's Z/28 or Chevelle wheel in a Nova i used to have, but before that it had a cool looking stock wheel out of a Chevette, of all things.

Nighthawkf-117

iTrader: (1)

Ok so got some more time to work on the wheel...

I think im going to partial wrap the wheel. Leaving a portion at the 12 o'clock position as finished wood while the rest will be wrapped in leather. My original reason for not going with natural wood is because i didn't think it would fit the theme of my interior. Which is a race-car feel, shooting for something that would be found in a GT3 car.

Continuing with the construction I clamped the two hexagon half's together and drilled 7/32in holes in the middle of the wheel. This is so i could nail 1/4in wood dowels to hold the two half's together while shaping the wheel.

I then cut the shape of the wheel on a scroll saw. I would have liked to use a router as mentioned above but because my wheel is actually a D shape this wasn't possible. Because I had to use the scroll saw I had to get the wheel smooth and to the shape i needed by using a palm sander.

Next I marked and cut notches where the center aluminum section would fit in the wood wheel. I cut these with a Rotozip router by setting the depth i needed.

Finally I used a router with a rounding bit to shape the wheel to a circular cross section.

Still lots of work to do but it looks and feels like a steering wheel!

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, will work on that for the next update.

Thanks for the input from everyone. More updates to come...

scooter

iTrader: (11)

How will you attach the aluminum to the steel so it doesn't deform and pull off the aluminum in case of an accident?

Picture quality looks fine to me. Really nice work so far. I just bought a Grant wood wheel and it was $305 and I didn't like the Grant label horn button it came with so the Chevy logo one was another $17

Nighthawkf-117

iTrader: (1)

This is something i didn't think of. Thinking about it now I think I will use an aluminum ring and weld it to the center section.
Will get a chance to get some more work done this weekend so expect an update then!

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

That is the exact comment I had said in post #3. Turning out pretty good tho… props!